Re: Re : Conlang-to-conlang translation project

Dans un courrier dat=E9 du 08/05/99 17:37:44  , vous avez =E9crit :

<< Speaking of interesting ways of counting in conlangs...
 Am I to take it that you use names of objects that characterize
 the number to stand for that number?
=20
Yes. It's a very common systems in natlangs. I'm zero at figures, maths and=20
the like (I really was worth nothing in my French school whose "republican=20
elitism" system is based on "exact sciences"). I really can't "visualize"=20
numbers in my conlangs and need to make them concrete through items.

 If so, I'd like to see more of that system.  If not, it sounds like
 an interesting approach to naming the digits in a conlang:
=20
 0 -- hole  (nothing in it)
keta =3D nostril, lack=20

 1 -- pebble (just one)
mata =3D an eye

 2 -- legs (come in twos)
mamata =3D both eyes

 3 -- clover (has three leaves)
kekuke =3D knucles of one finger
=20
 4 -- ??
titike =3D all 4 fingers of one hand (the thumb is considered part of the ar=
m)

 5 -- hand (five fingers)
peme =3D arm+hand=20

 6 -- ??
Dunno. I never thought of it. I'd say "noke" =3D "a few".

etc
 ...
 10,000 -- forest
holala ! I can't go that far. It's just "mara-mara" =3D "many-many" ;-)
 1,000,000 -- stars
Tunuans think stars are the broken sun so they see them as one body.

 --Gary >>

Mathias