The analysis of counting system in Slovio

Dushkin R. V.
Moscow, 25.06.03

The planned language of Slovio, like any natural human languages, has its own counting system, which let to name integer and real numbers, as well as ordinal and cardinal numbers. But in current version of Slovio (number 2.59) the counting system is very odd for Slavic languages, especially some words for naming the numbers from 0 to 10. Because of this I tried to analyze all living Slavic languages with the goal to determine and discover the common things in the counting systems of Slavic languages, which can be used to create new counting system for Slovio.

Current counting system of Slovio

Slovio was created as the language for international and interslavic conversation, which could be understandable by all Slavic people without learning. But the counting system of current version of Slovio lies far from perfection, it has some words, which are hard to understand. Next table contains the current counting system of Slovio:

Table 1. Current counting system of Slovio

0	nul	26	dva-des-sxes
1	din	27	dva-des-siem
2	dva	28	dva-des-vos
3	tri	29	dva-des-dev
4	cxtir	30	tri-des
5	piat	40	cxtir-des
6	sxes	50	piat-des
7	siem	60	sxes-des
8	vos	70	siem-des
9	dev	80	vos-des
10	des	90	dev-des
11	des-din	100	sto
12	des-dva	200	dva-sto
13	des-tri	300	tri-sto
14	des-cxtir	400	cxtir-sto
15	des-piat	500	piat-sto
16	des-sxes	600	sxes-sto
17	des-siem	700	siem-sto
18	des-vos	800	vos-sto
19	des-dev	900	dev-sto
20	dva-des	1000	tisicx
21	dva-des-din	10 000	des-tisicx
22	dva-des-dva	100 000	sto-tisicx
23	dva-des-tri	1 000 000	din-milion
24	dva-des-cxtir	2 000 000	dva-milion
25	dva-des-piat	3 000 000	tri-milion

These numbers are sufficient for word-formation of all numerals (till milliard). For example, the number of 5 476 387 will be written in Slovio like "piat-milion cxtir-sto-siem-des-sxes-tisicx tri-sto-vos-des-siem". Apparently this inscription isn't very understandable, although it looks like some Slavic language. But pure analytics of such counting system is present — it can be seen on the example of number 22.

In addition such words like "din", "vos" "dev" and "des" are totally odd for Slavic human, especially if they are out of context. Of course, one can see the tendency of the Slovio developer to make the counting system simple, including monosyllabic words for basic numerals. But this decreases the comprehension of the words, and this is the cause of bad comprehension at all.

Therefore we have to compare the counting systems of all living Slavic languages. There are 13 of such languages, but the comparison will be carried out on 12 languages (unfortunately, I didn't find the counting system of Lower Sorbian). These 12 languages include: Byelorussian, Bulgarian, Upper Sorbian, Macedonian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Ukrainian, Croatian and Czech. Serbian and Croatian languages are distinguished advisedly, although lots of linguists count them as one Serbo-Croatian language and its numerous dialects. But today's in most political realities force to make such distinguishing. What concerns the existence of so called "Bosnian language" is the pure scientific mystification, since the dialect of Bosnians Muslims differs from Serbo-Croatian only by good number of Turkish loan words, most number of which is related to religious life of Muslims. Macedonian is counted by small group of Bulgarian scientists as west dialect of Bulgarian language.

The comparison of counting systems in living Slavic languages

For the reason of not jamming the text with great comparison table, this comparison will be divided into three parts, and each will be concern only one branch of Slavic languages: East-Slavic, West-Slavic and South-Slavic.

Next table shows the East-Slavic branch of Slavic languages, which consists of three languages: Byelorussian, Russian and Ukrainian. Various small languages, which are counted by most scientists as the dialects of three forenamed, don't rate (for example, Rusinian dialect of Ukrainian, which is used in some regions in West Ukraine).

