Counting in Tunica

Language overview

Forty-two in Tunica The Tunica language (Luhchi Yoroni), also known as Tonica or Yuron, is a language isolate, hence it has no genealogical relationship with other languages. It was the language of the Tunica people in the Central and Lower Mississippi Valley in the United States. Extinct in 1948 with the death of its last native speaker, Sesostrie Youchigant, it is being revitalized since 2010 by the Tunica-Biloxi tribe, located in east central Louisiana, and counts about 32 second language speakers.

Tunica numbers list

  • 1 – saxk
  • 2 – ī’lī
  • 3 – ē’nixku
  • 4 – ma’ku
  • 5 – si’ku
  • 6 – ma’xsaxk
  • 7 – ta-i’xku
  • 8 – ti’xsixku
  • 9 – tū’xkusaxk
  • 10 – mī’tcu saxk
  • 11 – tă’ya saxk
  • 12 – tăy-ī’lī
  • 13 – mī’tcusaxk tăyē’nixku
  • 14 – mī’tcusaxk tă’yamaku
  • 15 – mī’tcusaxk tă’yasiku
  • 16 – mī’tcusaxk tăyamaxsak
  • 17 – mī’tcusaxk tăyatai’xk
  • 18 – mī’tcusaxk tăyatixsik
  • 19 – mī’tcusaxk tăyatū’ksaxk
  • 20 – mī’tc-īlī
  • 30 – mī’tc-ē’nixku
  • 40 – mī’tce ma’nku
  • 50 – mī’tc si’ku
  • 60 – mī’tce ma’xsaxk
  • 70 – mī’tce ta’-ixku
  • 80 – mī’tce ti’xsixku
  • 90 – mī’tce tū’kūsaxk
  • 100 – pō’lūn
  • 1,000 – pō’lūn tikha’yi

Tunica 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: saxk (or saxku) [1], ī’lī [2], ē’nixku [3], ma’ku [4], si’ku [5], ma’xsaxk [6], ta-i’xku [7], ti’xsixku [8], and tū’xkusaxk [9].
  • Tens are formed starting with a form of the word mī’tce, followed by a space and the multiplier digit: mī’tcu saxk [10], mī’tc-īlī [20], mī’tc-ē’nixku [30], mī’tce ma’nku [40], mī’tce ma’nku [50], mī’tce ma’xsaxk [60], mī’tce ta’-ixku (or mī’tce ta’-iku) [70], mī’tce ti’xsixku [80], and mī’tce tū’kūsaxk [90].
  • Eleven and twelve are irregular: tă’ya saxk or mī’tcusată’sa [11], and tăy-ī’lī or mī’tcu saxk tăyī’lī [12].
  • Numbers from thirteen to nineteen are formed starting with the word for ten with no space (mī’tcusaxk), followed by the unit prefixed with a form of tă’ya: mī’tcusaxk tăyē’nixku [13], mī’tcusaxk tă’yamaku [14], mī’tcusaxk tă’yasiku [15], mī’tcusaxk tăyamaxsak [16], mī’tcusaxk tăyatai’xk [17], mī’tcusaxk tăyatixsik [18], and mī’tcusaxk tăyatū’ksaxk [19].
  • Compound numbers above twenty are formed starting with the ten, then the unit prefixed with a form of tă’ya (e.g.: mī’tc-īlī tăyatixsik [28], mī’tc si’ku tăyē’nixku [53], mī’tce tū’kūsaxk tă’yamaku [94]).
  • Hundreds are formed starting with the word for hundred (pō’lūn), followed by the multiplier digit separated with a space, except for one hundred: pō’lūn [100], pō’lūn ī’lī [200], pō’lūn ē’nixku [300], pō’lūn ma’ku [400], pō’lūn si’ku [500], pō’lūn ma’xsaxk [600], pō’lūn ta-i’xku [700], pō’lūn ti’xsixku [800], and pō’lūn tū’xkusaxk [900].
  • The expression for one thousand is pō’lūn tikha’yi [1,000].

Write a number in full in Tunica

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

Revitalization Lexicography: The Making of the New Tunica Dictionary Revitalization Lexicography: The Making of the New Tunica Dictionary
by , editors University of Arizona Press (2020)
[Amazon.com Amazon.com, Kindle - Amazon.com Kindle - Amazon.com]

Isolate languages

Ainu, Basque, Burushaski, Keresan, Korean, Purépecha, and Tunica.

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.