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COUNTING

 

Rotuman has a 10-based counting system, which means that following the Rotuman number for ‘10’, the numbers mean literally ‘ten and one’ (for 11), ‘ten and two’ (for 12), and so on.

 

When counting, you should use the long forms of the numerals. They are as follows:

 

‘1’ saghul ma tā ‘11’
rua ‘2’ saghul ma rua ‘12’
folu ‘3’ ruaghulu ‘20’
häke ‘4’ folaghulu ‘30’
lima ‘5’ tarau ‘100’
ono ‘6’ tarau ma tā ‘101’
hifu ‘7’ tarau ma rua ‘102’
vlu ‘8’ tarau rua ‘200’
siva ‘9’ tarau folu ‘300’
saghulu ‘10’ äfe ‘1,000’

 

When the numerals are used together with a noun, the regular rules about the use of long and short forms apply (See the link on long and short at:

www.neiu.edu/~Rotuman/grammar%20COMPLETE.html)

The numeral follows the noun; the noun itself is always in the short form, while the numeral is long if definite and short if indefinite. So hȧn fol means ‘3 women’, while hȧn folu means ‘the 3 women’. You might use this last form when you are, for example, talking about some specific women that you met.

An interesting thing about Rotuman counting words is that the language has special words for counting certain edible things. This shows the importance of food to the culture. Some of these words are nouns:

 

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poa            ‘20 alili shellfish’ 

katoʽa        ‘100 fish (of any kind)’

kiu             ‘1,000 taro or yams’

 

Others of these special words occur together with regular nouns:

 

niu asoa            ‘2 coconuts’

iaʽ siga            ‘(the) 10 fish’

puak savaʽa       ‘(the) 10 pigs’ (also used for cows, chickens, and eggs)

 

Exercises

A. Tell what each word means. You can click on the word to get an answer.

       1.  häke

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       2.  ono   Answer: 6

       3.  tarau

       4.  saghulu

       5.  siva

       6.  rua

       7.  tā

       8. lima

       9. folu

      10. äfe  

 

B. Now, based on the pattern above for the numerals 10 and 19, give the Rotuman for the following:

         13

         14

         15

         16

         17

         18

         19

 

C. Now, based on the pattern above for numerals 20 and 99, give the Rotuman for the following:

         22

         36

         49

         51

         63

         78

         84

         95

 

D. How would you say the following in Rotuman:

         the 5 women

         the 4 pigs

         6 people

         9 letters

         14 bananas

         68 houses

         33 ceremonies

         27 dances

Answers

B.      saghul ma folu

         saghul ma häke

         saghul ma lima

         saghul ma ono 

         saghul ma hifu

         saghul ma vlu

         saghul ma siva

 

C.      ruaghul ma rua

         folaghul ma ono       

         häkaghul ma siva

         limaghul ma tā

         onaghul ma folu

         hifaghul ma vlu

         vlaghul ma hake

         sivaghul ma lima

 

D.      hȧn lima

         puak häke

         famör on

         puk siav

         pȧr saghul ma häk

           rī onaghul ma vl

         katoʽag folaghul ma fol

         mak ruaghul ma hif

 

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