Table 2. The comparison of East-Slavic languages

	Byelorussian	Russian	Ukrainian
0	нуль	ноль	нуль
1	адзiн	один	один
2	два	два	два
3	тры	три	три
4	чатыры	четыре	чотири
5	пяць	пять	п'ять
6	шэсць	шесть	шiсть
7	сем	семь	сiм
8	восем	восемь	вiсiм
9	дзевяць	девять	дев'ять
10	дзесяць	десять	десят
11	адзiнаццаць	одиннадцать	одинадцять
12	дванаццаць	двенадцать	двонадцять
13	трынаццаць	тринадцать	тринадцять
14	чатырнаццаць	четырнадцать	чотирнадцять
15	пятнаццаць	пятнадцать	п'ятнадцять
16	шаснаццаць	шестнадцать	шістнадцять
17	семнаццаць	семнадцать	сімнадцять
18	васемнаццаць	восемнадцать	вісімнадцять
19	дзевятнаццаць	девятнадцать	дев'ятнадцять
20	дваццаць	двадцать	двадцять
21	дваццаць адзiн	двадцать один	двадцять один
22	дваццаць два	двадцать два	двадцять два
23	дваццаць тры	двадцать три	двадцять три
24	дваццаць чатыры	двадцать четыре	двадцять чотири
25	дваццаць пяць	двадцать пять	двадцять п'ять
26	дваццаць шэсць	двадцать шесть	двадцять шiсть
27	дваццаць сем	двадцать семь	двадцять сiм
28	дваццаць восем	двадцать восемь	двадцять вiсiм
29	дваццаць дзевяць	двадцать девять	двадцять дев'ять
30	трыццаць	тридцать	тридцять
40	сорак	сорок	сорок
50	пяцьдзесят	пятьдесят	п'ятдесят
60	шэсцьдзесят	шестьдесят	шістдесят
70	семдзесят	семдесят	сімдесят
80	восемдзесят	восемдесят	вісімдесят
90	дзевяноста	девяносто	дев'яносто
100	сто	сто	сто
200	двесцi	двести	двісті
300	трыста	триста	триста
400	чатырыста	четыреста	чотириста
500	пяцьсот	пятьсот	п'ятьсот
600	шэсцьсот	шестьсот	шiстьсот
700	семсот	семьсот	сiмсот
800	васемсот	восемсот	вiсiмсот
900	дзевяцьсот	девятьсот	дев'ятьсот
1000	тысяча	тысяча	тисяча
10 000	дзесяць тысяч	десять тысяч	десят тисяч
100 000	сто тысяц	сто тысяч	сто тисяч
1 000 000	мiльён	миллион	мильон
2 000 000	два мiльёны	два миллиона	два мильона
3 000 000	тры мiльены	три милиона	три мильона

The West-Slavic branch of Slavic family is presented by four languages: Upper Sorbian, Polish, Slovakian and Czech. Unfortunately I have to repeat that I didn't find the counting system in Lower Sorbian. And though lots of scientists count Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian as the dialects of one Sorbian language, but we have to note the important differences in lexical and syntax structure of these languages, and this let us argue for two languages, but not two dialects.

The table doesn't consist of small languages, which are counted as dialects of Polish or Czech by most scientists. For example, Kashubian language is rated only as Polish dialect. I could make an attempt to find the counting system of Polabian language, which has only the dictionary with 5000 words as remains, but this language is dead now (the result of genocide of Slavs in Germany).

