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53-727: Kamba has lexical similarities to other Bantu languages such as Kikuyu , Meru , and Embu , of whom together they form the GEMA community. The Swedish National Museums of World Culture holds field recordings of kamba language made by Swedish ethnographer Gerhard Lindblom in 1911–12. Lindblom used phonograph cylinders to record songs along with other means of documentation in writing and photography. He also gathered objects, and later presented his work in The Akamba in British East Africa (1916) . This Kenya related article

106-663: A Noma Award in 1984. In the 1983 movie Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi , the character Nien Nunb speaks in the Kikuyu language. The 2023 song, Mwaki , by the Brazilian DJ, Zerb , features the Kenyan artist, Sofiya Nzau , singing in Kikuyu. Numeral (linguistics) In linguistics, a numeral in the broadest sense is a word or phrase that describes a numerical quantity . Some theories of grammar use

159-722: A part of speech called "numerals". Numerals in the broad sense can also be analyzed as a noun ("three is a small number"), as a pronoun ("the two went to town"), or for a small number of words as an adverb ("I rode the slide twice"). Numerals can express relationships like quantity (cardinal numbers), sequence (ordinal numbers), frequency (once, twice), and part ( fraction ). Numerals may be attributive , as in two dogs , or pronominal , as in I saw two (of them) . Many words of different parts of speech indicate number or quantity. Such words are called quantifiers . Examples are words such as every , most , least , some , etc. Numerals are distinguished from other quantifiers by

212-497: A base-nine system. Decimal systems are based on the number 10. A majority of traditional number systems are decimal. This dates back at least to the ancient Egyptians , who used a wholly decimal system. Anthropologists hypothesize this may be due to humans having five digits per hand, ten in total. There are many regional variations including: Duodecimal systems are based on the number 12. These include: Duodecimal numeric systems have some practical advantages over decimal. It

265-426: A currency unit when India decimalised its currency in 1957, followed by Pakistan in 1961. Vigesimal systems are based on the number 20. Anthropologists are convinced the system originated from digit counting, as did bases five and ten, twenty being the number of human fingers and toes combined. The system is in widespread use across the world. Some include the classical Mesoamerican cultures, still in use today in

318-468: A decimal system for integers , but switched to duodecimal for fractions , and correspondingly Latin developed a rich vocabulary for duodecimal-based fractions (see Roman numerals ). A notable fictional duodecimal system was that of J. R. R. Tolkien 's Elvish languages , which used duodecimal as well as decimal. Hexadecimal systems are based on the number 16. The traditional Chinese units of measurement were base-16. For example, one jīn (斤) in

371-450: A low-high rising tone, and downstep . The canonical word order of Gĩkũyũ is SVO ( subject–verb–object ). It uses prepositions rather than postpositions. Nouns are followed by possessive and demonstrative pronouns, which can coexist in that order, and subsequently adjectives , quantifiers , and numerals , which have no order among themselves. Gĩkũyũ has 17 noun classes . Class 1 (prefix mũ-) comprises animate /human nouns and

424-1488: A noun, it may replace the article : the/some dogs played in the park → twelve dogs played in the park . (* dozen dogs played in the park is not grammatical, so "dozen" is not a numeral in this sense.) English numerals indicate cardinal numbers . However, not all words for cardinal numbers are necessarily numerals. For example, million is grammatically a noun, and must be preceded by an article or numeral itself. Numerals may be simple, such as 'eleven', or compound, such as 'twenty-three'. In linguistics, however, numerals are classified according to purpose: examples are ordinal numbers ( first , second , third , etc.; from 'third' up, these are also used for fractions), multiplicative (adverbial) numbers ( once , twice , and thrice ), multipliers ( single , double , and triple ), and distributive numbers ( singly , doubly , and triply ). Georgian , Latin, and Romanian (see Romanian distributive numbers ) have regular distributive numbers , such as Latin singuli "one-by-one", bini "in pairs, two-by-two", terni "three each", etc. In languages other than English, there may be other kinds of number words. For example, in Slavic languages there are collective numbers (monad, pair/dyad, triad) which describe sets, such as pair or dozen in English (see Russian numerals , Polish numerals ). Some languages have

477-461: A second set of numerals anyway. An example is Japanese , which uses either native or Chinese-derived numerals depending on what is being counted. In many languages, such as Chinese , numerals require the use of numeral classifiers . Many sign languages , such as ASL , incorporate numerals. English has derived numerals for multiples of its base ( fifty, sixty, etc.), and some languages have simplex numerals for these, or even for numbers between

