Language name and locationː Màwés Aasʼè, Ethiopia [Refer to Ethnologue]

言名称和分布地区马维斯-阿瑟语, 埃塞俄比亚西北部本尚古勒-古马兹州

 

1. hishkì     

21.  numbo kuusan hishkì

2. numbo

22.  numbo kuusan numbo

3. teezè

23.  numbo kuusan teezè

4. mesʼe

24.  numbo kuusan mesʼe

5. kʼwíssí

25.  numbo kuusan kʼwíssí

6. kyaansè

26.  numbo kuusan kyaansè

7. kúlùmbò  (litː ''hand-two'')

27.  numbo kuusan kúlùmbò

8. kúteezé    (litː ''hand-three'')

28.  numbo kuusan kúteezé

9. kúsmésʼe  (litː ''hand-four'')

29.  numbo kuusan kúsmésʼe

10. kúúsú  *

30.  teezè kuuse

11. kúús túɡét hishkì ( 10-foot-from-1 )

40.  mesʼe kuuse

12. kúús túɡét numbo

50.  kʼwíssí kuuse

13. kúús túɡét teezè

60.  kyaansè kuuse

14. kúús túɡét mesʼe

70.  kúlùmbò kuuse

15. kúús túɡét kʼwíssí

80.  kúreezé kuuse

16. kúús túɡét kyaansè

90.  kúsmésʼè kuuse

17. kúús túɡét kúlùmbò

100. kúúsé kuuse  

18. kúús túɡét kúreezé

200.  numbo kuusan kúúsán  

19. kúús túɡét kúsmésʼe

1000. hishkì kuusan kúúsé kuusan   *

20. numbo kuuse ( 2 x 10 ) *

2000. numbo kuusan kúúsé kuusan 

 

Linguist providing data and dateː Dr. Michael Ahland, Department of Linguistic, University of Oregon, USA / SIL-Ethiopia, November 28, 2008.

供资料的语言学家: Dr. Michael Ahland, 2008 年 11 月 28 日.

 

Other comments: Bambassi (native name: Màwés Aasʼè is an Omotic Afroasiatic language spoken in Ethiopia around the towns of Bambasi and Didessa in the area east of Asosa in Benishangul-Gumuz Region. The parent language group is the East Mao group. Alternative names for the language are Bambeshi, Siggoyo, Amam, Fadiro, Northern Mao, Didessa and Kere. The most current information on the number of Bambassi speakers is not known, as the 2007 census grouped the Mao languages together, despite low lexical similarity. 33,683 mother tongue speakers of Maogna (covering Bambassi, Hozo and Seze).
  
Màwés Aasʼè
or Bambassi or Northern Mao has a decimal system with substructure for 7, 8 and 9. The word for ten 'kúúsu' may be historically derived from 'hand' with long V. For the numbers 11 to 19, the suffix -et on 'foot' /tuge/ is 'from' but also a general locative in Mao. I don't know that I would say that 17 and 18 are literally 'hand-two' and 'hand-three' but perhaps derived from 'hand-two' and 'hand-three'; there are some sound changes in both these forms which obscure the relationships a bit. For 20, many people use 'eskʼele' = person-body, but these numbers  above better represent the older counting system. Many people today use Oromo for higher numbers above 100, especially. But in some contexts these are still in use. 100 is expressed by 10 x 10 and cannot say 'kúúsé kuuse hishkì'. There are two alternate forms for 1000: one is ''kúúsé kuusiʃ hishkì kuuse' and other is 'kʼwíssí kuus eskʼele' = 50 x 20 ( 50 people-bodies ). They can count up to 9000 'kúsmésʼè  kuusan kúúsé kuusan'. Northern Mao is rather endangered, Some Mao communities have already lost their language and in others, the children sometimes play in the language of wider communication, Oromo.

Note that the above data are written in orthography. <sh> is an alveopalatal sibilan = IPA [ʃ]; <s'> and <ts'> are ejective sound. There are three levels of contrastive tone in Bambassi Mao, Mid tone is unmarked.

 

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