Table 3. The comparison of West-Slavic languages

	Upper Sorbian	Lower Sorbian	Polish	Slovakian	Czech
0	nul		zero	nula	nula
1	jedyn	jaden	jeden	jeden	jeden
2	dwaj	dwa	dwa	dva	dva
3	tři	tśi	trzy	tri	tři
4	štyri	styri	cztery	štiri	čtyři
5	pjeć	pěś	pięć	pät'	pět
6	šěsć	šěsć	sześć	šest'	šest
7	sydom	sedym	siedem	sedem	sedm
8	wosom	wósym	osiem	osem	osm
9	dźewjeć	źewjeś	dziewięć	devät'	devět
10	dźesać	źaseś	dziesięć	desat'	deset
11	jědnaće		jedenaście	jedenast'	jedenáct
12	dwanaće		dwanaście	dvanast'	dvanáct
13	třinaće		trzynaście	trinast'	třináct
14	štyrnaće		czternaście	štrnast'	čtrnáct
15	pjatnaće		piętnaście	pätnast'	patnáct
16	šěsnaće		szesnaście	šestnast'	šestnáct
17	sydomnaće		siedemnaście	sedemnast'	sedmnáct
18	wosomnaće		osiemnaście	osemnast'	osmnáct
19	dźewjatnaće		dziewiętnaście	devätnast'	devatenáct
20	dwaceći	dwaźasća	dwadzieścia	dvadsat'	dvacet
21	jedynadwaceći	jadenadwaźasća	dwadzieścia jeden	dvadsat'-jeden	dvacet jeden
22	dwajadwaceći		dwadzieścia dwa	dvadstat'-dva	dvacet dva
23	třiadwaceći		dwadzieścia trzy	dvadsat'-tri	dvacet tři
24	štyriadwaceći		dwadzieścia cztery	dvadsat'-štiri	dvacet čtyři
25	pjećadwaceći		dwadzieścia pięć	dvadsat'-pät'	dvacet pět
26	šěsćadwaceći		dwadzieścia sześć	dvadsat'-šest'	dvacet šest
27	sydomadwaceći		dwadzieścia siedem	dvadsat'-sedem	dvacet sedm
28	wosomadwaceći	wosymadwaźasća	dwadzieścia osiem	dvadsat'-osem	dvacet osm
29	dewjeadwaceći		dwadzieścia dziewięć	dvadsat'-devät'	dvacet devět
30	třiceći	tśizasća	trzydzieści	tridsat'	třicet
40	štyrceći		czterdzieści	štiridsat'	čtyřicet
50	pjećdesat		pięćdziesiąt	pät'desiat	padesát
60	šěsćdesat		sześćdziesiąt	šesdesiat	šedesát
70	sydomdesat		siedemdziesiąt	sedemdesiat	sedmdesát
80	wosomdesat		osiemdziesiąt	osemdesiat	osmdesát
90	dźewjećdesat		dziewięćdziesiąt	devät'desiat	devadesát
100	sto	sto	sto	sto	sto
200	dwěsćě		dwieście	dvesto	dvěstě
300	třista		trzysta	tristo	třista
400	štyrista		czterysta	štiristo	čtyřista
500	pjećstow		pięćset	pät'sto	pětset
600	šěsćstow		sześćset	šest'sto	šestset
700	sydomstow		siedemset	sedemsto	sedmset
800	wosomstow		osiemset	osemsto	osmset
900	dźewjećstow		dziewięćset	devät'sto	devětset
1000	tysac	tawsynt	tysiąc	tisic	tisíc
10 000	desa tysac		dziesięć tysięcy	desat'-tisic	deset tisíc
100 000	sto tysac		sto tysięcy	sto-tisic	sto tisíc
1 000 000	milion		milion	milion	milion
2 000 000	dwaj miliona		dwa miliony	dva milion	dva miliony
3 000 000	tři miliona		trzy miliony	tri milion	tři miliony

The South-Slavic branch of Slavic languages family is presented by five languages: Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian, Slovenian and Croatian. As stated above, Macedonian and Bulgarian, as well as Serbian and Croatian are counted as different languages. I have to point to that Serbian uses Cyrillic as alphabet, and Croatian — Latin, and this very limited set of lexemes (52 words) has one difference in these languages (the word for 1000).

