Language name and locationː Waiwai, Brazil, Guyana, Suriname [Refer to Ethnologue]

言名称和分布地区韦韦语 (图纳雅纳语 Tunayana)巴西 北部帕拉州和罗赖马州, 圭亚那, 苏里南

 

1. cewn̂e

2. asakî [asakɨ] (asakî mak 'just two' really means' a few')

3. osorwaw

  . yaake (litː severeal, a good many)

  . kaxehra (litː without number, too many to count.

 

Linguist providing data and dateː Dr. Sérgio Meira, Paraense Museu Goeldi-CCH, Department Member, Brazil, April 1, 2015.

提供资的语言: Dr. Sérgio Meira , 2015 年 4 月 1 日.

 

Other comments: Waiwai (UaiUai) or Tunayana is spoken by approximately 2,000 speakers in Pará and Roraima states, Brazil. Waiwai has a simple numeral system.

The Waiwai data I have agree more closely with your second form (the one filled in by Mr. Robert Hawkins, with one difference: the word for 'two' I have is "asakî" with î = barred-i (high central vowel). The above data is from Tunayana or Katwena dialect.


Language name and locationː Waiwai, Brazil, Guyana, Suriname [Refer to Ethnologue]

言名称和分布地区韦韦语 (图纳雅纳语 Tunayana)巴西 北部帕拉州和罗赖马州, 圭亚那, 苏里南

 

1. ˈtɛwɲi, wan < English [wʌn]

2. 'saːkɨ / 'sakɸaki, tʰu < English [tʰʊː]  

3. sɔɾ'waːwu, tɾiː < Dutch [dri]

4. 'taˀɗɔ'jɛːrɛ, ɸiɾ < Ducth [v̥iːr ]

5. jɨm 'hɨthɔ / 'ɛːtʃɔmɛ ka'mɔːɾɨ, 'ɸɛiɸi < Dutch [v̥ɛi̯f]

6.                                           'ʃɛːʃɛ < Dutch [zɛs]

7.                                           'sɛi̯ɸi < Dutch [ 'zɛːⁱv̥ə]

10. 'ahnɔɾɔ ka'mɔːɾɨ / taˈɾaːwaɾa ka'mɔːɾɨ, tin / tiŋ < Dutch [tin]

11.                                                      'elɸ < Dutch ['ɛl(ə)f]

12.                                                       'twaːɾiɸ < Dutch []tʋaːl(ə)f ]

 

Linguist providing data and dateː Dr. Roland Hemmauer, Leiden University, Netherlands, October 22, 2007.

供资料的语言学家: Dr. Roland Hemmauer, 2007 年 10 月 22 日

 

Other comments: Waiwai (UaiUai) or Tunayana is spoken by approximately 2,000 speakers in Pará and Roraima states, Brazil.

Tunayana has a simple numeral system. The numbers ‘5’ and ‘10’ are morphologically and semantically transparent: The number 'five can be expressed by  'jɨm 'hɨthɔ' ( litː 'its father's head) or ' ɛːtʃɔmɛ ka'mɔːɾɨ' ( litː 'our hands half-way'). Number 'ten' can be expressed ' ahnɔɾɔ ka'mɔːɾɨ' (litː ' all of our hands') or 'taˈɾaːwaɾa ka'mɔːɾɨ' (litː ' our hands in a finished manner'. The word ka'mɔːɾɨ ‘our hands’ can shift to first position in all numerals in which it occurs, e.g. ahnɔɾɔ ka'mɔːɾɨ all of our hands’. This might have to do with con­trastive focus that is still possible because the construction is transparent (i.e. ‘all of our hands, not just half of it’). Occasionally, I’ve recorded ahnɔɾɔ ka'mɔːɾɨ accompanying other numerals as well, without any change in meaning, e.g. taˀɗɔ'jɛːrɛ ka'mɔːɾɨ ‘4’. For numbers 6 to 9 and from 11 onwards, Dutch numerals are used. The smaller Dutch numerals are also used, especially when counting time units (e.g. “on the third day”, “at 4 o’clock”). Dutch numerals are either learnt directly at school or taken over via Trio / Tiriyó, often together with the Trio/Tiriyó adverbial suffix -me. None of

