Language name and location: Mende, Sierra Leone, Liberia [Refer to Ethnologue]

语言名称和分布地区: 门德语, 塞拉利昂东部省, 北部省和南部省及利比里亚境内

1. yilá ~ itáá *

21.  núú ɡ͡bɔyɔ́nɡo mahú yilá

2. felé

22.  núú ɡ͡bɔyɔ́nɡo mahú felé

3. sawá

23.  núú ɡ͡bɔyɔ́nɡo mahú sawá

4. nááni

24.  núú ɡ͡bɔyɔ́nɡo mahú nááni

5. lɔ́ɔ́lu

25.  núú ɡ͡bɔyɔ́nɡo mahú lɔ́ɔ́lu

6. wɔ́íta       (5+1)

26.  núú ɡ͡bɔyɔ́nɡo mahú wɔ́íta 

7. wɔ́fíla      (5+2)

27.  núú ɡ͡bɔyɔ́nɡo mahú wɔ́fíla  

8. wáyák͡pá  (5+3)

28.  núú ɡ͡bɔyɔ́nɡo mahú wáyák͡pá

9. táálú        (10 - 1) ?

29.  núú ɡ͡bɔyɔ́nɡo mahú  táálú 

10. puú

30.  núú ɡ͡bɔyɔ́nɡo mahú puú

11. puú mahú yilá (lit: ten behind one)

40.  núú ɡ͡bɔyɔ́nɡo ('two persons finished')

12. puú mahú felé

50.  núú ɡ͡bɔyɔ́nɡo mahú puú

13. puú mahú sawá

60.  núú sawá ɡ͡bɔyɔ́nɡo ('three persons')

14. puú mahú nááni

70.  núú sawá ɡ͡bɔyɔ́nɡo mahú puú

15. puú mahú lɔ́ɔ́lu

80.  núú nááni ɡ͡bɔyɔ́nɡo ('four persons')

16. puú mahú wɔ́íta 

90.  núú nááni ɡ͡bɔyɔ́nɡo mahú puú

17. puú mahú wɔ́fíla  

100. hɔ́ndo yilá ('hɔ́ndo' from English )

18. puú mahú wáyák͡pá

200. hɔ́ndo felé

19. puú mahú táálú 

1000. táusiŋ yilá ('táusiŋ' from English )

20. núú ɡ͡bɔyɔ́nɡo (lit: 'person finished')

2000. táusiŋ felé

Linguist providing data and dateː Mr. James Kaiser, TISLL (The Institute for Sierra Leonean Languages), Sierra Leone, 20 July, 1994. Prof. David Dwyer, Michigan State University, USA, January 29, 2008.

提供资料的语言学家: Mr. James Kaiser, 1994 年 7 月 20 日. Prof. David Dwyer, 2008 年 1 月 29 日.

Other comments: Mende has a vigesimal system with special construction for numbers 6 to 9. The number 9 might be etymologically formed by 'ten minus one'. There are

two forms for number 'one', 'itáá' occurs in enumeration only. The numbers hundred and thousand are loanwords from English with phonological adaptations. Tone markings: á=High tone and Low tone is unmarked. Mende is spoken by approximately

2,500,000 speakers in Eastern province: Kailahun, Kenema, and Pujehun districts; Northern province: Bombali and Moyamba districts’ border areas; along the coast and south and east; Southern province: most of interior, Sierra Leone as well as Liberia.