These fractions could be used
along with full numbers to form compound fractions, as in:
|
tini  ru pua |
‘three and a quarter’ |
| ek ru pua |
‘one and a quarter’ |
| do ada/do ru ada |
‘two and a half’ |
| tini ada/tini ru ada |
‘three and a half’ |
| tini ru tin pua1 |
‘three and three quarter’ etc. |
|
Times:
|
The particle bar follows the
numeral concerned to indicate the number of times an act is performed,
as in :
|
| ek bar |
‘once’ |
tini bar |
‘thrice’ |
| duy bar |
‘twice’ |
tis bar |
‘thirty times’ |
|
Positional variants of the
numerals.
|
1.
|
The numeral ek
‘one’ has five positional variants, viz., ek, onn-on-ega- and
poy-. The distribution of these are stated below:
|
| (i) |
ek, a free
form, occurs alone and also before -oy- ‘two; when the
numeral has the morphological construction of A +(A X B),
e.g.
|
| |
ek suali
‘one girl’
ekoys ‘twenty one’
|
| (ii) |
ega-,
a bound form, occurs before ro ‘ten’ when the numeral has the
morphological construction of A+B, eg.
|
| |
egaro
‘eleven’
|
| (iii) |
onn-and
on-, two bound forms occur as the first element respectively
before -oy- ‘two’ and elswhere when the numeral has the
construction of -A + (A X B), as in :
|
| |
onnoys
‘nineteen’
ontis ‘twentynine’
oncalis ‘thirtynine’ etc.
|
| (iv) |
poy--, a
unique bound2 form which occurs before the
ordinal marker la, another unique bound form, as in :
|
| |
poyla
‘first’
|
|
2.
|
The numeral two has seven
positional variants, viz., duy, ba-b-,-oy-,di-,c«w-,
-i-. The distribution of these forms are as under:
|
| (i) |
duy is a
free form and occurs both in the nominal and the determiner
slots, as in :
|
| |
duy pora
‘from two’
duy suali ‘two girls’
|
| |
1 When the fraction 3/4 forms part of a
compound fraction, the particle ‘and’ is obligatory.
2 In as much as these two forms occurs
only in this compound and nowhere else, these two forms are
treated as unique bound forms.
|
| (ii) |
ba-a,
unique bound form occurs as the first element before -ro ‘ten’
when the structure of the numeral has the relationship of A+B,
as in :
|
| |
ba + ro
‘baro’ ‘twelve’
|
| (iii) |
bi--, a
unique bound form occurs as the first element before -s ‘ten’,
when the structure of the numeral has the relationship of AXB,
as in :
|
| |
bis
‘twenty’
|
| (iv) |
b-, a
unique bound form, occurs as the first element after the numeral
oy- ‘two’ when the structure of the numeral has the relationship
of A + (AXB), as in:
|
| |
boys
‘twenty two’
|
| (v) |
-i-, a
bound form occurs, as the second element after the numerals
te- ‘three’, cw ‘four’,
ponc- ‘five’, coy- ‘six’ when the structure of the numeral shows
the relationship of A + (A X B), as in:
|
| |
teis
‘twenty three’
cwis
‘twenty four’
ponics ‘twenty five’
coyis ‘twenty six’
|
| (vi) |
-oy-, yet
another bound form occurs, elsewhere as the second element,
viz., after ek - ‘one’, b- ‘two’, hut- ‘seven’ at- ‘eight’ when
the structure of the numerals has the relationship of A + (A X
B), as in :
|
| |
ekoys
‘twenty one’
boys ‘twenty two’
hutyos ‘twenty seven’
atoys ‘twenty eight’
|
| (vii) |
di-, a
unique bound form, occurs before the ordinal marker -tyor, as
in:
|
| |
dityor
‘second’
|
|
3
|
The numeral tini ‘three’
has three positional variants viz. tini, te- and tri-. The
distribution of these positional variants are as under
|
(i)
|
tini is a free form
capable of occurring in the slots of both a noun and an
adjective, as in:
|
| |
tini pora
‘from three’
tini suali ‘three girls’
|
(ii)
|
te- is a bound form
occurring before ro- ‘ten’ and before -i- ‘two with the nominals
having the structure respectively. of A + B and A + (A X B), as
in:
|
| |
tero
‘thirteen’
teis ‘twenty three’
|
|
|
|
