Proto-Piti morphology

Main article: Proto-Piti

This page gives an extensive description of Proto-Piti morphological features.

Numerals

Numeral roots are meant as adjective-like roots, with a CVCV structure. They are, however, usually treated as indeclinable roots.

The numeral system relies on a decimal base.

The first ten cardinal numbers are forms on their own:

digit	noun form
1:	ʂaːʔo
2:	ʔaki
3:	mikoː
4:	ŋoːɬe
5:	ṕaːŋe
6:	tʰuːɬa
7:	χaʂæ
8:	ḱuʔe
9:	ʈoːju
10:	pʰeːʔo

The numerals for (one) hundred and (one) thousand are forms on their own:

digit	noun form
100:	ɳaːt́u
1000:	ɬiʔaː

Other numerals do not have indipendent roots. Their forms are built by combining quite freely the already existing roots. There are no fixed construction patterns, as it is noticeable from the different results in daughter languages.

Numerals from 11 to 19 can be built:

• With the construction NUM + pʰeːʔo:

digit	noun form
11:	ʂaːʔopʰeːʔo

• With the construction NUM + pʰeːʔo + na:

digit	noun form
11:	ʂaːʔopʰeːʔona

The numerals for the multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands can be built:

• With the construction NUM + re + pʰeːʔo / ɳaːt́u / ɬiʔaː:

digit	noun form
30:	mikoːrepʰeːʔo
600:	tʰuːɬareɳaːt́u
9000:	ʈoːjureɬiʔaː

• With the construction NUM + re + pʰeːʔonu / ɳaːt́unu / ɬiʔaːnu:

digit	noun form
30:	mikoːrepʰeːʔonu
600:	tʰuːɬareɳaːt́unu
9000:	ʈoːjureɬiʔaːnu

• With the construction NUM + re + pʰeːʔotu(nu) / ɳaːt́utu(nu) / ɬiʔaːtu(nu):

digit	noun form
30:	mikoːrepʰeːʔotu(nu)
600:	tʰuːɬareɳaːt́utu(nu)
9000:	ʈoːjureɬiʔaːtu(nu)

• With the construction NUM + re + pʰeːʔot́u(nu) / ɳaːt́ut́u(nu) / ɬiʔaːt́u(nu):

digit	noun form
30:	mikoːrepʰeːʔot́u(nu)
600:	tʰuːɬareɳaːt́ut́u(nu)
9000:	ʈoːjureɬiʔaːt́u(nu)

Numbers above the multiples of thousands have no name and are specified by the lesser numerals.

Composite numbers are built by just putting them beside, without any conjunction, in descending order:

• 1985: ɬiʔaː ʈoːjureɳaːt́u ḱuʔerepʰeːʔo ṕaːŋe

All cardinal numerals are meant as invariable forms.

Ordinal numerals can be formed:

• by adding the adjectival ending -ko to the cardinal numeral form:

ʂaːʔo → ʂaːʔoko
one → first

• by adding the comparative ending -roː to the cardinal numeral form:

tʰuːɬa → tʰuːɬaroː
six → sixth

• by adding the comparative ending -tu to the cardinal numeral form:

ŋoːɬe → ŋoːɬetu
four → fourth

• by adding the comparative ending -lo to the cardinal numeral form:

ḱuʔe → ḱuʔelo
eight → eighth

If the numeral form is composite, the ending is added only to the last numeral form:

• 25^th: ʔakirepʰeːʔo ṕaːŋeko