numeral variants

[R. Joe Campbell]

On Sat, 27 Nov 1999, Leonel Hermida wrote:

> This is just for illustrating what I meant by 'variants' in numerals.
> I don't include either 'counters' (oontetl) or honorifics (ometzin),  though
> I include both stand-alone forms and prefix forms (oon-);

Leonel,
   I mark my comments with *** in the relevant places.

   Can I claim to have entered the domain of "number theory"?  <8->)

Best regards,

Joe



>
>1.
>ce. = one; a; an; single.,
>ce-. cepa. = once, one time.
***
  "one" is 'cem' (basically/underlyingly) and the /m/ can become [n]
  by assimilation or final word position.
>cen-.  centzontli. = four hundred; many.
>cem-.   cempoalli. = twenty,  cemilhuitl. = one whole day
>cep-.    ceppa. = once; one time; first; first time.
***
  The doubling of the 'p' is somehow (but not regularly) caused by the
  nasal consonant of 'cem'.
>
>2.
>omentin. = two; both.
***
  -tin is a common plural for nouns.
  -n- (before -tin) is a plural which occurs on "pronominals":
  tehhua-n (we), ti-huehhue:i- (we are big [see Andrews, p. 253]),
  mochi-n (all [pl.])
>omenti. = two.
***
  -the plural suffix dropped its 'n' ('n' dropping is common and particularly
  in word-final position, as well as before 'y' and 'w')
>omen. = two.
***
  Same -n as in omentin.
>ome. = two; both; couple.
>omextin. = two; both.
***
  The -tin plural suffix is obvious, but the 'x' is not.
  It is the plural totality morpheme 'ix' (with loss of the vowel /i/),
  "all two" [cf. 'caxtol-ix-tin' "all fifteen"]

>omexti. = two, both.
***
  Same as above, but 'n' dropping
>om-.  omilhuitl. =  two days,   ompoalilhuitl. = forty days.
***
  The /e/ drops frequently -- the conditions are hard to define.
>on-.   onxihuitl. = two years,   ontzontli.=  eight hundred
***
  /e/ drops; before a non-labial consonant, assimilation takes over
>oon-.    oontetl. = two.
***
  Reduplication in numbers usually means <n> at a time.

>op-  oppa. = two times, twice.
***
  The doubling of the 'p' is somehow (but not regularly) caused by the
  nasal consonant of 'ome'.

>o-   opa. = twice, two times.
***
  Two possibilities:
  1) the /m/ drops before the /p/;
  2) the /p/ doubles (as above) and the double 'pp' is not written.
   (I think #2 is more likely)
>ooc-  ooccan. = in two places.
***
  The same effect that doubled the 'p' above is doing the same thing to 'c'.

>
>3.
>ye-   yeilhuitl. = three days.
***
  "Three" is really /eyi/ and the /-i/ is deleted in a process parallel
  to the one that drops /-e/ in 'ome'.  (The further /y/ dropping is not
  clear.)
  Word-initial /e/ "excresces" (hablando con su perdon) 'y' sometimes in
  so-called "classical" -- and in some modern dialects, it either happens
  generally or not at all (each dialect in its own direction).
>yex-  yexcan. = three places.
***
  The /-i/ is deleted and the /y/ becomes [x] in syllable-final position.
>e-   eilhuitl. = three days.   epoalxihuitl. = sixty years.
***
  The same as ye- above, but without the "excrescent y-".
>eintin. = three.
***
  /y/ adjacent to /i/ (maybe encouraged by /e/ [a front vowel like /e/
  is freely dropped (i.e., is not in contrast with its own absence).
  The same '-n' that is found in 'mochi-n' and 'tehhua-n'.
>ei. = three.
>eixtin. = three.
>eei. = three.
>eex-.   eexcan. = in three places.
>ex-.    expa. = three times; thrice.
>
>4
>nahui. = four.
>nahuin. = four.        These are similar to the ones above
>nahuinti. = four.
>nahuintin. = four.
>nahuixti. = four.
>nahuixtin. = four.
>nauh-.  nauhtzontli. = sixteen hundred.  nahuacalli. = four boats
***
  The /i/ of 'nahui' is truncated in the same way as the /e/ of 'ome' and
  the /i/ of 'eyi'.  The resulting syllable-final /w/ ('hu') is respelled
  as 'uh', but the stem is *basically* unchanged <<in fact, the /w/ is
  de-voiced>>.
>nah-.   nahmapilli. = four fingers (e.g., of a drink).
***
  Not sure.

>nap-. nappa. = four times,  nappoalilhuitl. = eighty days
***
  Same doubling effect on /p/ that the consonant of 'cem' and 'ome'
  have.  /w/ does the same consonant doubling in other morpheme
  combinations.
>na-.  napa. = four times.
***
  The /p/ doubles (as above) and the double 'pp' is not written.