Counting in Jakaltek
Language overview
Jakaltek, also known as Poptiʼ, is a Mayan language that belongs to the Qʼanjobalan branch (in the Western branch). It is spoken by the Jakaltek people, mostly in the department of Huehuetenango, Guatemala (in the Huista region: Jacaltenango, Concepción Huista, Petatán, San Antonio Huista, Santa Ana Huista, Nentón, and Cantinil), and also in Chiapas, in southern Mexico. Poptiʼ counts about 40,000 speaker in a population of about 65,000 people.
Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 380 in Jakaltek. Please contact me if you can help me counting up from that limit.
Jakaltek numbers list
- 1 – hune’
- 2 – kab’eb’
- 3 – oxeb’
- 4 – kanheb’
- 5 – howeb’
- 6 – wajeb’
- 7 – hujeb’
- 8 – waxajeb’
- 9 – b’alunheb’
- 10 – lahunheb’
- 11 – hunlahunheb’
- 12 – kab’lahunheb’
- 13 – oxlahunheb’
- 14 – kanhlahunheb’
- 15 – holahunheb’
- 16 – wajlahunheb’
- 17 – hujlahunheb’
- 18 – waxajlahunheb’
- 19 – b’alunhlahunheb’
- 20 – hunk’al
- 30 – lahunheb’ skab’winaj
- 40 – kab’winaj
- 50 – lahunheb’ oxk’al
- 60 – oxk’al
- 70 – lahunheb’ skanhwinaj
- 80 – kanhwinaj
- 90 – lahunheb’ shok’al
- 100 – hok’al
Jakaltek 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 zero to nine are formed on the digit root with the generic classifier eb’, except for zero and one: tz’in [0], hune’ [1], kab’eb’ [2], oxeb’ [3], kanheb’ [4], howeb’ [5], wajeb’ [6], hujeb’ [7], waxajeb’ [8], and b’alunheb’ [9].
- Jakaltek follows a vigesimal system (of base 20) for the tens, and more specifically a substractive numeral system, where tens alternate between multiples of twenty (marked with the suffix k’al) and the word for ten followed by the next multiple of twenty (prefixed with an s if it starts with a k or a h): lahunheb’ [10], hunk’al [20] (1*20), lahunheb’ skab’winaj [30] (10 from 40), kab’winaj [40] (2*20), lahunheb’ yoxk’al [50] (10 from 60), oxk’al [60] (3*20), lahunheb’ skanhwinaj [70] (10 from 80), kanhwinaj [80] (4*20), and lahunheb’ shok’al [90] (10 from 100).
- Compound numbers are formed starting with the number from one to nineteen, followed by the next multiple of twenty, which is prefixed with an s if it starts with a k or a h (e.g.: oxeb’ skab’winaj [23], hujlahunheb’ yoxk’al [57]).
- The vigesimal system keeps going on after 99, as each multiple of twenty has its own word. One hundred is hok’al [100] (5*20), then we have wajk’al [120] (6*20), hujk’al [140] (7*20), waxajk’al [160] (8*20), b’alunhk’al [180] (9*20), lahunhk’al [200] (10*20), hunlahunhk’al [220] (11*20), kab’lahunhk’al [240] (12*20), oxlahunhk’al [260] (13*20), kanhlahunhk’al [280] (14*20), holahunhk’al [300] (15*20), wajlahunhk’al [320] (16*20), hujlahunhk’al [340] (17*20), waxajlahunhk’al [360] (18*20), and b’alunhlahunhk’al [380] (19*20).
- Five hundred is hunmotz [500].
Write a number in full in Jakaltek
Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Jakaltek. 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 Structure of Jacaltec
by Colette Grinevald Craig, editors University of Texas Press (1977)
[ Amazon.com]
The Jacaltec Language
by Christopher Day, editors De Gruyter Mouton (1974)
[ Amazon.com]
Diccionario del Idioma Jakalteko
by José Ramírez Pérez, Andrés Montejo & Baltazar Díaz Hurtado, editors Proyecto Lingüístico Francisco Marroquín (1996)
[ Amazon.com]
Sources
- B’alunh Noh (YouTube)
- Lengua Materna, Francisco Alfredo Sapón Orellana (2015)
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.