Friday, 12 May 2017

Diinlang Numbers

Version 1.1
Like most of Diinlang the numbering system is a work in progress and subject to change.

Numbers in Diinlang derive from ISV prefixes with some modifications for increased clarity.

1 uni               8 okt               36 triten heks

2 duo              9 niyn             42 tetten duo

3 tri                10 ten             54 pentteni tet

4 tet                11 ten uni       69 hekten niyn

5 pent             12 ten duo     78 septten okt

6 heks             13 ten tri        83 oktten tri

7 sept              20 duoten     99 niynten niyn

The use of deka for 10 would make 20 duodeka and cause confusion with terms such as duodecimal and hexadecimal. The English “ten” has the merit of being one syllable. Likewise “niyn” is clearer than the Latin and Greek derived “ennea” and “nona”.

Larger numbers are hekta (100), kila (1000), mega (1,000,000), tera (1,000,000,000,000 or 1012 ) and yotta (1024). Other numbers are formed from combinations of these: deka kilia is 10,000, kilia mega is 1,000,000,000.

Ordinal numbers (the equivalent of “first”, “third”, “eighty second” etc could be formed by adding “-nd” to the final number word. Therefore “unind”, “trind” “oktten duond”. It may be clearer to use the system where ordinals are formed by placing the number after the thing described. Hence “tri kanisiz” is “three dogs” while “kanisi tri” is “third dog”. This is consistent with the proposed system of placing adjectives after the noun. Cardinal numbers are treated as determiners, ordinal numbers as adjectives

A suffix/ word for “group” could be used to form words such as “dual”, “pair”, “trio” etc.

Duzn” is an alternate word for 12 and used when working in dozenals. “Elva” (from Swedish) is an alternate for 11. When working with dozenals 144 or 122 is “grohs” and 123 or 1728 is a tsagiir.
Update.
Using “ten” may cause confusion with the “ten-” radio code system. “Diis”, adapted from Haitian Creole may be a more suitable word for 10 and  has the advantage that it is closer to the words used in many European languages.

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