Numbers in Yup’ik



Learn numbers in Yup’ik

Knowing numbers in Yup’ik is probably one of the most useful things you can learn to say, write and understand in Yup’ik. Learning to count in Yup’ik may appeal to you just as a simple curiosity or be something you really need. Perhaps you have planned a trip to a country where Yup’ik is the most widely spoken language, and you want to be able to shop and even bargain with a good knowledge of numbers in Yup’ik.

It's also useful for guiding you through street numbers. You'll be able to better understand the directions to places and everything expressed in numbers, such as the times when public transportation leaves. Can you think of more reasons to learn numbers in Yup’ik?

Central Alaskan Yup’ik (also written Yupik) belongs to the Eskimo-Aleut language family. It is spoken in western and southwestern Alaska by abround 20,000 speakers. Two other Yupik languages are still spoken: the Alutiiq language (also in western and southwestern Alaska) and the Siberian Yupik (in Siberia and on the Saint Lawrence Island).

List of numbers in Yup’ik

Here is a list of numbers in Yup’ik. We have made for you a list with all the numbers in Yup’ik from 1 to 20. We have also included the tens up to the number 100, so that you know how to count up to 100 in Yup’ik. We also close the list by showing you what the number 1000 looks like in Yup’ik.

  • 1) atauciq
  • 2) malruk
  • 3) pingayun
  • 4) cetaman
  • 5) talliman
  • 6) arvinglegen
  • 7) malrunglegen
  • 8) pingayunlegen
  • 9) qulngunritaraan
  • 10) qula
  • 11) qula atauciq
  • 12) qula malruk
  • 13) qula pingayun
  • 14) akimiarunrita’ar
  • 15) akimiaq
  • 16) akimiaq atauciq
  • 17) akimiaq malruk
  • 18) akimiaq pingayun
  • 19) yuinaunrita’ar
  • 20) yuinaq
  • 30) yuinaq qula
  • 40) yuinaak malruk
  • 50) yuinaak malruk qula
  • 60) yuinaat pingayun
  • 70) yuinaat pingayun qula
  • 80) yuinaat cetaman
  • 90) yuinaat cetaman qula
  • 100) yuinaat talliman
  • 1,000) tiissitsaaq
  • one million) miilicaaq
  • one billion) tiissitsaaq miilicaaq

Numbers in Yup’ik: Yup’ik numbering rules

Each culture has specific peculiarities that are expressed in its language and its way of counting. The Yup’ik is no exception. If you want to learn numbers in Yup’ik you will have to learn a series of rules that we will explain below. If you apply these rules you will soon find that you will be able to count in Yup’ik with ease.

The way numbers are formed in Yup’ik is easy to understand if you follow the rules explained here. Surprise everyone by counting in Yup’ik. Also, learning how to number in Yup’ik yourself from these simple rules is very beneficial for your brain, as it forces it to work and stay in shape. Working with numbers and a foreign language like Yup’ik at the same time is one of the best ways to train our little gray cells, so let's see what rules you need to apply to number in Yup’ik

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  • -k is the dual marker, i.e. the marker for the count of two entities.
    yuinaak malruk [40] can be translated as twenty-dual two, hence (20 * 2)
    tiissitsaaq [1,000] gives malruk tiissitsaak [2,000] with the same marker.
  • -t is the plural marker, i.e. the marker for the count of more than two entities.
    yuinaat pingayun [60] can be translated as twenty-plural three, hence (20 * 3)
    tiissitsaaq [1,000] gives qulen tiissitsaat [10,000] with the same marker.
  • -legen means cross over
    malrunglegen [7] is two-cross over, meaning two plus one hand or (2 + 5)
    pingayunlegen [8] is three-cross over, meaning three plus one hand or (3 + 5)
  • -ata means to cling/adhere; to become attached/together/united and -usiq means manner/custom/habit of; usual way of doing something
    atauciq [1] litterary means the adherence; what is indivisible; attachment; appendage.
  • malik- means to follow/accompany and -ruq means spot; a unit of, a section or part of
    malruk [2] litterary means the following unit; the one that follows.
  • As Yup’ik is using a vigesimal system, i.e. a numeral system of base 20, numbers from one to nineteen are specific words, namely atauciq [1], malruk [2], pingayun [3], cetaman [4], talliman [5], arvinglegen [6], malrunglegen [7], pingayunlegen [8], qulngunritaraan [9], qula [10], qula atauciq [11], qula malruk [12], qula pingayun [13], akimiarunrita’ar [14], akimiaq [15], akimiaq atauciq [16], akimiaq malruk [17], akimiaq pingayun [18], and yuinaunrita’ar [19]. As we can see, from eleven to thirteen, we add the digit after the ten, then we nearly arrive to fifteen, and from sixteen to eighteen, we add the unit to fifteen, making the base a mix between a vigesimal system (of base 20) and a quinary system (of base 5): to count up to twenty, we need four steps of five units.
  • The tens are built by multiplying twenty and adding ten: qula [10], yuinaq [20], yuinaq quala [30] (20 + 10), yuinaak malruk [40] (20 * 2), yuinaak malruk qula [50] (20 * 2 + 10), yuinaat pingayun [60] (20 * 3), yuinaat pingayun qula [70] (20 * 3 + 10), yuinaat cetaman [80] (20 * 4) and yuinaat cetaman qula [90] (20 * 4 + 10). Numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine are built by saying the ten, then the digit separated with a space (e.g.: yuinaq talliman [25]).
  • The forming of hundreds follows the tens, adding the fifteen word in the calculation. In a base 20 system, the role of 100, the base multiplied by itself (10 * 10), is played by 400 (which is twenty times twenty). Thus we have: yuinaat talliman [100] (20 * 5), yuinaat qulen [200] (20 * 10), yuinaat akimiaq [300] (20 * 15), yuinaat yuinaq [400] (20 * 20), yuinaat yuinaq talliman [500] (20 * (20 + 5)), yuinaat yuinaq qula [600] (20 * (20 + 10)), yuinaat yuinaq akimiaq [700] (20 * (20 + 15)), yuinaat yuinaak malruk [800] (20 * 20 * 2), and yuinaat yuinaak malruk talliman [900] (20 * 20 * 2 + (5 * 20)).
  • One thousand is rendered by tiissitsaaq, and the other thousands are made by setting the multiplier before them (e.g.: malruk tiissitsaak [2,000], qulen tiissitsaat [10,000], yuinaat talliman tiissitsaaq [100,000]).
  • The word for one million is miilicaaq, and one billion (109) is tiissitsaaq miilicaaq, namely one thousand million, hence putting de facto the Yup’ik language in the group of the long scale users (where every new word greater than a million is one million times bigger than the previous term).
  • Culturally negociated schooling: toward a Yup’ik mathematics, by Jerry Lipka, in Journal of American Indian Education, Volume 33 Number 3, May 1994
  • Numbers in different languages