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Language
name and locationː
Aari, Central Omo Zone, Ethiopia [Refer to
Ethnologue] |
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1. wólːáq |
21. bondéke wólːaq/ʔéwólːáqbab ʔits wólːaq |
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2. qastːén |
22. bondéke qastːén |
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3. makːén |
23. bondéke makːén |
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4. ʔoydːí |
24. bondéke ʔoydːí |
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5. dónqː |
25. bondéke dónqː |
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6. láː |
26. bondéke láː |
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7. tabzá |
27. bondéke tabzá |
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8. qastːaː́ntámːers (lit: two less than ten ) |
28. bondéke qastːaː́ntámːers |
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9. wolqáːntámːers (lit:one less than ten ) |
29. bondéke wolqáːntámːers |
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10. támːá |
30. bondéke támːá/ʔéwólːáqbab ʔitske támːá |
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11. támːéke wólːáq |
40. ʔéqastːénbaːb ʔits ( 20 x 2 ) |
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12. támːéke qastːén |
50. ʔéqastːénbaːb ʔitske |
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13. támːéke makːén |
60. ʔémakːénbaːb ʔits ( 20 x 3 ) |
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14. támːéke ʔoydːí |
70. ʔémakːénbaːb ʔitske |
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15. támːéke dónqː |
80. ʔéʔoydːíbaːb ʔits ( 20 x 4 ) |
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16. támːéke láː |
90. ʔéʔoydːíbaːb ʔitske |
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17. támːéke tabzá |
100. ʔédónqːbaːb ʔits /máto <Amharic |
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18. támːéke qastːaː́ntámːers |
200. ʔétámːábaːb ʔits /qastːén máto |
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19. támːéke wolqáːntámːers |
1000. wólːáq ʃíí <Amharic |
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20. bondá / ʔéwólːáqbab ʔits |
2000.qastːén ʃíí |
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Linguist providing data and dateː Ms. Carolyn Ford,
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Other comments: Aari is an Omotic language spoken by approximately 290,000 speakers in north central Omo zone, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ region, south tip of Ethiopia plateau. Aari has a numeral system based on twenty. The first word for twenty means ' size' or ' stocky ', the second word ' ʔéwólːáqbab ʔits ' means 'person-one to-eat ' and forty can be expressed by ' ʔéqastːénbaːb ʔits ', which means 'person-two to-eat ', but nowadays, they often use Amharic numerals for large numbers. Aari has two tonesː high tone = v́, low tone (unmarked). The Aari numeral system is decimal and there are many complex numerals, which derived from more than base form. The following are basic numerals starting from number one to ten.
qastən ‘two’ makkən ‘three’ ojidi ‘four’ donq ‘five’ laa ‘six’ təbza ‘seven’ qastən təmmərs ‘eight’ wolχan təmmərs ‘nine’ təmma ‘ten’ The numerals (qastən təmmərs) ‘eight’ and (wolχan təmmərs) ‘nine’ are both respectively formed from (qastən) ‘two’ and (təmmərs).Also, (wolχan) ‘one’ and (təmmərs). In each case, the second word is the same. Thus, (qastən təmmərs) can be interpreted as ‘two more to ten’ and (wolχan təmmərs) ‘one more to ten’ Numerals (11-19) can form with the combination of (təmma) ‘ten’ and lower numerals. Look the following numerals (11-19)
təmma qastən ‘twelve’ təmma makkən ‘thirteen’ təmma ojidi ‘fourteen’ təmma donq ‘fifteen’ təmma laa ‘sixteen’ təmma təbza ‘seventeen’ təmma qastən təmmərs ‘eighteen’ təmma wolχan təmmərs ‘nineteen’ Numeral twenty (20) has a lexical form (boonda) ‘one full person’. The other decimal numbers from thirty to one hundred formed as follow: 3.a. boonda - kə təmmə - k ‘thirty’ a full person – CONJ ten – CONJ ‘one full person and ten’ b. e – qastən- baβ its ‘forty’ person – two-father eat ‘eat two persons owner’ c. e- qastən- baβ its – kə təmmə -k ‘fifty’ Person - two -father eat–CONJ ten- CONJ ‘eat owner of two persons and ten’ d. e – makkən- baβ its ‘sixty’ person – three-father eat ‘eat owner of three persons ’ e. e – makkən- baβ its - kə təmmə -k ‘seventy’ person-three-father eat–CONJ ten - CONJ ‘eat owner of three persons and ten’ f. e – ojidi - baβ its ‘eighty’ person-four-fatherr eat ‘eat owner of four persons’ g. e – ojidi - baβ its – kə təmmə-k ‘ninety’ person-four-father eat-CONJ ten- CONJ ‘eat