530-465: A very limited set of numerals, and in some cases they arguably do not have any numerals at all, but instead use more generic quantifiers, such as 'pair' or 'many'. However, by now most such languages have borrowed the numeral system or part of the numeral system of a national or colonial language, though in a few cases (such as Guarani ), a numeral system has been invented internally rather than borrowed. Other languages had an indigenous system but borrowed

583-404: Is 'one hundred two score', not *seven score, and there is no numeral for 400 (great score). The term score originates from tally sticks , and is perhaps a remnant of Celtic vigesimal counting. It was widely used to learn the pre-decimal British currency in this idiom: "a dozen pence and a score of bob ", referring to the 20 shillings in a pound . For Americans the term is most known from

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636-511: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Bantu language -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Kikuyu language Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gikuyu: Gĩkũyũ [ɣēkōjó] ) (also known as Gĩgĩkũyũ) is a Bantu language spoken by the Gĩkũyũ ( Agĩkũyũ ) of Kenya . Kikuyu is mainly spoken in the area between Nyeri , Nairobi and Nakuru . The Kikuyu people usually identify their lands by

689-455: Is a middle voice with an intermediate connotation. Kikuyu is written in a Latin alphabet. It does not use the letters l f p q s v x z , and adds the letters ĩ and ũ . The Kikuyu alphabet is: Some sounds are represented by digraphs such as ng for the velar nasal /ŋ/ . the creator of heaven and earth, the giver of all things. mumbi wa Iguru na Thi na muheani wa indo ciothe There

742-797: Is a table of English names for non-negative rational numbers less than or equal to 1. It also lists alternative names, but there is no widespread convention for the names of extremely small positive numbers. Keep in mind that rational numbers like 0.12 can be represented in infinitely many ways, e.g. zero-point-one-two (0.12), twelve percent (12%), three twenty-fifths ( ⁠ 3 / 25 ⁠ ), nine seventy-fifths ( ⁠ 9 / 75 ⁠ ), six fiftieths ( ⁠ 6 / 50 ⁠ ), twelve hundredths ( ⁠ 12 / 100 ⁠ ), twenty-four two-hundredths ( ⁠ 24 / 200 ⁠ ), etc. Various terms have arisen to describe commonly used measured quantities. Not all peoples use counting , at least not verbally. Specifically, there

795-465: Is much easier to divide the base digit twelve (which is a highly composite number ) by many important divisors in market and trade settings, such as the numbers 2 , 3 , 4 and 6 . Because of several measurements based on twelve, many Western languages have words for base-twelve units such as dozen , gross and great gross , which allow for rudimentary duodecimal nomenclature , such as "two gross six dozen" for 360. Ancient Romans used

848-417: Is no consistent and widely accepted way to extend cardinals beyond centillion ( centilliard ). The following table details the myriad, octad, Ancient Greek Archimedes's notation, Chinese myriad, Chinese long and -yllion names for powers of 10. There is also a Knuth -proposed system notation of numbers, named the -yllion system. In this system, a new word is invented for every 2 -th power of ten. This

901-422: Is not much need for counting among hunter-gatherers who do not engage in commerce. Many languages around the world have no numerals above two to four (if they are actually numerals at all, and not some other part of speech)—or at least did not before contact with the colonial societies—and speakers of these languages may have no tradition of using the numerals they did have for counting. Indeed, several languages from

954-628: Is notable literature written in the Kikuyu language. For instance, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o 's Mũrogi wa Kagogo ( Wizard of the Crow ) is the longest known book written in Kikuyu. Other authors writing in Kikuyu are Gatua wa Mbũgwa and Waithĩra wa Mbuthia. Mbuthia has published various works in different genres—essays, poetry, children stories and translations—in Kikuyu. The late Wahome Mutahi also sometimes wrote in Kikuyu. Also, Gakaara wa Wanjaũ wrote his popular book, Mau Mau Author in Detention , which won

1007-464: Is pluralized by class 6. Class 15 (prefix gũ- if stem is t, k, c, or th initial, kũ- otherwise) comprises only body parts and verbal infinitives —more semantically and syntactically motivated than other classes. It is pluralized, when possible, by class 6. Class 16 (prefix ha-) is a definite locative class. Class 17 (prefix kũ-/gũ-) is an indefinite locative class. These classes can be singular or plural based on context. Adjectives agree with

