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Language name and locationː Adzera, Papua New Guinea [Refer to Ethnologue] |
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1. bɪtsɪⁿtɑ, bɪtʃɪⁿtɑʔ, bɪtsɪtɑʔ, bɪts |
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2. iɾuʔrun, iɾuʔ ( litː also means 'a few' ) |
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3. iɾuʔ dɑ bɪts ( 2 + 1 ) |
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4. iɾuʔ dɑ iɾuʔ ( 2 + 2 ) |
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5. iɾuʔ dɑ iɾuʔ dɑ bɪts ( 2 + 2 + 1), bɑŋin mɑɾɑfɑiʔ ( litː one hand ) |
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Linguist providing data and dateː Mr. David Howard, SIL International, Papua New Guinea, May 20, 2011. 提供资料的语言学家: Mr. David Howard. 2011 年 5 月 20 日. |
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Other comments: According to Sue Holzknecht's old data recorded 20 years ago. Adzera people might have an old counting system combines a counting system based on two with tallying on hand and feet up to 20.
However, now Adzera really
has only two basic numbers: one and two. Everything else is either a
combination of those two numbers or some anatomical extension like
one hand, two hands, etc. But Adzera never, to my knowledge, had a
full counting system as some PNG languages do where they
count different points on the body. I don't know what other
Austronesian counting systems are like. Having only two and one and
then having to use a hand for five makes for a very inefficient
counting system, and traditionally they probably didn't have to do a
lot of precision counting and math in their culture. So what has
happened is Tok Pisin and English counting systems have largely
replaced the Adzera counting system. When talking about only a
few items, they will often use the Adzera numerals, but
they sometimes use the Tok Pisin and English numbers even for
small numbers and, in my experience, they always use Tok Pisin or
English numerals for larger numbers (probably anything larger than
five).
Because those and many of the numbers Holzknecht gave would most likely be substituted with English and Tok Pisin numbers. You would be much more likely to hear 'five' or 'faivpela' or see '5' or '5-pela' written than to hear or see 'iruʔ da iruʔ da bitsʔ (two and two and one) or 'baŋin bitsintaʔ' (one hand) or 'baŋi marafain' (hand one-side).
Sue
uses a <c> to represent the alveo-palatal affricate, which is
represented by <ts> in Adzera and usually <ch> in English. This is
often pronounced closer to [ts] in English. For 'one' I often hear [bisinta'],
rather than [bitsinta'], but generally continue to spell it with a <ts>
rather than just <s>. This may be dialect variation. The short form
is [bits], with the <ts> consistently more alveolar than alveo-palatal,
i.e. more like <ts> in English than <ch>. The short form often has
the connotation of 'one more'. Sue uses a superscript <n> to
represent prenasalisation in the phonetic transcription, which
appears simply as an <n> in the Adzera orthography. I have changed <ng>
to eng in some places and corrected a couple glosses. Glottal stops
are represented with apostrophes in the Adzera orthography. I have
not seen the form [iruʔun] or
<iru'un>. The form I am familiar with is [iruʔrun] or
<iru'run>. I have even seen a longer form, [iruʔruŋun]
or <iru'ruŋun>. I'm not sure if Sue's transcription is a mistake or
a dialectual variant.
As Sue transcribed, the short form for 'two' is [iruʔ] or <iru'>, and it can mean not only 'two', but also 'a few'. The long form always refers specifically to 'two'. |
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Language name and locationː Adzera, Papua New Guinea [Refer to Ethnologue] |
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1. bitsinta, biciⁿitaʔ |
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2. iruʔ |
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3. iruʔ da bits ( 2 + 1 ) |
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4. iruʔ da iruʔ ( 2 + 2 ) |
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5. iruʔ da iruʔ ( 2 + 2 + 1 ) baŋ biciⁿitaʔ (litː 'one hand' ) |
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6. iruʔ da iruʔ da iruʔ ( 2 + 2 + 2) |
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7. iruʔ da iruʔ da iruʔ da bits ( 2 + 2 + 2 + 1) |
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8. iruʔ da iruʔ da iruʔ da iruʔ ( 2 + 2 + 2 + 2) |
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9. iruʔ da iruʔ da iruʔ da iruʔ da bits ( 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 ) |
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10. baŋi marafain da baŋi marafain (litː 'my hand one side and my hand other side) |
| 15. baŋi marafain da baŋi marafain da faɡa-ŋʔ marafain |
| 20. baŋi-ŋʔ iruʔun da faɡa-ŋʔ iruʔun (litː 'my hands two and feet two') |
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Linguist providing data and dateː Dr. Susanne Holzknecht. Dept of Linguistics, The Australian National University. Canberra, Australia. October 21, 1998. 提供资料的语言学家: Dr. Susanne Holzknecht. 1998 年 10 月 21 日. |
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Other comments: Adzera counting system combines a counting system based on two with tallying on hand and feet. |
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