Kaktovik Inupiaq numerals

Inuit

Inuit language

The Inuit language is traditionally spoken across the North American Arctic and to some extent in the subarctic in Labrador. The related Yupik languages are spoken in western and southern Alaska and Russian Far East, particularly the Diomede Islands, but is severely endangered in Russia today and...

, like other Eskimo languages (and Celtic and Mayan languages as well), uses a vigesimal counting system. Inuit counting has sub-bases at 5, 10, and 15.

Arabic numerals

Arabic numerals

Arabic numerals or Hindu numerals or Hindu-Arabic numerals or Indo-Arabic numerals are the ten digits . They are descended from the Hindu-Arabic numeral system developed by Indian mathematicians, in which a sequence of digits such as "975" is read as a numeral...

 weren't adequate to represent the base-20 system, so students from Kaktovik, Alaska

Kaktovik, Alaska

Kaktovik is a city in North Slope Borough, Alaska, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city was 293.-Geography:Kaktovik is located at ....

 came up with an Inuit numeral system that has since gained wide use among Alaskan Iñupiaq

Inupiat language

The Inupiat language, also known as Inupiatun, Inupiaq, Iñupiaq, Inyupiaq, Inyupiat, Inyupeat, Inyupik, and Inupik, is a group of dialects of the Inuit language, spoken in northern and northwestern Alaska. The Iñupiaq language is a member of the Eskimo languages group. There are roughly 2,100...

, and is slowly gaining ground in other countries where Inuit is also spoken.

The numeral system has helped to revive counting in Inuit, which had been falling into disuse among Inuit speakers due to the prevalence of the base-10 system in schools.

The picture below shows the numerals 1–19 and then 0. Twenty is written with a one and a zero, forty with a two and a zero, and four hundred with a one and two zeros.



The corresponding spoken forms are:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
atausiq	malġuk	piŋasut	sisamat	tallimat	itchaksrat	tallimat malġuk	tallimat piŋasut	quliŋuġutaiḷaq	qulit	qulit atausiq	qulit malġuk	qulit piŋasut	akimiaġutaiḷaq	akimiaq	akimiaq atausiq	akimiaq malġuk	akimiaq piŋasut	iñuiññaŋŋutaiḷaq

(The last is formed by subtraction from iñuiññaq 20, just as 9 is formed by subtraction from 10. See Inupiat language

Inupiat language

The Inupiat language, also known as Inupiatun, Inupiaq, Iñupiaq, Inyupiaq, Inyupiat, Inyupeat, Inyupik, and Inupik, is a group of dialects of the Inuit language, spoken in northern and northwestern Alaska. The Iñupiaq language is a member of the Eskimo languages group. There are roughly 2,100...

.)

In Greenlandic Inuit language:

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Ataaseq	Marluk	Pingasut	Sisamat	Tallimat	Arfinillit	Arfineq-marluk	Arfineq-pingasut	Qulaaluat, Qulingiluat, Arfineq-sisamat	Qulit	Isikkanillit, Aqqanillit	Isikkaneq-marluk, Aqqaneq-marluk

(Dependent on the region in Greenland. Numbers differ, as do accents)