Language name and location: Motuna, Papua New Guinea [Refer to Ethnologue]

语言名称和分布地区: 莫图纳语 (西瓦伊语 Siwai), 巴布亚新几内亚布干维尔岛东南部

1. nouru

21.  nouruŋi peːnoŋ

2. kiurukʷo

22.  kiurukeː peːnoŋ

3. peːmoŋu

23.  peːmoŋui peːnoŋ

4. korimoŋu, korinoruː

24.  korimoŋui / korinoruːŋi peːnoŋ

5. puːnoruː

25.  puːnoruːŋi peːnoŋ

6. nouruŋi noro

26.  nouruŋi noroŋi peːnoŋ

7. kiurukeː noro

27.  kiurukeː noroŋi peːnoŋ

8. peːmoŋui noro

28.  peːmoŋui noroŋi peːnoŋ

9. korimoŋui / korinoruːŋi noro

29.  korimoŋui/korinoruːŋi noroŋi peːnoŋ

10. noro

30.  peːnoŋ

11. nouruŋi kinoŋo

40.  korinoŋ

12. kiurukeː kinoŋo

50.  puːnoŋ

13. peːmoŋui kinoŋo 

14. korimoŋui/korinoruːŋi kinoŋo 

15. puːnoruːŋi kinoŋo 

16. nouruŋi noroŋi kinoŋo 

17. kiurukeː noroŋi kinoŋo 

18. peːmoŋui noroŋi kinoŋo 

19. korimoŋui/korinoruːŋi noroŋi kinoŋo 

20. kinoŋo

Linguist providing data and dateː Professor Dr. Masayuki Onishi, Department of Japanese and Korean Studies School of Languages and Cultures, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, July 27, 2017.

提供资料的语言学家: Professor Dr. Masayuki Onishi (大西正幸博士), 2017 年 7 月 27 日.

Other comments: The Motuna or Siwai language is spoken by about 16,000 speakers in Siwai Region, South Bougainville. (Siwai is actually a place name not a language name). Since every numeral of the language is combined with a classifier, and there is no 'general classifier' in Motuna, one must choose one of the over 50 classifiers of the language. I have chosen the human classifier /-uru/. The only reason for my choosing this is that I have checked every form of this classifier up to 50 with two reliable informants when I wrote my PhD dissertation, so I am pretty sure that all the forms on the list would be correct. I am not so sure about the forms of other classifiers. I asked Therese about the numbers beyond 50 but she couldn't tell. As this traditional counting system is rapidly disappearing, we don't know whether or not we can still find an old informant who can tell us for sure about larger numbers of the language.