Counting in Choapan Zapotec
Language overview
Choapan Zapotec, also known as Comaltepec Zapotec, is a Zapotecan language from the Oto-Manguean languages family spoken in north central Oaxaca and Veracruz, Mexico, by about 12,000 speakers.
Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 999 in Choapan Zapotec. Please contact me if you can help me counting up from that limit.
Choapan Zapotec numbers list
- 1 – tu
- 2 – chopa
- 3 – tzona
- 4 – tapa
- 5 – ga’yo’
- 6 – xopa
- 7 – gadyi
- 8 – xuna’
- 9 – ga
- 10 – chi
- 11 – chiptu
- 12 – chipchopa
- 13 – chi’nnu
- 14 – chi’da’
- 15 – chi’no’
- 16 – chi’no’ be tu
- 17 – chi’no’ be chopa
- 18 – chi’no be tzona
- 19 – tu galo
- 20 – galo
- 30 – galo be chi
- 40 – chopa galo
- 50 – chopa galo chi
- 60 – tzona galo
- 70 – tzona galo chi
- 80 – tapa galo
- 90 – tapa galo chi
- 100 – tu gayua
Choapan Zapotec 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).
- Digits from one to nine are specific words: tu [1], chopa [2], tzona [3], tapa [4], ga’yo’ [5], xopa [6], gadyi [7], xuna’ [8], and ga [9].
- The word for ten is chi. Numbers from eleven to nineteen are quite irregular, namely: chiptu [11] (contraction of chi be tu, 10+1), chipchopa [12] (contraction of chi be chopa, 10+2), chi’nnu [13], chi’da’ [14], chi’no’ [15], chi’no’ be tu [16] (15+1), chi’no’ be chopa [17] (15+2), chi’no be tzona [18] (15+1), and tu galo [19] (20-1).
- Choapan Zapotec uses the vigesimal system, hence the tens are formed on the words for ten and twenty, namely: chi [10], galo [20], galo be chi [30] (20+10), chopa galo [40] (2*20), chopa galo chi [50] (2*20 + 10), tzona galo [60] (3*20), tzona galo chi [70] (3*20 + 10), tapa galo [80] (4*20), and tapa galo chi [90] (4*20 + 10).
- When composed, numbers from twenty-one to twenty-nine are formed by saying the word for twenty (galo), then the word be (plus) and the digit (e.g.: galo be tu [21], galo be ga’yo’ [25]). From thirty-one to ninety-nine, the word be disappears (e.g.: galo be chi xopa [36], tzona galo tzona [63]).
- Hundreds are formed by saying the multiplier digit before the word for hundred (gayua): tu gayua [100], chopa gayua [200], tzona gayua [300]…
Write a number in full in Choapan Zapotec
Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Choapan Zapotec. 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
San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec Dictionary (Vols. 1 and 2)
editors UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Publications (1999)
[ Amazon.com]
Gramática popular del zapoteco de Comaltepec, Choapan, Oaxaca (Serie de gramáticas de lenguas indígenas de México, Num. 10)
by Hilario Lyman Boulden, editors Instituto Lingüístico de Verano (2007)
[ Amazon.com]
Guendaguti ñee sisi / La Muerte de pies ligeros (edición bilingüe zapoteco - español)
by Toledo Natalia, editors Fondo de Cultura Económica (2005)
[ Amazon.com]
Links
- Gramática popular del zapoteco de Comaltepec, Choapam, Oaxaca, by Hilario Lyman Boulden (.pdf in Spanish)
Oto-Manguean languages
Aloápam Zapotec, Choapan Zapotec, Copala Triqui, Isthmus Zapotec, Lachixío Zapotec, Mazahua, Rincón Zapotec, Santa Ana Yareni Zapotec, Sierra Otomi, and Tezoatlán Mixtec.
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.