How to count in Paicî

Enter a number and get it written in full in Paicî.

Language overview

The Paicî language belongs to the Austronesian language family, and more specifically to the New Caledonian languages. Spoken on the main island of New Caledonia, in its North Province, it counts about 5,500 speakers.
Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 100 in Paicî. Please contact us if you can help us counting up from that limit.

Body language counting

If the first four digits do not have a specific meaning (caapwi [1], êrêilû [2], êrêcié [3], and êrêpëpé [4]), the rest of Paicî numbering is based on the human body: hands (î), feet (â) and the man (âboro), or the full body. Besides, Paicî being a tonal language that differentiates words between three different tones not rendered in the writing (low, medium, and high), the same written word can have different meanings. For instance, jè can be either the indefinite article a (medium tone), or the pronoun we; â the coordinating conjunction and (high tone), or the foot/feet. Thus, five (caa kârâ î-jè) can be decomposed into caa (diminutive of caapwi [1]), kârâ (junction), î (the hand) and jè (we), and means “one of the two hands”. Ten (du î-jè) can be decomposed into du (both), î (hands) and jè (we), meaning “both hands”. Fifteen (du î-jè â jè â-jè) means “both hands and one foot”, twenty (caapwi âboro), “one man”, and one hundred (caa kârâ î-jè âboro), “one time five men”, or five times twenty. The other numbers are formed by adding the digits from one to four (görö meaning plus), and by multiplying the number of men. It is thus both a quinary (number of fingers or toes) and a vigesimal system (number of men).

Paicî numbering rules

  • Digits from one to four are specific words, five being the turning point (it means one hand), and digits beyond five, from six to nine, are formed by adding the four first ones to five with the word görö (plus): caapwi [1], êrêilû [2], êrêcié [3], êrêpëpé [4], caa kârâ î-jè [5], caa kârâ î-jè görö caapwi [6] (5 plus 1), caa kârâ î-jè görö êrêilû [7] (5 plus 2), caa kârâ î-jè görö êrêcié [8] (5 plus 3), and caa kârâ î-jè görö êrêpëpé [9] (5 plus 4).
  • Tens follow a vigesimal system: du î-jè [10] (litterally, the two hands), caapwi âboro [20] (one man), caapwi âboro â du î-jè [30] (20+10, or one man and two hands), êrêilû âboro [40] (2*20), êrêilû âboro â du î-jè [50] (2*20+10), êrêcié âboro [60] (3*20), êrêcié âboro â du î-jè [70] (3*20+10), êrêpëpé âboro [80] (4*20), and êrêpëpé âboro â du î-jè [90] (4*20+10).
  • Compound numbers are formed by adding the digit to the ten with the word görö (plus) (e.g.: du î-jè görö êrêilû [12], êrêilû âboro â du î-jè görö êrêpëpé [54]). We can however note an alternation of the form of the compound digit five between twenties and their intermediary tens, â or the foot replacing î or the hand (e.g.: caapwi âboro â jè î-jè [25], caapwi âboro â du î-jè â jè â-jè [35], êrêilû âboro â jè î-jè [45]).
  • One hundred is caa kârâ î-jè âboro, meaning one time five men, or five times twenty.

Books

Dictionnaire paicî-français, suivi d’un lexique français-paicî
Jean-Claude Rivierre, Peeters (1983)

Numbers list

1 – caapwi
2 – êrêilû
3 – êrêcié
4 – êrêpëpé
5 – caa kârâ î-jè
6 – caa kârâ î-jè görö caapwi
7 – caa kârâ î-jè görö êrêilû
8 – caa kârâ î-jè görö êrêcié
9 – caa kârâ î-jè görö êrêpëpé
10 – du î-jè
11 – du î-jè görö caapwi
12 – du î-jè görö êrêilû
13 – du î-jè görö êrêcié
14 – du î-jè görö êrêpëpé
15 – du î-jè â jè â-jè
16 – du î-jè â jè â-jè görö caapwi
17 – du î-jè â jè â-jè görö êrêilû
18 – du î-jè â jè â-jè görö êrêcié
19 – du î-jè â jè â-jè görö êrêpëpé
20 – caapwi âboro
30 – caapwi âboro â du î-jè
40 – êrêilû âboro
50 – êrêilû âboro â du î-jè
60 – êrêcié âboro
70 – êrêcié âboro â du î-jè
80 – êrêpëpé âboro
90 – êrêpëpé âboro â du î-jè
100 – caa kârâ î-jè âboro

Links

Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages

Mussau-Emira, Nêlêmwa, Nengone, Paicî, and Tongan (telephone-style).

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