1060-478: Is singular, while class 2 (prefix a-) comprises animate/human nouns but is plural. Kinship terms and some other words belong to these classes but take no prefixes. Class 3 (prefix mũ-) comprises nature/landscape words and others that are not semantically related, and is singular. Class 4 (prefix mĩ-) comprises the same words, but is plural. Class 5 (prefix rĩ- if stem is vowel initial, i- if consonant-initial) comprises plant/landscape words and others that don't fix

1113-496: Is unmarked. Sequential, a subtype of progressive, denotes events that occur in a sequence. There is also a marker for persistive events, which occur continuously until the time of speaking. Special subject agreement particles exist for 1st and 2nd person, the discourse participants, but subject agreement is otherwise based on noun class. A verb can exhibit noun class agreement for all arguments, but agrees less commonly with non-human nouns. In addition to active and passive voices, there

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1166-421: Is vowel initial, i- if consonant initial) is the same, but plural. These classes' prefixes can be used to augment nouns of other classes. Class 9 comprises most animals, most loanwords , a few body parts, and semantically unrelated others. Class 10 is the same, but plural. Because words of these classes begin with nasal or unnasalizable consonants, and lose their nasality when marked with a different class prefix,

1219-581: The Palikúr language has a base-seven system, but this is dubious. Octal systems are based on the number 8. Examples can be found in the Yuki language of California and in the Pamean languages of Mexico , because the Yuki and Pame keep count by using the four spaces between their fingers rather than the fingers themselves. Nonary systems are based on the number 9. It has been suggested that Nenets has

1272-425: The coffee -growing areas of Kianyaga , Gĩthũre , Kathũngũri , Marigiti. The Gichugu switch easily to other Kikuyu dialects in conversation with the rest of the Kikuyu. Symbols shown in parentheses are those used in the orthography . The prenasalised consonants are often pronounced without prenasalisation, and thus /ᵐb ⁿd ᶮdʒ ᵑɡ/ are often realised as [b d dʒ ɡ] . Kikuyu has two level tones (high and low),

1325-543: The Amazon have been independently reported to have no specific number words other than 'one'. These include Nadëb , pre-contact Mocoví and Pilagá , Culina and pre-contact Jarawara , Jabutí , Canela-Krahô , Botocudo (Krenák) , Chiquitano , the Campa languages , Arabela , and Achuar . Some languages of Australia, such as Warlpiri , do not have words for quantities above two, and neither did many Khoisan languages at

1378-547: The Class 5/6 plurals do: the Class 6 prefix, ma-, attaches sometimes to the noun stem itself, and sometimes to the class 11 form. Class 12 (prefix ga- if stem is t, k, c, or th initial, ka- otherwise) is a diminutive class with some inherent, not especially diminutive members. Class 13 (prefix tũ-) is the same, but plural. These classes' prefixes can be used to diminutize nouns of other classes. Class 14 (null prefix) comprises abstract concepts and semantically unrelated others, and

1431-418: The base are a distinct part of speech , while the words for powers of the base belong to one of the other word classes. In English, these higher words are hundred 10 , thousand 10 , million 10 , and higher powers of a thousand ( short scale ) or of a million ( long scale —see names of large numbers ). These words cannot modify a noun without being preceded by an article or numeral (* hundred dogs played in

1484-448: The body which do not have a numeric base; there are (or were) no numerals, but rather nouns for relevant parts of the body—or simply pointing to the relevant spots—were used for quantities. For example, 1–4 may be the fingers, 5 'thumb', 6 'wrist', 7 'elbow', 8 'shoulder', etc., across the body and down the other arm, so that the opposite little finger represents a number between 17 ( Torres Islands ) to 23 ( Eleman ). For numbers beyond this,

1537-402: The cardinal numbers 5 to 10 were feminine nouns; when quantifying a noun, that noun was declined in the genitive plural like other nouns that followed a noun of quantity (one would say the equivalent of "five of people"). In English grammar, the classification " numeral " (viewed as a part of speech ) is reserved for those words which have distinct grammatical behavior: when a numeral modifies

1590-707: The dialects Kĩndia and Gĩgĩcũgũ . The Gicugus and the Ndias do not have the "ch" or "sh" sound (same as in Mũrang'a ) and will use the "s" sound instead (Kikuyu has no letter S), hence the pronunciation of "Gĩcũgũ" as opposed to "Gĩchũgũ". To hear Ndia being spoken, one needs to be in Kerugoya , the largest town in Kirinyaga County . Other home towns for the Ndia, where "purer" forms of the dialect are spoken, are located in

