Thursday, August 7, 2014

Counting to Ten in Evenki!


Let's count to ten in Hulunbuir Steepe Evenki!  I'd like to add that my being able to do this amused my informants to no end.  They would bring their friends over to hear the funny foreigner count in their native language.

1 umun
2 dzu:r
3 iɮɛn
4 digin
5 ton:a
6 nʊŋʊn
7 nadan
8 dzapqɔn
9 jɔgɪn
10 dza:n

Altaic Swadesh Lists:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Swadesh_lists_for_Altaic_languages

Descriptive Grammar of Evenki:
https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject_evn_morsyn-4

QUICK CORRECTION: I did not mean to insinuate that digin "four" was a recent borrowing. This is a pure Tungusic word (e.g. Manchu "duin") but may reflect borrowing on an ancient level, or if Altaicists are correct, they may even be true cognates.

Also, sorry for the jumpy video, but we don't need fluid movement as long as the board is visible and the audio works!