Language name and locationː Kutenai, BC province, Canada, USA [Refer to Ethnologue]

语言名称和分布地区: 库特奈语, 加拿大 卑诗省哥伦比亚湖附近地区及美国境内

1. ʔukʼi

21. 

2. ʔas

22.  ʔaywum-ɬa-ʔas

3. qaɬsa

23.  

4. xa.t͡sa

24.  

5. yi.ku

25.  

6. ʔinmisa

26.  

7. wistʼaɬa

27.  

8. wuxat͡sa

28.  

9. qaykitʼwu

29.  

10. ʔitʼwu 

30. 

11.

40. 

12.

50.  yiʔkunwu

13.

60.  

14.

70.  

15.

80.  

16.

90. 

17.

100. ʔitʼwunwu

18. 

200. 

19.

1000.

20. ʔaywu

2000.

Linguist providing data and dateː Prof. Matthew S. Dryer, Department of  linguistics, University of Buffalo, New York, USA, 1993, January 27, 2009.

提供资料的语言学家: Prof. Matthew S. Dryer, 1993 年.  2009 年 1 月 27 日.

Other comments: Kutenai or Ktunaxa is a nearly extinct language spoken by 250 older adults only out of 1,000 ethnic population in British Columbia province: Columbia Lake, Saint Mary’s, Tobacco Plains (Upper Kutenai dialect); British Columbia province: Lower Kutenai at Creston (Lower Kutenai dialect), Canada as well as United States.

Kutenai has a decimal system. The words for 10, 20, 50, and 100 all end in a form -wu, which otherwise has no meaning I am aware of. Note that this -wu occurs twice in the form for 100. The -nthat occurs in 50 and 100 is not clear, though many morphemes in Kutenai have alternate forms, one beginning with n, the other not, which are morphologically conditioned. The initial part of the word for 10, ʔitʼ-, otherwise has no meaning as well. The initial part of the word for 20 ʔay- differs from the word for 2 ʔas; however, the form ʔay- occurs productively with the meaning 2 within verb stems, as in ʔaymanqʼunanʼ 'to have two teeth'. The form for 50 differs from 5 in containing yiʔku rather than yi.ku, though it is worth noting that Boas represents the form for 5 as yiʔku. The form for 9 contains the form meaning 10; what precedes (qayk-) is not obviously analysable, though it is plausible that it historically contains the negative morpheme qa, though the -yk- has no obvious source. The form for 22 clearly contains the form for 20 and the form for 2. The ɬa in 22 is presumably the same as the preverb ɬa, which means 'again' or 'back'; but ɬa cannot otherwise occur in contexts where one would gloss it as a conjunction. The source of the -m on ʔaywum is not clear. Notes on orthography: ɬ is voiceless lateral fricative, apostrophes indicate glottalized or ejective consonants, ȼ is a voiceless dental affricate [ts].