1643-421: The fact that they designate a specific number. Examples are words such as five, ten, fifty, one hundred, etc. They may or may not be treated as a distinct part of speech; this may vary, not only with the language, but with the choice of word. For example, "dozen" serves the function of a noun , "first" serves the function of an adjective , and "twice" serves the function of an adverb . In Old Church Slavonic ,

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1696-419: The first noun (head) is modified by the second. The associative is formed by prefixing the stem a with the agreement class prefix of the head noun. It can also denote possession, location, and ordinal numerals. Numerals 11-19 are formed with the construction 'ten and X'. The final numeral, if it inflects, agrees with the noun being counted. However, if the final numeral is 1, it agrees with the singular class of

1749-544: The following tables, [and] indicates that the word and is used in some dialects (such as British English ), and omitted in other dialects (such as American English ). This table demonstrates the standard English construction of some cardinal numbers. (See next table for names of larger cardinals.) This table compares the English names of cardinal numbers according to various American, British, and Continental European conventions. See English numerals or names of large numbers for more information on naming numbers. There

1802-553: The modern indigenous languages of their descendants, namely the Nahuatl and Mayan languages (see Maya numerals ). A modern national language which uses a full vigesimal system is Dzongkha in Bhutan. Partial vigesimal systems are found in some European languages: Basque , Celtic languages , French (from Celtic), Danish , and Georgian . In these languages the systems are vigesimal up to 99, then decimal from 100 up. That is, 140

1855-471: The multiples of its base. Balinese , for example, currently has a decimal system, with words for 10, 100, and 1000, but has additional simplex numerals for 25 (with a second word for 25 only found in a compound for 75), 35, 45, 50, 150, 175, 200 (with a second found in a compound for 1200), 400, 900, and 1600. In Hindustani , the numerals between 10 and 100 have developed to the extent that they need to be learned independently. In many languages, numerals up to

1908-468: The noun being counted, because 1 is singular, even if the overall number being formed is not. Verbs can be marked for focus , noun class agreement, negation , reflexivity, reciprocality, causativity, intensive meanings, reversive meanings, applicative ( valency increasing ) meanings, tense , and aspect . Tenses include past, present, or future; and remote, near, or current. Aspects include habitual/imperfective, completive, perfect, and progressive, which

1961-422: The noun via adjective class prefixes (usually identical to the noun class prefixes). Other modifiers do so via agreement class prefixes, which are often simply the vowel of the noun class prefix. Personal pronouns may take the place of a noun or a noun phrase. Since person and noun class are marked on verbs, they are usually only used emphatically or in response to questions. Except for those of classes 3 and 14,

2014-440: The number 4. Some Austronesian , Melanesian , Sulawesi , and Papua New Guinea ethnic groups, count with the base number four, using the term asu or aso , the word for dog , as the ubiquitous village dog has four legs. This is argued by anthropologists to be also based on early humans noting the human and animal shared body feature of two arms and two legs as well as its ease in simple arithmetic and counting. As an example of

2067-484: The number 5. It is almost certain the quinary system developed from counting by fingers (five fingers per hand). An example are the Epi languages of Vanuatu, where 5 is luna 'hand', 10 lua-luna 'two hand', 15 tolu-luna 'three hand', etc. 11 is then lua-luna tai 'two-hand one', and 17 tolu-luna lua 'three-hand two'. 5 is a common auxiliary base , or sub-base , where 6 is 'five and one', 7 'five and two', etc. Aztec

2120-463: The old system equals sixteen taels . The suanpan (Chinese abacus ) can be used to perform hexadecimal calculations such as additions and subtractions. South Asian monetary systems were base-16. One rupee in Pakistan and India was divided into 16 annay. A single anna was subdivided into four paisa or twelve pies (thus there were 64 paise or 192 pies in a rupee). The anna was demonetised as

2173-488: The opening of the Gettysburg Address : "Four score and seven years ago our fathers..." . Quadrovigesimal systems are based on the number 24. The Sko languages have a base-24 system with a sub-base of 6. Duotrigesimal systems are based on the number 32. The Ngiti ethnolinguistic group uses a base 32 numeral system. Sexagesimal systems are based on the number 60. Ekari has a base-60 system. Sumeria had

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2226-531: The park ), and so are nouns. In East Asia, the higher units are hundred, thousand, myriad 10 , and powers of myriad . In the Indian subcontinent , they are hundred, thousand, lakh 10 , crore 10 , and so on . The Mesoamerican system , still used to some extent in Mayan languages , was based on powers of 20: bak’ 400 (20 ), pik 8000 (20 ), kalab 160,000 (20 ), etc. The cardinal numbers have numerals. In

