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| <div class="boilerplate metadata" id="inuse" style="background: #fcc; border: 1px solid #aaa; margin: 0 2.5%; padding: 0 10px">
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| <font size="3">'''This project has been abandoned.'''</font><br />
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| </div>
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| __NOTOC__
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| ''See also'':
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| * [[Kalama/etymology|etymology]]
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| * [[Kalama/lexicon|lexicon]]
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| :: [[Kalama/thematic|thematic lexicon]]
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| * [[Kalama/phrases|phrases]]
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| = Introduction =
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| '''Kalama''' (or '''Kalo''') is intended to be a minimalist [[WP:Artistic_language|artlang]], not an [[WP:International_auxiliary_language|auxlang]]. It draws on vocabulary from the five most spoken languages in the world; [[WP:List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers|Mandarin, Spanish, English, and Arabic]] ('''Hindi''' is used sparingly although it is spoken by more speakers than Arabic). The grammar is mostly isolating with very few elements of inflection, mostly to show plurality or possession.
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| = Phonology =
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| '''kalo''' has nine consonants (/p, t, k, s, m, n, l, j, w/) and five vowels (/a, e, i, o, u/). Stress is word final.
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| == consonants ==
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| {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;"
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| !
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| ! Labial
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| ! Coronal
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| ! Dorsal
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| |-align=center
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| ! Nasal
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| | m
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| | n
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| |-align=center
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| ! Plosive
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| | p
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| | t
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| | k
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| |-align=center
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| ! Fricative
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| | s
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| |-align=center
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| ! Approximant
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| | w
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| | l
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| | j ('''y''')
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| |}
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| == vowels ==
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| {| class="wikitable"
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| |-
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| !''Vowels''!!Front!!Back
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| |- align="center"
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| !Close
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| |i||u
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| |- align="center"
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| !Mid
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| |e||o
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| |- align="center"
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| !Open
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| | colspan="2" |a
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| |}
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| === diphthongs ===
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| There are two diphthongs [ai̯] '''ai''', and [au̯] '''au'''. These are rare and typically only occur word-finally.
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| == syllable structure ==
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| All syllables are of the form (C)V(N), that is, optional consonant + vowel + optional final nasal, or V, CV, VN, CVN.
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| == phonotactics ==
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| A few syllables sequences are disallowed; /ji, wu, wo/. Also, a syllable-final nasal may not occur before /m/ or /n/ in the same root.
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| == syllables ==
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| {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; width: 200px;"
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| |-−
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| ! a || e || i || o || u
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| |-
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| ! pa || pe || pi || po || pu
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| |-
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| ! ta || te || ti || to || tu
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| |-
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| ! ka || ke || ki || ko || ku
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| |-
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| ! ma || me || mi || mo || mu
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| |-
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| ! na || ne || ni || no || nu
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| |-
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| ! sa || se || si || so || su
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| |-
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| ! wa || we || wi || ||
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| |-
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| ! la || le || li || lo || lu
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| |-
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| ! ya || ye || || yo || yu
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| |}
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| == allophony ==
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| The nasal at the end of a syllable can be pronounced as any nasal stop, though it is normally assimilated to the following consonant. That is, it typically occurs as an [n] before /t/ or /s/, as an [m] before /p/, as an [ŋ] before /k/, and as an [ɲ] before /j/. Because of its small phoneme inventory, '''kalo''' allows for quite a lot of allophonic variation. For example, /p t k/ may be pronounced [b d ɡ] as well as [p t k], /s/ as [z] or [ʃ] as well as [s], /l/ as [ɾ] as well as [l], and vowels may be either long or short. Both its sound inventory and phonotactics (patterns of possible sound combinations) are found in the majority of human languages and are therefore readily accessible.
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| = Word Order =
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| '''Kalo''' is an SVO (subject-verb-object) language. Modifiers generally follow what they modify, as do prepositional phrases and subordinate clauses.
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| * '''kani ata nano''' - <small>dog bite man</small> - ''The dog bites the man.''
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| However, word order can be free with the use of particles.
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| * '''o nano kani ata''' - <small>DO man dog bite</small> - ''The dog bites the man.''
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| Determiners precede the noun they modify.
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| * '''su kani ata nano''' - <small>that dog bite man</small> - ''That dog bites the man.''
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| Prepositional phrases...
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| = Nouns =
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| Nouns only decline for number and possession. They are altered with '''-lo''' to show plurality, and possessiveness with '''-yo'''.
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| = Determiners =
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| Determiners in '''kalo''' precede the noun they modify.
