Language name and locationː Irántxe, Mato Grosso state, Brazil [Refer to Ethnologue]

语言名称和分布地区: 伊兰塞语 (马诺基语Mỹky), 巴西西部马托格罗索州茹魯埃纳河支流流域地区

1. kỹtapy (one, alone, single)

2. numã  (two, some, few)

3. pjatkipu  (three, five)

4. pjatkeky  (four)

.   jepte´y  (many, much)

Linguist providing data and date: Prof. Ruth Monserrat, the Department of Linguistics,  Letters and Arts, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 16, 2014.

Translated from Portuguese to English by Prof. Bernard Comrie.

提供资料的语言学家: Prof. Ruth Monserrat, 2014 年 6 月 16 日.

Other comments: Irántxe or Mỹky, Münkü, Manoki is an endangered language with 90 speakers left, 10 Irántxe and 80 Münkü, out of approximately 360 Ethnic population in
Mato Grosso state: Rio Cravari headwaters, Rio Sangue tributary, a tributary of Rio Juruena, Brazil.

Irántxe has a few words as for numerals: kỹtapy (one, alone, single), numã  (two, some, few), pjatkipu (three, five), pjatkeky quatro (four), jepte'y  

muitos (many, much). -kipu  has the meaning of tip, extremity, mimã-kipu  /hand-tip/ 'finger', ti-kipu /rump-tip/ 'tail' pjat-kipu /? - tip/ 'three, five'. I can't identify the

meaning of pjat, but I venture an explanation: The notion of “pair” (couple) is basic in the language. When speakers count on their fingers, they always do so grasping

their fingers two by two. Thus, the quantifier for “three” or “five” would be 'something without a pair [unmatched]'. On the other hand, keky has the generic meaning

of 'friend, companion' and thus pjat-keky (four) could mean ´friend, companion´, in other words 'something in a pair [matched]'. In everyday speech and even in stories, only kỹtapy, numã and jepte are generally used.

Most are monolingual in Portuguese, and Irantxe speakers are over 50 years old. A splinter group, the Mỹky (Mynky, Münkü, Munku, Menku, Kenku, Myy), however, moved to escape assimilation, and were isolated until 1971. As of 2003, there were 38 people in the Mỹky village, but not all were ethnic Mỹky, and the others were monolingual in Portuguese.