owner of four persons and ten’ h. e – donq - baβ its ‘one hundred’ person-five-father eat ‘eat owner of five persons ’ As you have seen the above examples numerals start from thirty and the above describing by changing the numbers, which come before person. For instance, one full person represents the numeral ‘twenty’. In Aari numbering system one full person related with the number of fingers, which one person has (both hand and leg fingers). Therefore, numerals starting from thirty and the above expressed by relating with the number of ‘full person eat’ and numerals begin (40) and above use (its) ‘eat’ as in (e-qastən-baβ its) ‘eat father of two persons’ represents numeral 40 (forty), (e-makkən-baβ its) ‘eat father of three persons’ represents numeral 60 (sixty). In all examples, ‘baβ’ stands for the meaning ‘father’. Again, odd numerals such as 30, 50, 70, 90 and the like take conjunction (-kə) which is suffixed on the word (its) ‘eat’ and then add the numeral (təmma) ‘ten’ with the conjunction (-k) but in case of 30 (thirty) we cannot get the word (its) consider the following examples. 4. a. boonda – kə təmmə - k ‘thirty’ full person -CONJ ten –CONJ ‘one full person and ten’ b. e – qastən - baβ its – kə təmmə - k ‘fifty’ person-two-father eat – CONJ ten - CONJ ‘eat owner of two persons and ten’ c. e – makkən- baβ its – kə təmmə -k ‘seventy’ person-three-father eat – CONJ ten – CONJ ‘eat owner of three persons and ten’ d. e – ojidi - baβ its – kə təmmə - k ‘ninety’ person-four-father eat - CONJ ten - CONJ ‘eat owner of four persons and ten’ The above odd numerals take lower numerals next to numeral (təmma) ‘ten’ and conjunction (-kə). Look the following examples of numerals from 51-59 (fifty - one up to fifty – nine). 5. a. e – qastən - baβ its – kə təmmə - kə wolaχ ‘fifty one’ person-two-father eat-CONJ ten - CONJ one ‘eat two persons and ten plus one’ b. e – qastən - baβ its – kə təmmə - kə qastən ‘fifty two’ person-two-father eat-CONJ ten - CONJ two ‘eat owner of two persons and ten plus two’ c. e – qastən - baβ its – kə təmmə - kə makkən ‘fifty three’ person-two-father eat -CONJ ten - CONJ three ‘eat owner of two persons and ten plus three’ d. e – qastən - baβ its – kə təmmə - kə ojidi ‘fifty four’ person-two-father eat-CONJ ten – CONJ four ‘eat owner of two persons and ten plus four’ e. e – qastən - baβ its – kə təmmə - kə donq ‘fifty five’ person-two-father eat-CONJ ten – CONJ five ‘eat owner of two persons and ten plus five’ f. e – qastən - baβ its – kə təmmə - kə laa ‘fifty six’ person-two-father eat-CONJ ten - CONJ six ‘eat owner of two persons and ten plus six’ g. e – qastən - baβ its – kə təmmə - kə təbza ‘fifty seven’ person- two-father eat-CONJ ten - CONJ seven ‘eat owner of two persons and ten plus seven’ h. e – qastən - baβ its – kə təmmə-kə qastən təmmərs ‘fifty eight’ person-two-father eat–CONJ ten – CONJ eight ‘eat owner of two persons and ten plus eight’ i. e – qastən - baβ its – kə təmmə-kə wolχan təmmərs ‘fifty nine’ person-two-father eat-CONJ ten - CONJ nine ‘eat owner of two persons and ten plus nine’
The following are some numerals above 100 (one hundred) 6.a. e – donq - baβ its – kə təmmə-k ‘one hundred ten’ person-two-father eat-CONJ ten-CONJ ‘eat owner of five persons and ten’ b. e – donq- baβ its – kə boondə - k ‘one hundred twenty’ person-two-father eat-CONJ twenty-CONJ ‘eat owner of five persons and twenty’ c. e – donq - baβ its – kə boondə - kə təmmə-k ‘one hundred thirty’ person-two-father eat-CONJ twenty-CONJ ten-CONG ‘eat owner of five persons and twenty plus ten’ d. e – təbza - baβ its ‘one hundred forty’ person-seven-father eat ‘eat owner of seven persons’ e. e – təbza - baβ its – kə təmmə -k ‘one hundred fifty’ person-seven-father eat-CONJ ten-CONJ ‘eat owner of seven persons and ten’ f. e – qastən təmmərs- baβ its ‘one hundred sixty’ person - eight – father eat ‘eat owner of eight persons’ g. e – qastən təmmers-baβ its – kə təmm-ək ‘one hundred seventy’ person - eight – father eat-CONJ ten-CONJ ‘eat owner of eight persons and ten’ h. e – wolχan təmmərs - baβ its ‘one hundred eighty’ person - nine - father eat ‘eat owner of nine persons’ i. e - wolχan təmmərs - baβ its – kə təmmə -k ‘one hundred ninety’ person - nine - father eat-CONJ ten-CONJ ‘eat owner nine persons and ten’ j. e – təmma- baβ its ‘two hundred’ person-ten-father eat ‘eat owner of ten prsons’ All numerals started from forty- (40) and the above have (e-) at their beginning position. In this context (e-) stands for ‘a person’ but it omits the consonant (-d) from the normal expression. Therefore, in a word level ‘ed’ represents the word ‘person’. |
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