Counting in Ch’ol

Language overview

Ch’ol (Lak ty’añ, Our language) belongs to the Ch’ol branch of the Mayan languages family. It is divided into three mutually understandable dialectal groups: Sabanilla Ch’ol, Tumbalá Ch’ol, and Tila Ch’ol. Mostly spoken in the highlands of northeastern Chiapas, Mexico, the Ch’ol language counts about 140,000 speakers.

Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 400 in Ch’ol. Please contact me if you can help me counting up from that limit.

Numeric classifiers of Ch’ol

In Ch’ol, there is a classification system that gives some characteristics of the shape, quality or texture of the counted objects. The numeral root never appears alone: each number includes a classifier that is placed at the end of the root.
These numeric roots are: jun- [1], cha’- [2], ux- [3], chän- [4], jo’- [5], wäc- [6], wuc- [7], waxäc- [8], bolon- [9], lujun- [10], and junlujun- [11].
Here are a few classifiers:

• -c’al, from twenty to twenty (cha’c’al, two twenties, or forty)
• -bajc’, zonte, set of four hundred units (cha’bajc’, eight hundred)
• -pic, set of eight thousand units (junpic, eight thousand)
• -lijc, piece of fabric (junlijc, one piece of fabric)
• -lujt, ear of corn (junlujt, one ear of corn)
• -p’al, word (jump’al, one word)
• -tyejc, tree (juntyejc, one tree)
• -ts’ijt, pen (junts’ijt, one pen)

Ch’ol 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 formed on the number root with the generic classifier p’ej: jump’ej [1], cha’p’ej [2], uxp’ej [3], chänp’ej [4], jo’p’ej [5], wäcp’ej [6], wucp’ej [7], waxäcp’ej [8], and bolomp’ej [9].
• The Ch’ol language follows a vigesimal system (of base 20) using the -c’al classifier to form the tens: lujump’ej [10], junk’al [20] (1*20), lujump’ej i cha’c’al [30], cha’c’al [40] (2*20), lujump’ej i yuxc’al [50], uxc’al [60] (3*20), lujump’ej i chänc’al [70], chänc’al [80] (4*20), and lujump’ej i jo’c’al [90].
• Note that the intermediary tens are formed using the following multiple of twenty: for instance, thirty is ten (from) forty, and not ten (plus) twenty. This is called a substractive numeral system.
• Compound numbers from eleven to nineteen are formed prefixing the word for ten (lujump’ej) with the unit root, with no space, except for twelve, irregular: junlujump’ej [11], lajchämp’ej [12], uxlujump’ej [13], chänlujump’ej [14], jo’lujump’ej [15], wäclujump’ej [16], wuclujump’ej [17], waxäclujump’ej [18], and bolonlujump’ej [19].
• Compound numbers above twenty are formed starting with the number from one to nineteen, then the word i and the following multiple of twenty (e.g.: jo’lujump’ej i cha’c’al [35], wucp’ej i chänc’al [67]).
• The word for one hundred is jo’c’al [100] (5*20). As Ch’ol follows a full vigesimal system, compound numbers above one hundred keep following the same pattern, using the following multipliers of twenty: jo’c’al [100] (5*20), wäcc’al [120] (6*20), wucc’al [140] (7*20), waxäcc’al [160] (8*20), bolonc’al [180] (9*20), lujunc’al [200] (10*20), junlujunc’al [220] (11*20), lajchänc’al [240] (12*20), uxlujunc’al [260] (13*20), chänlujunc’al [280] (14*20), jo’lujunc’al [300] (15*20), wäclujunc’al [320] (16*20), wuclujunc’al [340] (17*20), waxäclujunc’al [360] (18*20), and bolonlujunc’al [380] (19*20).
• The following hundreds are: jumbasc’ [400] (1*400, formed on the 400 units classifier bajc’), jumbasc’ yic’ot jo’c’al [500] (400+100), lujunc’al i cha’bajc’ [600] (800-200), jo’lujunc’al i cha’bajc’ [700], cha’bajc’ [800] (2*400), and jo’c’al i yuxbajc’ [900].
• One thousand is lujunc’al i yuxbajc’ [1,000] (3*400-200), hence we have yuxbajc’ [1,200]. And two thousand is jo’bajc’ [2,000] (5*400).
• Eight thousand is formed on the 8,000 units classifier (pic): junpic [8,000] (1*8,000).

Write a number in full in Ch’ol

Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Ch’ol. 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

Source

• Gramatica Ch’ol, Viola Warkentin & Ruby Scott, Summer Institute of Linguistics (1980)

Mayan languages

Ch’ol, Jakaltek, and Kaqchikel.

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.