Waimaha

Language name and locationː Waimaha, Colombia, Brazil [Refer to Ethnologue]

语言名称和分布地区: 韦马哈语, 伦比亚东南部沃佩斯省沃佩斯河流域地区及巴西境内

1. hi'ka-(ɡa)

2. pʉa-(ɡa)

3. itīá-(ɡa)

4. ba'pári-(ka)

5. hi'kábõkõro (litː ''one hand complete / as'')

6. hi'kábõkõro peti, ape abõ hikaɡa pedĩtuaro (litː ''one hand complete, the other
hand one (finger)'')

7. hi'kábõkõro peti, ape abõ pʉaɡa pedĩtuaro

8. hi'kábõkõro peti, ape abõ itīaɡa pedĩtuaro

9. hi'kábõkõro peti, ape abõ bapari pedĩtuaro

10. pʉabõkõro (cf. number 5 for the merging of phonemes)

11. pʉabõkõro peti, dʉpo hikaɡa pedĩtuaro (litː ''two hands, foot one (appendage)'',

shortened form would be dʉpo hikaɡa pedĩtuaro)

12. pʉabõkõro peti, dʉpo pʉaɡa pedĩtuaro

13. pʉabõkõro peti, dʉpo itīaɡa pedĩtuaro

14. pʉabõkõro peti, dʉpo bapari pedĩtuaro

15. pʉabõkõro peti, hika dʉpo petiro (litː ''two hands complete, one foot complete'' )

16. pʉabõkõro peti, hika dʉpo petiro, ape dʉpo hikaɡa pedĩtuaro
(litː ''two hands complete, one foot complete, other foot one appendage'', shortened
form would readː ape dʉpo hikaɡa pedĩtuaro)

17. pʉabõkõro peti, hika dʉpo petiro, ape dʉpo pʉaɡa pedĩtuaro

18. pʉabõkõro peti, hika dʉpo petiro, ape dʉpo itīaɡa pedĩtuaro

19. pʉabõkõro peti, hika dʉpo petiro, ape dʉpo bapari pedĩtuaro

20. pʉabõkõro peti, pʉa dʉpo petiro (litː ''two hands and two feet'' ). Alternate form
would be hihocu yee kõro (litː ''one person as many as, or ''all twenty appendages'')

Linguist providing data and dateː Mr. Joel A. Stolte, Summer Institute of Linguistics, Colombia. July 22, 1994.

提供资料的语言学家: Mr. Joel A. Stolte, 1994 年 7 月 22 日

Other comments: Waimaha or Northern Barasano is spoken by approximately 110 speakers out of 1,000 ethnic population in Vaupés department: Mitú, upper Papurí, mid and upper Pira-Paraná tributaries, and Tiquié, Colombia as well as Brazil. In considering the numbering system of Waimaha, it is based primarily on the person and his appendages. Counting was not considered a main part of daily living in the earlier days after entered the indigenous area (February, 1966).

Some concepts which were important wereː few, many, a pair, but not necessarily the

individual numbers. In fact, you could ask a person how many children he/she had,

and they would have to figure it out on their hands and toes. When counting they

would often count in twos, or pairs, so that counting on their appendages, for arriving

at seven they would count on their fingersː ''two, two, two, one'' which would equal seven. Also, in counting the would start with their left hand, move to the right, then

lift the left foot from eleven to fifteen, but then the problem came since you could not

lift both feet off the ground! As more and more have received Spanish education, and

the necessity for handing money has entered the culture, there has been more and more

use of numbers. The use of numbers is switching more to Spanish, though they may still related to those not speaking Spanish in the numbering system of twenty and below.

In giving the numbers, one must also recognize that there are short cuts to expressing

them. Examples will be supplied for the first number in the series below, but may be applied to following numbers. In the numbering system it is important to distinguish

between animate and inanimate. Then with the descriptive or bound noun forms you

have the main counting method. The following have been written without the stresses

and pitches, except for the first few numbers. Also being written phonemically, one should refer to the phonemic statement for such areas as nasal penetration, etc.

The following is the adjectival form which may be usedː e.g.,

hikʉ̃ - ''one masculine'', hikʉ̃ ʉ̃bʉ̃ - one man

hikõ - ''one feminine'', hikaro - ''one indefinite''

pʉarã - ''two (people)'', pʉarã ʉ̃bʉ̃ - two men, pʉaro - ''two things''.

Other higher numbers areː

21. hika bohocʉ yee kõro, apĩ hikaɡa pedĩtuaro
(litː ''one person poss. as many as, other one (masc.) one or appendage'')

40. pʉarã bohoca yee kõro (litː ''two people POSS as many as '')

50. pʉarã bohoca yee kõro, apĩ bohocʉ pʉabõkõro peti

100. hikabõkõro bohoca yee kõro

200. pʉabõkõro bohoca yee kõro (litː ''as many appendages as you would have on ten

people!'')

Above this number you still could make up the number and they would understand

what is being said, but usually you would come up with a phrase something like
''bʉaro paʉ'' using intonation for emphasis which would translateː ''really as lot (of

people/thing - putting in the noun for description of what you are talking about)''.

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