Counting or Number Words in Apatani: Revisited

Counting or the number words in Apatani are very elaborate. There are different number words for different classes of objects based on their structural affinity. There may also be a system of number words specific for a particular object.

The number words, other than the one used for man, consist of two parts- the root word and the number marker. The root word may be derived from either the starting syllable or the ending syllable of the name of an object or the name of an object representing certain structural form. The number markers are the suffixes indicating the numbers which are derived from the number words used for the man. For example, the number word which means two pots in Apatani is ‘piichan channye-he’.

Besides, the number words differ for their noun form (name of number used for counting) and adjective form (words used for describing the quantity) e.g. chankun (noun form) and channge (adj. form) are used for a pot.

Some common root words:

[Table 1]

Root Words	Derived from (word)	Used for
Chan	Piichan (pot)	Pot
Chen	Not known	Bundle of flat object
Boo	Aboo (cylindrical)	Cylindrical objects like bamboo, pipe etc.
Bar	Not known	Currency note
Ber	Not known	Clothes, blanket, quilt, mat etc.
ta	Pata (flattened object)	Flattened objects(of wood, metal), paper, book etc.
tu	Not known	Span of stick, meter stick etc
Da	Not known	Foot step
Go	Not known	Hand span
Dor	Not known	All four footed animals, birds (other than chicken), motor vehicles
Ro	Paro (chicken)	Hen, cock
Gar	Agar (bund demarcating paddy field)	Paddy field
ngo	Not known	Land plot like bije, sadi, moreh etc
Gii	Yagii (basket carried by head)	Baskets like yagii and raju
Po	Yopo (basket carried by hand), sanpo (wooden log)	Yopo (baskets), harpo (bucket), wheel, wooden log and other large cylindrical object
Ra	Lera (racksack), yara (basket for male to carry firewood)	Lera, yara
Kho	Yakho (stick)	Sticks of all kind
So	Yaso (cane, rope)	Yaso, yai, all kinds of rope, threads, long thin rods (iron rod, cane rod), wire, scrawling animals (snake, earthworm), also pen, pencil etc
Ko	Kobyan (bracelet)	Bracelets, bowl etc
Ku	Paaku (plate)	plate
Pu	Papu (egg)	Spherical objects like egg, ball etc.
Pen	Pen verb root (to construct, build)	Houses, huts, buildings
Per	Not known	Seeds (bean, gram, pea, rice etc.), small pebbles, sand grain etc.

Number Markers (suffixes indicating numbers):

[Table 2]

Numbers	Counting (noun form)	Describing quantity (adj. form)
One	~kun	~e / ~ye / ~nge **
Two	~nyi	~nye-he
Three	~hing	~hing-he
Four	~pi	~pe-he
five	~ngo	~ngo-he
Six	~khii	~khii-he
Seven	~kanu	~kanu-he
Eight	~pinyi	~pinyi-he
Nine	~kowa	~kowa-he
Ten	~lyan	~lyan-he

Formation of number words:

Number words are formed by combination of the root word and the number marker. The formation of the two forms of number words is shown in following table [table 3a & 3b]:

[Table 3a]

Marker (n)	Root Words
	Boo	Dor	chan
~kun	Bookun	Dorkun	Chankun
~nyi	Boonyi	Dornyi	Channyi
~hing	Boohing	Dorhing	Chanhing
~pi	Boopi	Dorpi	Chanpi
~ngo	Boongo	Dorngo	Channgo
~khii	Bookhii	Dorkhii	Chankhii
~kanu	bookanu	Dorkanu	Chankanu
~pinyi	Boopinyi	Dorpinyi	Chanpinyi
~kowa	Bookowa	Dorkowa	Chankowa
~lyan	Boolyan	Dorlyan	Chanlyan

[Table 3b]

Marker (adj.)	Root Words
	Boo	Dor	chan
~e / ~ye / ~nge **	booye	dore	channge
~nye-he	Boonye-he	Dornye-he	Channye-he
~hing-he	Boohing-he	Dorhing-he	Chanhing-he
~pe-he	Boope-he	Dorpe-he	Chanpe-he
~ngo-he	Boongo-he	Dorngo-he	Channgo-he
~khii-he	Bookhii-he	Dorkhii-he	Chankhii-he
~kanu-he	Bookanu-he	Dortkanu-he	Chankanu-he
~pinyi-he	Boopinyi-he	Dorpinyi-he	Chanpinyi-he
~kowa-he	Bookowa-he	Dorkowa-he	Chankowa-he
~lyan-he	Boolyan-he	Dorlyan-he	Chanlyan-he

** [incase of the number word which means one (adj. form) in Apatani, the marker ~e/ ~ye/ ~nge are combined with the root word depending upon the last letter of the root word i.e. /~ye/ is used with the root word ending in vowel letter, /~e/ is used with the root word ending in letter ‘r’ and /~nge/ is used with the root word ending in letter ‘n’ (‘n’ nasalized).]