Appendix: quick reference
The number words
| Phi | Value | Class |
|---|---|---|
mu | 0 | base numeral |
ta | 1 | base numeral |
wi | 2 | base numeral |
shao | 3 | scale unit (three-group) |
phoi | 9 | scale unit (nine-group) |
lau | 27 | scale unit (twenty-seven-group) |
rei | 81 | scale unit (eighty-one-group) |
Composition: largest unit first, digits ta/wi before each unit, remainder last, never a remainder of three, never a repeated unit. wi phoi ta shao ta = 18 + 3 + 1 = 22.
The four natures
| Classifier | Gloss | Covers | Rule of thumb |
|---|---|---|---|
himo | HUM.CLF | people | counting most in need of manners |
lipha | LIFE.CLF | living beings, living parts, life in waiting | the egg, the ear, the seed |
themo | THING.CLF | the detached and the crafted | the plank, the bowl, the carved ear |
nophe | ABST.CLF | concepts, time, events | the year, the storm-as-event, the walk |
Always optional; nature-now decides; declining to classify is the honest form of not knowing.
Exact, about, and beyond
| Form | Means |
|---|---|
ta shao wi powea | five eggs, counted |
shao powea | some three eggs |
phoi miona | nine or so people |
lau shiro | many trees |
rei silero | countless stars |
henoi sulopa | enough soup, the only quantity that mattered |
Quantifier row: theula (UNIV), sheloi (MANY), shelami (MOST), soli (SOME), phina (FEW), theli (EACH), wheli (ANY), mawha (NONE), henoi (ENOUGH). The question: wia (HOW MANY), wia himo miona (how many people?).
Position
nu (ORD) + cardinal + noun: nu ta shao philo, the third day. Position as topic: [cardinal] noa, lopia mua wi noa nai. Ordinals order things and times; ordering people is for lines that are truly just lines.
The five verbs of arithmetic
| Verb | Operation | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
sholei | gather (+) | wi ta shao sholei. ta shao wi kelai. |
leiro | release (−) | ta phoi ta shao leiro. wi shao kelai. |
welura | spread (×) | ta shao wi welura. wi shao kelai. |
phanoi | portion (÷) | ta phoi ta shao phanoi. ta shao kelai. |
kelai | equals | closes every calculation as its own clause |
Real operands share one classifier; bare mathematics drops them. Remainders are facts with futures, not defects.
The two questions of honest counting
Before any exact number: would exactness change what anyone does? and is the exact number mine to give? Two yeses: count. Otherwise: shao, soli, henoi, the sentence gets shorter as it gets truer.
Vocabulary of this pamphlet
| Phi | Gloss |
|---|---|
| powea | egg |
| piru | trader |
| silawo | village |
| noru | bowl |
| tomi | pot |
| wiru | basket |
| shalu | fish |
| wolea | wood |
| shonui | ear |
| torua | year |
| noa | position |
Cross-references
- Doctrine: the manual, Part IV ch12 (foundation, building, approximation, position and kind, conscious calculation);
documents/grammar/numeral_reference.mdfor the full inventory. - The classifier ruling and the nature-now rule:
canon.md, Classifiers. - The philosophy of not counting:
documents/psychological_violence_of_measurement.md. - The scenes this pamphlet drills: primer ch15, ta wi shao, market day; ch24's
lau-counted news; the journal dates of manual ch23.