Counting in Abui
Language overview
Abui (Abui tanga, or mountain language) is a Papuan language that belongs to the Alor-Pantar languages family. It is spoken in the central part of Alor Island in Eastern Indonesia, East Nusa Tenggara province by the Abui people. Abui counts about 16,000 native speakers.
Abui numbers list
- 1 – nuku
- 2 – ayoku
- 3 – sua
- 4 – buti
- 5 – yeting
- 6 – talaama
- 7 – yetingayoku
- 8 – yetingsua
- 9 – yetingbuti
- 10 – karnuku
- 11 – karnuku wal nuku
- 12 – karnuku wal ayoku
- 13 – karnuku wal sua
- 14 – karnuku wal buti
- 15 – karnuku wal yeting
- 16 – karnuku wal talaama
- 17 – karnuku wal yetingayoku
- 18 – karnuku wal yetingsua
- 19 – karnuku wal yetingbuti
- 20 – kar-ayoku
- 30 – kar-sua
- 40 – kar-buti
- 50 – kar-yeting
- 60 – kar-talaama
- 70 – kar-yetingayoku
- 80 – kar-yetingsua
- 90 – kar-yetingbuti
- 100 – aisaha nuku
- 1,000 – rifi nuku
Abui numbering rules
Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).
- The Abui language follows a quinary system (of base 5) up to nine. Its digits from one to nine are rendered by specific words, namely nuku [1], ayoku [2], sua [3], buti [4], yeting [5], talaama [6], yetingayoku [7] (5+2), yetingsua [8] (5+3), and yetingbuti [9] (5+4).
- Tens are formed starting with an abbreviation of the word for ten (kar, for karnuku) linked to its multiplier with a hyphen, except for ten itself: karnuku [10], kar-ayoku [20], kar-sua [30], kar-buti [40], kar-yeting [50], kar-talaama [60], kar-yetingayoku [70], kar-yetingsua [80], and kar-yetingbuti [90].
- Compound numbers are formed starting with the ten, followed by the word wal, and the unit (e.g.: karnuku wal yetingayoku [17], kar-talaama wal buti [64]).
- Hundreds are formed starting with the word for hundred (aisaha), followed by its multiplier separated with a space: aisaha nuku [100], aisaha ayoku [200], aisaha sua [300], aisaha buti [400], aisaha yeting [500], aisaha talaama [600], aisaha yetingayoku [700], aisaha yetingsua [800], and aisaha yetingbuti [900].
- Thousands are formed starting with the word for thousand (rifi, a loanword for the Malay ribu), followed by its multiplier separated with a space: rifi nuku [1,000], rifi ayoku [2,000], rifi sua [3,000], rifi buti [4,000], rifi yeting [5,000], rifi talaama [6,000], rifi yetingayoku [7,000], rifi yetingsua [8,000], and rifi yetingbuti [9,000].
Write a number in full in Abui
Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Abui. Will you guess how to write a number in full? Enter a number and try to write it down in your head, or maybe on a piece of paper, before displaying the result.
Books
The Alor-Pantar Languages: History and Typology. Second Edition.
by Marian Klamer, editors Saint Philip Street Press (2020)
[
Amazon.com]
The Papuan Languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar. Volume 2
by Antoinette Schapper, editors Walter de Gruyter (2017)
[ Amazon.com, 
Kindle - Amazon.com]
The Papuan Languages of Timor, Alor and Pantar. Volume 1
by Antoinette Schapper, editors Walter de Gruyter (2014)
[ Amazon.com, Kindle - Amazon.com]
A Grammar of Abui: A Papuan Language of Alor
by František Kratochvíl, editors Landelijke Onderzoekschool Taalwetenschap (2007)
[ Amazon.com]
Source
- Number in Abui and Sawila (pdf), by František Kratochvíl, in Papers from 12-ICAL, Volume 1 (2014)
Trans-New Guinea languages
Abui, Huli, Ndom, Savosavo, Sawila, Tolaki, and Western Pantar.
Other supported languages
As the other currently supported languages are too numerous to list extensively here, please select a language from the full list of supported languages.