Ćwarmin: Numbers and their interaction with Case

Since I'm apparently doing number systems now, I might as well go on to Ćwarmin. Ćwarmin, like Dairwueh and Bryatesle, has a decimal system.

er(si) - one
mer - two
siker - three
nurma - four
miŋvə - five
siŋvə - six
əntel - seven
amba - eight
əneri - nine
dustun - ten
pəktən - hundred
maktan = five hundred
kurcul = thousand

Higher numbers are formed by the following kind of construction:

siŋvə dustar əneri - six * ten + nine
əntel kurcar nurma pəkter  siker dustar er = 7431 

Ćwarmin offers some excitement, however, in the use of case forms in combination with numbers. Numbers are one of the few parts of the language where any case congruence appears. Normally only the 'smallest' numbers (i.e. any of the number-morphemes smaller than dustun) are inflected to mark for case congruence with the noun or for what role the number plays in the utterance. Dustun, pəktən, maktan and kurcul only inflect for the general ablative whenever the number of hundreds, thousands, etc is higher than one, and for singular when there is one hundred or one thousand. There is one exception - the final number before the noun can be marked by an exceptional case to affect meanings much like how adjectives too can be inflected.

The noun's number marking depends on the number (also specifically final digits on larger numbers) and is as follows: {1, sometimes 1 after bigger numbers} - singular, {1 after bigger numbers, 2 and 3} - paucal, {4-9, tens, hundreds and thousands} - plurals. However, some cases obviously conflate plurals and paucals - but generally, the number system goes the other way with those - two and three take singular for those, as do bigger numbers ending in one, two or three.

Usually, the indefinite, singular case form is used on each number from one to nine in the whole number phrase, i.e.

mene dustar sikene haruhno|haruhnoś|haruhnaś for (*|the|a certain twenty three gentlemen)

With the instrumental, singular marking goes on the noun with all numbers. The locative cases only get partial congruence on the number - the dative, accusative or general ablative, depending on the type of locative case.

However, with nominative and accusative nouns, the 'small numbers part' of the number marks for nominative (or accusative), whereas the noun itself is in the general ablative if indefinite, and genitive if definite or specific. When the noun is genitive (regardless if it's genitive because the NP is nominative, accusative or genitive), the noun is paucal for two and three, and any larger number ending on one to three.

We further get a few odd usages:

The nominative and accusative complements can stand independently as a sort of numerical existential statement:

baust-un-ou dust-utćo

baust-	un-	ou		dust-	utćo
fight-	past	1pauc		ten	-plur.acc.complement

~ they were ten that we fought, it was ten that we fought
A nominative complement -əcə/-aca or -əmcə/-amca would mark how many the subject were. Thus, saying that 'we were five that went there' - źəginið sam miŋvəcə.

The general ablative marks approximation - this can replace the nominative/accusative complements entirely for the construction marked above, i.e.

baust-un-ou dust-ar

baust-	un-	ou		dust-	ar
fight-	past	1pl.pauc		ten	-gen.abl

we fought about ten people

However, when the number is part of the noun phrase, there are a few other constructions - only the last number in the whole phrase gets the case marking attached after its regular case marking. The same approximative function applies with regards to ablative in this use. The complement cases are not used for that type of construction. The comitative-with can be used to mark that an increase by that number has occurred. Genitive marks that, yeah, that's a big number right or a kind of 'reverse exaggeration' - at least so-and-so many. Finally, the dative can mark evidentiality - 'five, yes I counted, five ...'. Doubled case suffixes can appear due to this, but are apparently avoided by some speakers. This often also leads to the number's congruence case being marked for singular indefinite, and the second case - the one which serves this role - agrees for definiteness and number with the noun, giving results like

siŋv-en-ihneś ćan-uhnaś (siŋv-dat.sg.indef-dat.pl.def tables-dat.pl.def) "six-dat-yes, I counted them- tables-dat"