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

言名称和分布地区(兹语Nenzi), 巴布亚新几内亚西部省莫尔黑德河地区

 

1. ambás

2. sombés

3. nambis

4. sombés a sombés (litː '2+2')

5. widmátandás  (litː 'side of the hand')

6. ambás pus  (litː '1 x 6', one pus)

7. ambás pus ambás  (litː '1 x 6+1')

8. ambás pus sombés (litː '1 x 6+2')

9. ambás pus nambis (litː '1 x 6+3')

10. ambás pus sombés a sombés (litː '1 x 6+2+2') 

11. ambás pus widmátandás  

12. sombés pus  (litː 'two pus')

13. sombés pus ambás káp (litː 'two pus')   

14. sombés pus má sombés (litː 'two pus two')   

15. sombés pus a nambis káp (litː 'two pus three only')   

18. nambis pus  (litː 'three pus')

19. nambis pus ambás káp (litː 'three pus one only') 

30. widmátandás pus  (litː 'five pus one only') 

31. widmátandás pus ambás káp  (litː 'five pus')

36. ambás prta (litː 'one prta' )

37. ambás prta ambás kap (litː 'one prta one pus' ) 
45. ambás prta ambás kap pus na nambis káp (litː 'one prta one pus and three only')
216. ambás taromba (litː 'one taromba'); 1,296. ambás damno (litː 'one damno')
7,776. ambás wèrèmaka (litː 'one wèrèmaka' ); 46,656. wèrèmaka tenz *

 

Linguist providing data and dateː Prof. Nicholas D. Evans, Department of Linguistics, the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, October 29, 2010.
提供资的语言 学家: Prof. Nicholas D. Evans. 2010 年 10 月 29 日.

 

Other comments: Nenzi or Nen has a senary numeral system whose numbers above five have a power of six, with a ranging from 1 to 5 (traditionally to 6. In other words, numerals are formed by concatenating multiples of power-of-six bases, in descending order, then following this with a final addend between one and five if necessary.

From the above table, the basic elements of the system areː

(i)  numerals from one to five, namely  ambás, sombés, nambis, sombés a sombés,

     and widmátandás ('four' is literally 'two and two', and five means 'back of side of
     hand '')

(ii) a set of monomorphemic numerals for ascending powers of sixː

       pus 6 6¹, prta 36 6², taromba 216 6³; damno 1,296 6⁴; wèrèmaka 7,776 6⁵

     One older Nen speaker, Aramang, mentioned a further term wèrèmaka tenz which
   
 he thought might be a higher member of the series, but I was not able to determine

     its value precisely.

Nen is spoken by about 350 speakers (Evans et al 2018). Ethnic population: 350 (Evans et al 2018) in Morehead district, Bimadbn village, between Nambo and Idi language areas, Western province, Papua New Guinea.


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