Dzongkha
Dzongkha (; ) is a Tibeto-Burman languages, Tibeto-Burman language that is the official and national language of Bhutan. It is written using the Tibetan script.
The word means "the language of the fortress", from ' "fortress" and ' "language ...
, the national language of
Bhutan
Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...
, has two
numeral system
A numeral system is a writing system for expressing numbers; that is, a mathematical notation for representing numbers of a given set, using digits or other symbols in a consistent manner.
The same sequence of symbols may represent differe ...
s, one
vigesimal
A vigesimal ( ) or base-20 (base-score) numeral system is based on 20 (number), twenty (in the same way in which the decimal, decimal numeral system is based on 10 (number), ten). ''wikt:vigesimal#English, Vigesimal'' is derived from the Latin a ...
(base 20), and a modern
decimal
The decimal numeral system (also called the base-ten positional numeral system and denary or decanary) is the standard system for denoting integer and non-integer numbers. It is the extension to non-integer numbers (''decimal fractions'') of th ...
system. The vigesimal system remains in robust use.
Ten is an
''auxiliary base'': the ''-teens'' are formed with ten and the numerals 1–9. Ex. cu_ci
Vigesimal
*When it appears on its own, ‘ten’ is usually said ''bcu tham'' ‘a full ten’. In combinations it is simply ''bcu''.
Multiples of 20 are formed from ''khal''. Intermediate multiples of ten are formed with ''phyed'' 'half to':
400 (20²) ' is the next unit: ' 400, ' 800, etc. Higher powers are 8000 (20³) ' ('a ɡreat score') and ' 160,000 (20⁴).
Decimal
The decimal system is the same up to 19. Then decades, however, are formed as ''unit–ten'', as in Chinese, and the hundreds similarly. 20 is reported to be ', the same as vigesimal numeral 400; this may be lexical interference for the expected . (In any case, there is no ambiguity, because as 400 it is obligatorily ' 'one 400'.) Several of the decades have an epenthetic ', perhaps by analogy with 18 and 19, where the ' presumably reflects a historical 'ten':
:' 30, ' 40, ' 50, ' or ' 100 (a 'full hundred' or 'one hundred'), ' 200, ' 300, ''{{IPA, ʑi-p-ɟa'' 400, etc.
References
*Mazaudon & Lacito, 2002
"Les principes de construction du nombre dans les langues tibeto-birmanes" in François, ed. ''La Pluralité'', p. 6 ''ff''
Dzongkha language
Numerals
Numeral systems