2279-466: The pattern, and is singular. Class 6 (prefix ma-) comprises the same words, but is plural. Occasionally, class 6 nouns have the prefix marĩ-, perhaps because the class 5 form is reanalyzed as the stem. Nouns of classes 1, 9, 11, 12, 14, and 15 can be pluralized with the class 6 form. Class 7 (prefix gĩ- if stem is t, k, c, or th initial, kĩ- otherwise) is an augmentative class with some inherent, not especially augmented members. Class 8 (prefix ci- if stem

2332-409: The pronouns are formed by adding agreement class prefixes to the stem o. The dependent pronoun - 'and/with X' - is formed by adding comitative preposition to the relevant personal pronouns. The possessive pronoun is formed by adding the relevant possessive stem to the agreement class prefix of the possessed noun. Relative pronouns are formed by adding the relevant agreement class prefix to

2385-413: The proposed prefix is nasalization. This prefix cannot always be applied to loanwords. Class 11 (prefix rũ-) comprises long, thin, or string-like nouns, as well as others that don't fit the pattern. Its default plural is class 10, with occasional class 6 forms. It is hypothesized that if the prefix rũ- is added to a stem that already begins with rũ, the prefix is deleted. The class 6/11 plurals vary just as

2438-507: The relative stem. Demonstrative pronouns come in distal , proximal , and anaphoric forms. Relative pronouns are written identically to distal demonstratives, but are distinguished by vowel length - the first syllable of a relative pronoun is short, while the first syllable of a distal demonstrative is long. Adjectives are comparatively rare, and don't cover even every color. Qualities are usually expressed instead as associative constructions, which connect two nouns or noun phrases where

2491-474: The surrounding mountain ranges in Central Kenya, including Mount Kenya , which they call Kĩrĩnyaga . Kikuyu has four main mutually intelligible dialects. The Central Province districts are divided along the traditional boundaries of these dialects, which are Kĩrĩnyaga , Mũrang'a , Nyeri and Kiambu . The Kikuyu from Kĩrĩnyaga are composed of two main sub-dialects – the Ndia and Gichugu who speak

2544-440: The system's ease a realistic scenario could include a farmer returning from the market with fifty asu heads of pig (200), less 30 asu (120) of pig bartered for 10 asu (40) of goats noting his new pig count total as twenty asu : 80 pigs remaining. The system has a correlation to the dozen counting system and is still in common use in these areas as a natural and easy method of simple arithmetic. Quinary systems are based on

2597-545: The tea-growing areas of Kagumo , Baricho , Kagio , and the Kangaita hills. Lower down the slopes is Kutus , which is a bustling town with so many influences from the other dialects that it is difficult to distinguish between them. The dialect is also prevalent in the rice growing area of Mwea . The unmistakable tonal patterns of the Gichũgũ dialect (which sounds like Meru or Embu , sister languages to Kikuyu) can be heard in

2650-541: The time of European contact. Such languages do not have a word class of 'numeral'. Most languages with both numerals and counting use base 8, 10, 12, or 20. Base 10 appears to come from counting one's fingers, base 20 from the fingers and toes, base 8 from counting the spaces between the fingers (attested in California), and base 12 from counting the knuckles (3 each for the four fingers). Many languages of Melanesia have (or once had) counting systems based on parts of

2703-544: The torso, legs and toes may be used, or one might count back up the other arm and back down the first, depending on the people. Binary systems are based on the number 2, using zeros and ones. Due to its simplicity, only having two distinct digits, binary is commonly used in computing, with zero and one often corresponding to "off/on" respectively. Ternary systems are based on the number 3, having practical usage in some analog logic, in baseball scoring and in self–similar mathematical structures. Quaternary systems are based on

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2756-415: The word "numeral" to refer to cardinal numbers that act as a determiner that specify the quantity of a noun , for example the "two" in "two hats". Some theories of grammar do not include determiners as a part of speech and consider "two" in this example to be an adjective . Some theories consider "numeral" to be a synonym for "number" and assign all numbers (including ordinal numbers like "first") to

2809-645: Was a vigesimal (base-20) system with sub-base 5. Senary systems are based on the number 6. The Morehead-Maro languages of Southern New Guinea are examples of the rare base 6 system with monomorphemic words running up to 6 . Examples are Kanum and Kómnzo . The Sko languages on the North Coast of New Guinea follow a base-24 system with a sub-base of 6. Septenary systems are based on the number 7. Septenary systems are very rare, as few natural objects consistently have seven distinctive features. Traditionally, it occurs in week-related timing. It has been suggested that

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