Table 4. The comparison of South-Slavic languages

	Bulgarian	Macedonian	Serbian	Slovenian	Croatian
0	нула	нула	нула	nié	nula
1	едно	еден	jедан	ena	jedan
2	две	два	два	dva	dva
3	три	три	три	tri	tri
4	четири	четири	четири	štiri	četiri
5	пет	пет	пет	pet	pet
6	шест	шест	шест	šest	šest
7	седем	седум	седам	sedem	sedam
8	осем	осум	осам	osem	osam
9	девет	девет	девет	devet	devet
10	десет	десет	десет	deset	deset
11	единадесет	единаесет	jеданаест	enajst	jedanaest
12	дванадесет	дванаесет	дванаест	dvanajst	dvanaest
13	тринадесет	тринаесет	тринаест	trinajst	trinaest
14	четиринадесет	четиринаесет	четрнаест	štirinajst	četrnaest
15	петнадесет	петнаесет	петнаест	petnajst	petnaest
16	шестнадесет	шестнаесет	шеснаест	šestnajst	šestnaest
17	седемнадесет	седумнаесет	седамнаест	sedemnajst	sedamnaest
18	осемнадесет	осумнаесет	осамнаест	osemnajst	osamnaest
19	деветнадесет	деветнаесет	деветнаест	devetnajst	devetnaest
20	двадесет	дваесет	двадесет	dvajset	dvadeset
21	двадесет и едно	дваесет и еден	двадесетjедан	enaindvajset	dvadesetjedan
22	двадесет и две	дваесет и два	двадесетдва	dvaindvajset	dvadesetdva
23	двадесет и три	дваесет и три	двадесеттри	triindvajset	dvadesettri
24	двадесет и четири	дваесет и четири	двадесетчетири	štiriindvajset	dvadesetčetiri
25	двадесет и пет	дваесет и пет	двадесетпет	petindvajset	dvadesetpet
26	двадесет и шест	дваесет и шест	двадесетшест	šestindvajset	dvadesetšest
27	двадесет и седем	дваесет и седум	двадесетседам	sedemindvajset	dvadesetsedam
28	двадесет и осем	дваесет и осум	двадесетосам	osemindvajset	dvadesetosam
29	двадесет и девет	дваесет и девет	двадесетдевет	devetindvajset	dvadesetdevet
30	тридесет	триесет	тридесет	trideset	trideset
40	четиредесет	четириесет	четрдесет	štirideset	četrdeset
50	петдесет	пеесет	пеесет	petdeset	peeset
60	шестдесет	шеесет	шездесет	šestdeset	šezdeset
70	седемдесет	седумдесет	седамдесет	sedemdeset	sedamdeset
80	осемдесет	осумдесет	осамдесет	osemdeset	osamdeset
90	деветдесет	деведесет	деведесет	devetdeset	devedeset
100	сто	сто	сто	sto	sto
200	двеста	двеста	двеста	dvesto	dvesta
300	триста	триста	трста	tristo	trsta
400	четиристостин	четрсто	четристо	štiristo	četristo
500	петстотин	петсто	петсто	petsto	petsto
600	шестстонин	шесто	шесто	šeststo	šesto
700	седемстонин	седумсто	седамсто	sedemsto	sedamsto
800	осемстотин	осумстотини	осамсто	osemsto	osamsto
900	деветстотин	девестотини	деветсто	devetsto	devetsto
1000	хиляда	илjада	хиљаду	tisoé	tisuću
10 000	десет хидяди	десет илjади	десет хиљада	deset tisoé	deset tisuća
100 000	сто хиляди	сто илjади	сто хиљада	sto tisoé	sto tisuća
1 000 000	милион	милион	милион	milijon	milion
2 000 000	два милиона	два милиона	два милиона	dva milijona	dva miliona
3 000 000	три милиона	три милиона	три милиона	trije milijoni	tri miliona

Hence it is seen that the lexical set of all three tables differs from current counting system in Slovio. At the same time the tables contemporizes with each other, especially in phonetic aspect. Therefore the violation of the principle of Slovio understanding by every Slavic man without learning is revealed. But this principle is one of fundamental principles of Slovio.

The counting system is very important part of any language, so the obliteration of this principle damages the very idea of Slovio. So the necessity of creation of suggestions of new counting system for Slovio arises, although such a revolutionary step may scare some people, who started to learn Slovio. But at my point of view, it is better to do it early, but not to trample the fundamental principles of Slovio. Even more so the language is the dynamically developing system, and the planned languages must not stay in stagnation.

The suggestion of new counting system for Slovio

The first thing from current Slovio counting system, which goes before eyes, is the odd word for the number of 1 — din. All Slavic languages have beginning vowel (with [j] sound or not), the vowel without [j] sound comes only from East-Slavic languages, but in this case there are the words with [j] sound too (comp. Russian word "единый"). So I suggest the word jedin for naming 1.

