Counting in Mussau-Emira

Language overview

Forty-two in Mussau-Emira The Mussau-Emira language belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian group (and more specifically to the oceanic sub-group) of the Austronesian family. It is spoken in Papua New Guinea, on the islands of Mussau and Emirau, in the Bismarck Archipelago, and counts about 5,000 speakers.

Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 9,999 in Mussau-Emira. Please contact me if you can help me counting up from that limit.

Mussau-Emira numbers list

  • 1 – sesa
  • 2 – lua
  • 3 – tolu
  • 4 – ata
  • 5 – lima
  • 6 – nomo
  • 7 – itu
  • 8 – oalu
  • 9 – sio
  • 10 – sangaulu
  • 11 – sangaulu sesa
  • 12 – sangaulu lua
  • 13 – sangaulu tolu
  • 14 – sangaulu ata
  • 15 – sangaulu lima
  • 16 – sangaulu nomo
  • 17 – sangaulu itu
  • 18 – sangaulu oalu
  • 19 – sangaulu sio
  • 20 – luengaulu
  • 30 – tolungaulu
  • 40 – atingaulu
  • 50 – limangaulu
  • 60 – nomongaulu
  • 70 – itungaulu
  • 80 – oalungaulu
  • 90 – siongaulu
  • 100 – ai
  • 1,000 – airari

Mussau-Emira 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, namely sesa [1], lua [2], tolu [3], ata [4], lima [5], nomo [6], itu [7], oalu [8], and sio [9].
  • The tens have specific names based on the digits roots followed by the ligature -nga-, and the suffix -ulu indicating ten: sangaulu [10], luengaulu [20], tolungaulu [30], atingaulu [40], limangaulu [50], nomongaulu [60], itungaulu [70], oalungaulu [80], and siongaulu [90].
  • The compound numbers are built by following the ten by the unit, separated with a space (e.g.: tolungaulu lima [35], itungaulu oalu [78]).
  • The word for hundred is ai, one thousand is airari (airare is another form of it, which seems to be dialectal). Compound numbers with hundreds and thousands are built by setting the multiplier, then a space and the scale name, except when the multiplier is one (e.g.: ai [100], lua ai [200], oalu airari ai siongaulu lua [8,192]).

Write a number in full in Mussau-Emira

Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Mussau-Emira. 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.

Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages

Araki, Cèmuhî, Māori, Marshallese, Mussau-Emira, Mwotlap, Nêlêmwa, Nengone, Paicî, Rapa Nui, Tahitian, Tongan (telephone-style), and Yuanga-zuanga.

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.