Biwdiw morphology
- Main article: Biwdiw
This page gives an extensive description of Biwdiw morphological features.
Numerals
The numeral system relies on a decimal base.
The first ten cardinal numbers are noun-like forms on their own:
| ʂāhu | |
| hɛgiw | |
| miwgō | |
| gōli | |
| šāgi | |
| tūlɛ | |
| xɛšɛ | |
| čuhi | |
| ʈōǰu | |
| pēhu |
Numerals from 11 to 19 are built with the construction NUM + pēhu + nɛ:
| ʂāhupēhunɛ | |
| hɛgiwpēhunɛ | |
| miwgōpēhunɛ | |
| gōlipēhunɛ | |
| šāgipēhunɛ | |
| tūlɛpēhunɛ | |
| xɛšɛpēhunɛ | |
| čuhipēhunɛ | |
| ʈōǰupēhunɛ |
The numerals for (one) hundred and (one) thousand are noun-like forms on their own:
| ňācju | |
| wiwhā |
The numerals for the multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands are built with the construction NUM + pēhudjunu / ňācjudjunu / wiwhādjunu, with some irregularities:
| hɛgiwpēhudjuhiw | hɛgiwňācjudjuhiw | hɛgiwiwhādjuhiw | |
| miwgōpēhudjunu | miwgōňācjudjunu | miwgōwiwhādjunu | |
| gōlipēhudjunu | gōliňācjudjunu | gōliwiwhādjunu | |
| šāgipēhudjunu | šāgiňācjudjunu | šāgiwiwhādjunu | |
| tūlɛpēhudjunu | tūlɛňācjudjunu | tūlɛwiwhādjunu | |
| xɛšɛpēhudjunu | xɛšɛňācjudjunu | xɛšɛwiwhādjunu | |
| čuhipēhudjunu | čuhiňācjudjunu | čuhiwiwhādjunu | |
| ʈōǰupēhudjunu | ʈōǰuňācjudjunu | ʈōǰuwiwhādjunu |
The numeral for “million” is formed from the word wiwhā. Numbers above the millions have no name and are specified by the lesser numerals.
| wiwhālu |
This form is treated as a regularly declinable noun:
| miwgō wiwhālunu | |
| hɛgiwpēhudjuhiw šāgi wiwhālunu |
If this numeral is used as a simple count form, it is declined in the passive case. Inside of a structured sentence, it is declined according the case required by its syntactical role. Nouns adjoining such numerals are introduced by the preposition čɛl and are declined in the ablative case.
hɛgiw wiwhāluhiwxjɛ čɛl pūgɛnušu to two millions people
Composite numbers are built by just putting them beside, without any conjunction, in descending order:
- 1985: wiwhā ʈōǰuňācjudjunu čuhipēhudjunu šāgi
When cardinal numbers have an adjective-like function, or when they are used as as simple count forms, they are meant as indeclinable forms (except for "million").
ūdjušu miwgō mācudiwnurɛ sōgu my three friends' house
ʂāhu, hɛgiw, miwgō, gōli, ... one, two, three, four, ...
Every numeral, however, can also have a pronominal function. In this case, they are declined in the required case. They display a complete declension set, not belonging inherently to one of the two classes, varying whether they refer to a I class noun (animated class) or to a II class noun (inanimated). They are declined only in the singular declension.
miwgōrɛ sōgu the house of both (of them)
Ordinal numerals are formed by adding the comparative ending -rō to the cardinal numeral form, with some irregularities:
| ʂāhurō | |
| hɛgiwrō | |
| miwgōrō | |
| gōlirō | |
| šāgirō | |
| tūlɛrō | |
| xɛšɛrō | |
| čuhirō | |
| ʈōǰurō | |
| pēhurō |
The ordinal numeral for “millionth” is regularly formed from its corresponding cardinal forms, while its multiples are formed by unifying the separated forms in an only adjectival word:
| wiwhālurō | |
| miwgōwiwhālunurō |
If the numeral form is composite, the ending is added only to the last numeral form:
- 25th: hɛgiwpēhudjunu šāgirō
