Bīṙ morphology
- Main article: Bīṙ
This page gives an extensive description of Bīṙ morphological features.
Numerals
The numeral system relies on a decimal base.
The first ten cardinal numbers are forms on their own:
| hōṙ | |
| mɛ̱s | |
| cɔ̀ | |
| nuv | |
| bın | |
| déṙ | |
| qād | |
| ma̱n | |
| śūn | |
| lǽn |
Numerals from 11 to 19 are built with the construction lǽn + NUM:
| lǽn hōṙ | |
| lǽn mɛ̱s | |
| lǽn cɔ̀ | |
| lǽn nuv | |
| lǽn bın | |
| lǽn déṙ | |
| lǽn qād | |
| lǽn ma̱n | |
| lǽn śūn |
The numeral for (one) hundred is a form on its own, while the numeral for (one) thousand is a loanword from Pı̀ language (which in turn has borrowed the word from Iðâɣ language):
| ǵıb | |
| ḕn (from P. ěn) |
The numerals for the multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands are built with the construction NUM + nɛ (time(s)) + lǽn / ǵıb / ḕn:
| mɛ̱s nɛ lǽn | mɛ̱s nɛ ǵıb | mɛ̱s nɛ ḕn | |
| cɔ̀ nɛ lǽn | cɔ̀ nɛ ǵıb | cɔ̀ nɛ ḕn | |
| nuv nɛ lǽn | nuv nɛ ǵıb | nuv nɛ ḕn | |
| bın nɛ lǽn | bın nɛ ǵıb | bın nɛ ḕn | |
| déṙ nɛ lǽn | déṙ nɛ ǵıb | déṙ nɛ ḕn | |
| qād nɛ lǽn | qād nɛ ǵıb | qād nɛ ḕn | |
| ma̱n nɛ lǽn | ma̱n nɛ ǵıb | ma̱n nɛ ḕn | |
| śūn nɛ lǽn | śūn nɛ ǵıb | śūn nɛ ḕn |
Composite numbers are built by just putting them beside, without any conjunction, in descending order:
- 1985: ḕn śūn nɛ ǵıb ma̱n nɛ lǽn bın
Numerals for “million” and “billion” are loanwords from from Pı̀ language (which in turn has borrowed such words from Iðâɣ language):
| šúrḕn (from P. šúrěn) | |
| mé̱šúr (from P. mêšúr) |
These forms are treated as regular nouns:
| cɔ̀ šúrḕn | |
| déṙ mé̱šúr |
Cardinal numerals usually precede their adjoining noun cluster, as an adjectival form. However, every numeral can be optionally preceded with a noun cluster followed by the partitive postposition ʎō.
déṙ qon or qon ʎō déṙ six dogs
With semantically uncountable nouns and with pronouns, the partitive postposition is mandatorily used, with the meaning of “X units of Y”:
gœ̄̀m ʎō déṙ six pieces/parts/balls/etc. of wool
no̱ e̱ ʎō śūn nine of us
With the numerals for “million” and “billion” the partitive postposition ʎō is always mandatorily used.
qɛ̱ṙ ʎō mɛ̱s šúrḕn two millions people
In the modern period the idea of “zero” is introduced from Pı̀ language (which in turn has borrowed the word and the idea from Iðâɣ language). This numeral is however usually limited to mathematics:
| ṙesú (from P. xesú) |
Ordinal numerals are formed by putting the particle sē after the cardinal numeral form:
| hōṙ sē | |
| mɛ̱s sē | |
| cɔ̀ sē | |
| nuv sē | |
| bın sē | |
| déṙ sē | |
| qād sē | |
| ma̱n sē | |
| śūn sē | |
| lǽn sē |
If the numeral form is composite, the ending is added only to the last numeral form:
- 25th: mɛ̱s nɛ lǽn bın sē
