Counting in Rincón Zapotec

Language overview

Forty-two in Rincón Zapotec Rincón Zapotec (Didza Xidza), also known as Northern Villa Alta Zapotec, or Nexitzo, is a Zapotec language that belongs to the Oto-Manguean language family. It is spoken in the north of Oaxaca, Mexico, and counts about 40,000 speaker. Rincon Zapotec speakers have 64% intelligibility of Choapan Zapotec, its closest language.

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

Rincón Zapotec numbers list

  • 1 – tu
  • 2 – chopa
  • 3 – tsonna
  • 4 – tapa
  • 5 – gayu’
  • 6 – xopa
  • 7 – gadxi
  • 8 – xunu’
  • 9 – ga
  • 10 – chi
  • 11 – chinéaj
  • 12 – chinnu
  • 13 – chi’inu
  • 14 – chidá’
  • 15 – chinu
  • 16 – chizxopa
  • 17 – chini
  • 18 – chixxunu’
  • 19 – chënnaj
  • 20 – gal-laj
  • 30 – chi-urua’
  • 40 – choa’
  • 50 – chi-un
  • 60 – tsónnalal-laj
  • 70 – tsónnalal-laj-yu’-chi
  • 80 – tápalal-laj
  • 90 – tápalal-laj-yu’-chi
  • 100 – tu gayuá’
  • 1,000 – tu mila

Rincón 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 rendered by specific words: tu [1], chopa [2], tsonna [3], tapa [4], gayu’ [5], xopa [6], gadxi [7], xunu’ [8], and ga [9].
  • Tens follow a vigesimal system, alternating between multiples of twenty with different forms, and multiples of twenty and ten: chi [10], gal-laj [20], chi-uruá’ [30] (10+20), choa’ [40], chi-un [50] (10+40), tsónnalal-laj [60] (3*20), tsónnalal-laj-yu’-chi [70] (3*20 & 10), tápalal-laj [80] (4*20), and tápalal-laj-yu’-chi [90] (4*20 & 10). Twenty takes different forms when compound: -uruá’ from 21 to 39, and lal-laj from 60 to 99. Forty has a second form when compound too: -un, from 41 to 59.
  • Numbers from eleven to nineteen are formed starting with the word for ten (chi), directly followed with a suffix in which we can sometimes recognize the unit (in sixteen and eighteen at least): chinéaj [11], chinnu [12], chi’inu [13], chidá’ [14], chinu [15], chizxopa [16], chini [17], chixxunu’ [18], and chënnaj [19].
  • Compound numbers from twenty-one to thirty-nine are formed starting with the number from one to nineteen, followed by a specific form of the word for twenty (-uruá’), linked with a hyphen (e.g.: tapa-urua’ [24], chini-urua’ [37]).
  • Compound numbers from forty-one to fifty-nine are formed starting with the number from one to nineteen, followed by a specific form of the word for forty (-un), linked with a hyphen (e.g.: gayu’-un [45], chinéaj-un [51]).
  • Compound numbers from sixty-one to ninety-nine are formed starting with the ten, followed by the conjonction yu’ (and) and the number from one to nineteen, all linked with hyphens (e.g.: tsónnalal-laj-yu’-xopa [66], tápalal-laj-yu’-chixxunu’ [98]).
  • Hundreds are formed starting with the multiplier digit, followed by the word for hundred (gayuá’), in which we can recognize the word for five (gayu’), telling us about its vigesimal etymology: tu gayuá’ [100], chopa gayuá’ [200], tsonna gayuá’ [300], tapa gayuá’ [400], gayu’ gayuá’ [500], xopa gayuá’ [600], gadxi gayuá’ [700], xunu’ gayuá’ [800], and ga gayuá’ [900].
  • When compound, hundred and ten or unit are linked with the conjonction yu’ (and): tu gayuá’ yu’ tápalal-laj yu’ chopa [182], tsonna gayuá’ yu’ tsonna [303].
  • Thousands are formed starting with the multiplier digit, followed by the word for thousand (mila), separated with a space: tu mila [1,000], chopa mila [2,000], tsonna mila [3,000], tapa mila [4,000], gayu’ mila [5,000], xopa mila [6,000], gadxi mila [7,000], xunu’ mila [8,000], and ga mila [9,000].
  • When compound, thousand, and hundred, ten or unit are also linked with the conjonction yu’ (and): tu mila yu’ tu gayuá’ yu’ tu-urua’ [1,121], chopa mila yu’ chopa [2,002].

Write a number in full in Rincón Zapotec

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

Source

  • Diccionario Zapoteco del Rincón (in Spanish), Roberto Earl & Catalina Sheffler de Earl, Summer Institute of Linguistics (2011)

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.