Numbers - Counting

Matthew Montchalin mmontcha at OregonVOS.net
Sun Oct 24 21:57:40 UTC 1999


Referring to Thelma Sullivan's Compendium of Nahuatl Grammar, pages 150
and following, an account of the Nahuatl numeral system is given.  How is
this different from Modern Nahuatl?

For instance, on pages 153 and 154 Sullivan indicates that the numerals
can be combined with exactly 4 nouns, using them as suffixes, namely:

   tetl "stone," for round things,
   pantli "flag," for things that can be lined up,
   tlamantli "thing," for people or objects, and
   olotl "corncob," for things that can be rolled.

Has Modern Nahuatl dropped these or changed them?  What are the
differences between Classical and Modern Nahuatl with regard to their way
of counting things?



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