Counting in Sierra Otomi
Language overview
Sierra Otomi, or Highland Otomi (Yųhų or Yuhú), is an Otomian language of the Oto-Manguean language family. It is a dialect cluster or a dialect continuum, spoken in the highlands of Eastern Hidalgo, Western Veracruz and Northern Puebla, Mexico. Sierra Otomi is a tonal language that has four tones: high, low, descending or high-low, and ascending or low-high. It counts about 50,000 speakers.
Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 10,000 in Sierra Otomi. Please contact me if you can help me counting up from that limit.
Sierra Otomi numbers list
- 1 – n’da
- 2 – yoho
- 3 – hyu
- 4 – goho
- 5 – ku̱t’a
- 6 – ’dato
- 7 – yoto
- 8 – hyäto
- 9 – gu̱to
- 10 – de̱t’a
- 11 – de̱’ma’da
- 12 – de̱’mayoho
- 13 – de̱’mahyu
- 14 – de̱’magoho
- 15 – de̱’maku̱t’a
- 16 – de̱’ma’dato
- 17 – de̱’mayoto
- 18 – de̱’mahyäto
- 19 – de̱’magu̱to
- 20 – ’da̱te
- 30 – ’da̱tema’de̱t’a
- 40 – yote‘
- 50 – yotema’de̱’a
- 60 – hyäte
- 70 – hyätema’de̱’magoho
- 80 – goho’da̱te
- 90 – goho’da̱tema’de̱t’a
- 100 – n’da syento
- 1,000 – n’damahwähi
Sierra Otomi 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, namely n’da [1], yoho [2], hyu [3], goho [4], ku̱t’a [5], ’dato [6], yoto [7], hyäto [8], and gu̱to [9].
- Tens follow a vigesimal system based on the words for ten and twenty, alternating multiples of twenty and multiples of twenty plus ten: de̱t’a [10], ’da̱te [20], ’da̱tema’de̱t’a [30] (20+10), yote‘ [40] (2*20), yotema’de̱’a [50] (2*20+10), hyäte or hyu’da̱te [60] (3*20), hyätema’de̱’magoho [70] (3*20+10), goho’da̱te [80] (4*20), and goho’da̱tema’de̱t’a [90] (4*20+10).
- Compound numbers are formed starting with the ten, directly followed by the unit, with no space, with some phonetic changes (e.g.: ’da̱tema’de̱’ma’da [31], hyätemahyu [63]).
- Hundreds are formed starting with the multiplier unit, followed by the word for hundred (syento, borrowed from the Spanish ciento): n’da syento [100], yo syento [200], hyu syento [300], goho syento [400], ku̱t’a syento [500], ’dato syento [600], yoto syento [700], hyäto syento [800], and gu̱to syento [900].
- When compound, hundreds are linked to tens or units with the conjunction ’ne, which means and (e.g.: n’da syento ’ne yoho [102], yo syento ’ne yotema’de̱’maku̱t’a [255]).
- Thousands are formed prefixing the word for thousand (hwähi) with the multiplier unit and the proclitic ma: n’damahwähi [1,000], yomahwähi [2,000]…
Write a number in full in Sierra Otomi
Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Sierra Otomi. 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
- Gramática del yuhú (otomí de la Sierra Madre Oriental), Summer Institute of Linguistics (1979 & 2007)
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.