| |
|
|
|
The form for twenty and fifty
are /mec /
and /ténem/ respectively, and they are primary and are not
derived from any other numeral. But the allomorph /é /
for ten is added redundantly to form twentyone to
twentynine and fiftyone to fiftynine. |
|
|
| mecká
|
‘twentyone’ |
| |
|
| mectokó
|
‘twentynine’ |
| |
|
| téneméká
|
‘fiftyone’ |
| |
|
| ténemétokó
|
‘fiftynine’ |
|
| |
| 2.3.1.
Ordinals : |
| |
| Ao has a suffix to derive the ordinals from the cardinals. The
suffix is /-puba/. |
| |
pez |
‘four’ |
pez
puba |
‘fourth’ |
| |
|
|
|
pu u
|
‘five’ |
puu
puba |
‘fifth’ |
| |
|
|
|
| téaná
|
‘twelve’ |
téaná
puba |
‘twelfth’ |
|
| |
|
The numeral /ká/ ‘one’ has a suppletive form /mezu/
to indicate the ordinal ‘first’. The ordinal suffix /puba/
may be optionally added to /mezu/,
which itself is an ordinal. The numerals/aná/ ‘two’ and /asem/
‘three’ which begin with a vowel have the stem variants /taná/
and /tasem/ before the
ordinal suffix /puba/. |
| |
|
The variants have /t/ aded initially to the basic numeral. On
the pattern of allomorphs of
/té/ ‘ten’ and /tok/
‘six’ without initial /t/ discussed above, it is possible to
have here also the forms with
initial /t/ /tana/
and /tasem/ as basic and the forms without it (/aná/ and /tasem/)
as variants. |
|
|
| 2.3.2.
Distributives : |
| |
| The distributive numerals are formed by reduplication. |
| |
| 8. /é
/ in these forms may also be analysed as oblique markers as they
make the oblique forms of certain pronouns. |
| |
| (i) The
final syllable of the basic numerals is duplicated to form the
distributives. If the numeral is mono-syllabic, only available
syllable is the final syllable. |
| |
| Examples : |
| |
| ká |
‘one’ |
káká |
‘one one, i.e., one each’ |
| |
|
|
|
| aná |
‘two’ |
anáná |
‘two two, ie., two each’ |
| |
|
|
|
| asem |
‘three’ |
asemsem |
‘three three, i.e., three each’ |
| |
|
|
|
| pez
|
‘four’ |
pezz
|
‘four four, ie., four each’ |
| |
|
|
|
| ténet |
‘seven’ |
ténetnet |
‘seven seven, i.e., seven each’ |
|
| |
| However in
the case of the numeral /tí/ ‘eight’ and other’ derived from it
only the final vowel is duplicated. |
|
| tí |
‘eight’ |
tíyí |
‘eight eight, ie., eight each’ |
| |
|
|
|
| tétí
|
‘eighteen’ |
tétíyí
|
‘eighteen eighteen, ie., eighteen each’ |
|
| |
|
It may be noted here that the loss of initial /t/ is found as
mentioned above with the variants of some other numerals also,
but in different constructions. |
| |
| 2.4. The
Case Markers : |
|
|
The case markers in Ao are added to nouns to denote case
relations between the noun and the predicate. There are eight
cases excluding the genitive and thirteen case markers. The
accusative is not marked by any case marker. The allative and
the locative cases have two case markers each whose occurence is
conditioned by the gender of the noun. That is, different case
markers are used for animate and inanimate nouns. It may be
mentioned that the native speakers write the case markers with
space after the noun except for the case marker /i/, a single
vowel morpheme, which is written with hyphen after the noun.
This indicates that the native speakers consider the case
markers as independent words. |
| |