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| {{col-begin}}
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| {{col-break}}
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| * '''kula''' - all; every; each
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| * '''pu''' - this; these
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| * '''su''' - that; those
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| * '''ayo''' - whichever; whatever
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| * '''saki''' - some; several; a few
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| * '''ne''' - no; none; zero
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| {{col-break}}
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| * '''aku''' - many; much (one hundred)
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| * '''lo''' - more
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| * '''kali''' - less; fewer / few; a little
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| * '''oto''' - other
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| * '''tonye''' - same
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| * '''asi''' - such
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| {{col-end}}
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| = Pronouns =
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| '''kalo''' has three basic pronouns; '''wa''' [1sg], '''ni''' [2sg], and '''ko''' [3sg]. These do not indicate gender. These can be made plural using the suffix "'''-lo'''", and possessive with "'''-yo'''".
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| * '''walo wite ni''' - <small>1pl see 2s</small> - ''We see you.''
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| * '''kolo ne sapa wa''' - <small>3pl NEG know 1s</small> - ''They don't know me.''
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| = Verbs =
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| Verbs do not change and are only ever modified by particles.
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| * '''maka''' - do; make; cause (from [[wiktionary:make|make]])
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| * '''yo''' - possess; have; hold (from [[wiktionary:有#Definitions|有]])
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| == Tense ==
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| Past tense is indicated by the particle '''le''' ([[wiktionary:了|了]]) following the verb. Future tense is indicated by the particle '''sa''' ([[wiktionary:س#Etymology_2|سَـ]]).
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| {| class="wikitable" style="width: 400px;"
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| |-−
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| !tense/mood !! particle !! example !! translation
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| |-
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| | present || - || '''wa ila''' || ''I go''
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| |-
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| |past || '''le''' || '''wa ila le''' || ''I went''
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| |-
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| |future || '''sa''' || '''wa ila sa''' || ''I will go''
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| |-
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| |conditional || '''kisa''' || '''wa ila kisa''' || ''I would go''
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| |}
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| * '''ko ne kome le''' - <small>3sg NEG eat PST</small> - ''He didn't eat.''
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| * '''walo wite sa ko''' - <small>1pl see FUT 3sg</small> - ''We will see her.''
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| = Questions =
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| The interrogative particle '''ma''' (taken from Chinese ([[wiktionary:嗎#Chinese|嗎]]) is used in conjunction with various nouns, adverbs, and adjectives to form specific questions.
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| * '''ma''' - what; which
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| * '''ma ko''' - who, whom
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| * '''ma koyo''' - whose, of whom
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| * '''ma tenpo''' - when
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| * '''ma loka''' - where
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| * '''ma moto''' - how
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| * '''ma laka''' - how much, how many
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| * '''ma liyo''' - why
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| = Number =
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| * '''sunya''' - ''num'' - zero; nothing - ([[wiktionary:शून्य|शून्य]])
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| * '''wa''' - ''num'' - one; single; alone - ([[wiktionary:وَاحِد|وَاحِد]])
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| * '''li''' - ''num'' - two; double; duo - ([[wiktionary:两|两]])
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| * '''san''' - ''num'' - three; triple - ([[wiktionary:三|三]])
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| * '''si''' - ''num'' - four - ([[wiktionary:四|四]])
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| * '''pen''' - ''num'' - five - ([[wiktionary:πέντε|πέντε]])
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| * '''we''' - ''num'' - six - ([[wiktionary:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/swéḱs|swéḱs]])
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| * '''na''' - ''num'' - seven - ([[wiktionary:なな|なな]])
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| * '''pa''' - ''num'' - eight - ([[wiktionary:八|八]])
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| * '''nun''' - ''num'' - nine - ([[wiktionary:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₁néwn̥|h₁néwn̥]])
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| * '''ye''' - ''num'' - ten - ([[wiktionary:열|열]])
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| * '''aku / ku''' - ''num'' - hundred - ([[wiktionary:ひゃく|ひゃく]])
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| * '''mila''' - ''num'' - thousand - ([[wiktionary:mil#Spanish|mil]])
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| When numbers one through ten occur independently, the indicator "'''ke'''" precedes the number.
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| * '''ko yo le o kasa ke li'''
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| : <small>3s have PST O house NUM two</small>
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| : ''She had two houses.''
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| * '''wa wite o nano ke si'''
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| : <small>1s see O man NUM four </small>
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| : ''I see four men.''
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| == Higher Numbers ==
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| * '''yewa''' - 11; eleven
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| * '''yeli''' - 12; twelve
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| * '''liye''' - 20; twenty
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| * '''liyesi''' - 24; twenty-four
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| * '''kuyeli''' - 112; one-hundred-twelve
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| * '''sankuweyepen''' - 365; three-hundred-sixty-five
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| [[Category:Conlangs]]
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