Counting in Santa Ana Yareni Zapotec
Language overview
Santa Ana Yareni Zapotec is a Zapotecan language from the Oto-Manguean languages family spoken in Santa Ana Yareni, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, by about 3,000 speakers.
Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 999 in Santa Ana Yareni Zapotec. Please contact me if you can help me counting up from that limit.
Santa Ana Yareni Zapotec numbers list
- 1 – ttubi
- 2 – chupa
- 3 – tsunna
- 4 – ttapa
- 5 – gayu
- 6 – xxupa
- 7 – gasi
- 8 – xxunu
- 9 – jaa
- 10 – tsii
- 11 – sinea
- 12 – tsi’inu
- 13 – si’intse
- 14 – sitá
- 15 – tsinu
- 16 – sixupa
- 17 – tsini
- 18 – sixunu
- 19 – chennia
- 20 – galhia
- 30 – rerua
- 40 – chua
- 50 – tsieyona
- 60 – gayuna
- 70 – gayuna bixxi tsii
- 80 – tta
- 90 – tta bixxi tsii
- 100 – ttu gayua
Santa Ana Yareni 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: ttubi [1], chupa [2], tsunna [3], ttapa [4], gayu [5], xxupa [6], gasi [7], xxunu [8], and jaa [9].
- Numbers from ten to nineteen are specific words too: tsii [10], sinea [11], tsi’inu [12], si’intse [13], sitá [14], tsinu [15], sixupa [16], tsini [17], sixunu [18], and chennia [19]. We can however recognize in some of them the word for ten (tsii) followed by the unit (e.g.: sixunu [18] is a contraction of tsii [10] and xxunu [8]).
- The word for twenty is galhia. Numbers from twenty-one to twenty-nine are formed by adding the suffix -erua to the digit root: ttuerua [21], chuperua [22], tsunnerua [23], ttaperua [24], gayuerua [25], xxuperua [26], gasierua [27], xxunuerua [28], and jaerua [29].
- Santa Ana Yareni Zapotec partially uses the vigesimal system, where some tens (namely seventy and ninety) are formed by adding ten to the previous one: tsii [10], galhia [20], rerua [30], chua [40], tsieyona [50], gayuna [60], gayuna bixxi tsii [70] (60 + 10), tta [80], and tta bixxi tsii [90] (80 + 10). Etymologically, we can note that the word for eighty (tta) is the root of the digit four (ttapa), which could mean that it is a contraction of four times twenty, the same being observed with forty (chua), contraction of two times twenty.
- Regular compound numbers from thirty-one to sixty-nine, and from eighty-one to eighty-nine, are formed by saying the ten, then the word bixxi (and/plus), and the digit (e.g.: rerua bixxi chupa [32], gayuna bixxi xxupa [66]). The digit one, when compound, is shortened from ttubi to ttu (e.g.: tsieyona bixxi ttu [51]). Seventies and nineties are formed by adding the words for eleven to nineteen to the previous ten (e.g.: gayuna bixxi sinea [71], tta bixxi sixunu [98]).
- Hundreds are formed by saying the multiplier digit before the word for hundred (gayua): ttu gayua [100] (note the use of the short one, ttu), chupa gayua [200], tsunna gayua [300]… We can note here again the vigesimal system in use: as gayua is formed on gayu (five), it can be read as the contraction of five times twenty.
Write a number in full in Santa Ana Yareni Zapotec
Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Santa Ana Yareni 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]
Guendaguti ñee sisi / La Muerte de pies ligeros (edición bilingüe zapoteco - español)
by Toledo Natalia, editors Fondo de Cultura Económica (2005)
[ Amazon.com]
Diccionario Zapoteco de San Lucas Quiaviní (Vols. 1 y 2)
editors UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center Publications (1999)
[ Amazon.com]
Links
- Let’s read the numbers (.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.