these numerals seems to be integrated into the Tunayana/Katwena lexicon. Firstly, some of these numerals violate native rules of vowel length, syl­lable structure,

and consonant clustering (see phonological features in separate file). Secondly, my observation is that speakers try to do their best to imitate the foreign-language standard, and that their pronunciation of numerals depends strongly on their proficiency in Dutch and Trio/Tiriyó. Therefore, there is no can­onical form of

foreign-language numerals, but phonetic variation (The numerals 3-12 given in the table above give an approximation of the pronunciation of one of my informants).

I have never noticed any older speaker using numbers beyond 12. Speakers who

have been living in Guyana for a longer time use English terms (only attested for ‘1’ and ‘2’). In native counting, when counting beyond 5, older speakers use relative coun­ting terms instead, like ‘the next one’, ‘another one’, ‘once again’ etc. These

are in free variation with each other, which suggests that they do not form a lexical­ized system either. Furthermore, the word taˀɗɔ'jɛːrɛ‘4’ can also refer to any even number higher than 4. Uneven numbers, on the other hand, are referred to by the

term aˀɗɔmɾa. The literal meanings of these words are ‘having a peer’ and ‘not

having a peer’, respectively. (One speaker also used aˀɗɔmɾa as a numeral with a defined value, but I have not  been able to figure out whether it referred to ‘3’ or

to ‘5’). Tunayana/Katwena is also strongly influenced by the related Waiwai dialect,

in which a prestigious Bible translation has been written. As a consequence, some speakers use Waiwai forms instead: tSewøe ‘1’, asaùkö ‘2’, srwaw ‘3’. Some former subdialects of Tunayana/Katwena might also have had asaùkö ‘2’ and srwaw ‘3’ originally, but this cannot be proven.

PS: I use to omit predictable vowel length and stress and to write only phonemic vowel length in my own transcription, which reads as follows:
tewñi ‘1’, sa:ki / sakfaki ‘2’, sorwawu ‘3’,
ta’ëoyere ‘4’, yim hitho / e:čo=me kamori ‘5’, ahnoro kamori / tara=wara kamori ‘10’.


Language name and locationː Waiwai, Brazil, Guyana, Suriname [Refer to Ethnologue]

言名称和分布地区韦韦语 (图纳雅纳语 Tunayana)巴西 北部帕拉州和罗赖马州, 圭亚那, 苏里南

 

1. cewn̂e

2. asakî ( asakî mak 'just two' really means' a few')

3. osorwaw

  . yaake (litː severeal, a good many)

  . kaxehra (litː without number, too many to count.

 

Linguist providing data and dateː Mr. Robert E. Hawkins, Summer Institute of Linguistics, Brazil, December 10, 1993.

提供资的语言: Mr. Robert E. Hawkins, 1993 年 12 月 10 日.

 

Other comments: Waiwai (UaiUai) or Tunayana is spoken by approximately 2,000 speakers in Pará and Roraima states, Brazil. Actually in numbers was not a part of the Wai Wai culture, the numerals they used were 1 to 3, several, a good many. The only time the Wai Wais used numbers accurately was then weaving designed basketry, but even then they did not have names for the numerals. They apparently just noticed that a certain pattern needed one or two more strands of material. They sometimes uses the word taknoyere

meaning 'paired' to mean 'four'. But its use was rare. They has apparently learned to use fingers and toes on which to count, but only a few had learned this apparently from Wapishana tribe. Now those in Guyana use the numbers in English and those in

Brazil use the numbers in Portuguese and those in Surinam use the Dutch numerals.

Some are becoming fairly fluent in using the numerals. But in general the Wai Wais are

very slow in learning arithmetic.


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