The next odd word — cxtir (4). It is even hard to pronounce, since one want to put vowel after [cx] sound. And Russian man unambiguously puts reduced [ь] sound after it. And from comparison tables it is seen that in all Slavic languages, except for West-Slavic branch, there exist such vowel. So the suggestion for 4 looks like: cxetiri.

The number of 6 lost its ending sound [t] — it must be restored. Let the word looks like sxest. The number of 7 has in all languages, except for East-Slavic, the sound [d] in the middle, although there are some words with middle [d] in East-Slavic languages (comp. Russian word "седмица" — "a week"). So the most understandable word for 7 will be siedm.

The next three words for naming the numbers of 8, 9 and 10 lost their endings, so the words became monosyllables. This fact extremely hardens the understanding, so one can't understand these words out of context. Therefore according to al comparison tables I suggest to restore endings and make the words as follows: vosem, devet and deset.

The numbers from 11 till 19 take special place within the Slavic (and even Indo-European) languages. The words for their naming are distinguishable from the common set of words for naming of two-digit numbers. So I consider that there is no necessity to decline this exclusion, even more it will be understandable by all Indo-Europeans (for example, in every Germanic language there exist such phenomenon). Only what we have to do is the revelation of common basis for naming of 10 within the concerned numbers. One can use the word deset, but in this case the words for naming 12 and 20 will be very similar: dva-na-deset and dva-deset. And more in all Slavic languages there is a separated and pared-down basis for naming 10 within the numbers from 11 till 19. So I suggest using the suffix -set for designation: jedin-na-set, dva-na-set etc. Apparently this solution lies very close to all Slavic languages (see comparison tables).

All other words for naming of two-digit numbers can be found purely analytically and absolutely in the same way, as it is done in current version of Slovio. Only it can be noted that the use of "i" conjunction is optional (such conjunction is used only in Bulgarian and Macedonian). Such obvious anomalies in East-Slavic languages like the words for 40 and 90 couldn't be used in Slovio, since they are absent in other Slavic languages. So the words for 40 and 90 in Slovio are as follows: cxetiri-deset and devet-deset.

Other words are more or less understandable and are similar to the words from current version of counting system. So the next table shows the suggestion of new counting system.

Table 5. The suggestion of new counting system for Slovio

0	nul	26	dva-deset [i] sxest
1	jedin	27	dva-deset [i] siedm
2	dva	28	dva-deset [i] vosem
3	tri	29	dva-deset [i] devet
4	cxetiri	30	tri-deset
5	piat	40	cxetiri-deset
6	sxest	50	piat-deset
7	siedm	60	sxest-deset
8	vosem	70	siedm-deset
9	devet	80	vosem-deset
10	deset	90	devet-deset
11	jedin-na-set	100	sto
12	dva-na-set	200	dva-sto
13	tri-na-set	300	tri-sto
14	cxetiri-na-set	400	cxetiri-sto
15	piat-na-set	500	piat-sto
16	sxest-na-set	600	sxest-sto
17	siedm-na-set	700	siedm-sto
18	vosem-na-set	800	vosem-sto
19	devet-na-set	900	devet-sto
20	dva-deset	1000	tisicx
21	dva-deset [i] jedin	10 000	deset-tisicx
22	dva-deset [i] dva	100 000	sto-tisix
23	dva-deset [i] tri	1 000 000	milion
24	dva-deset [i] cxetiri	2 000 000	dva-milion
25	dva-deset [i] piat	3 000 000	tri-milion

Let's write down by the words from this table the same number, as we wrote earlier. The number of 5 476 387 will be "piat-milion cxetiri-sto-siedm-desest-sxest-tisicx tri-sto-vosem-deset-siedm". I read this sentence to my colleagues, and every said the number right.

It is seen that new counting system is more adequately reflects the counting systems of all living Slavic languages, so I suggest it to use instead of current.

Acknowledgments

With pleasure I want to express the great gratitude to all people, who helped me with the compilation of comparison tables. All these people responded to my requests with full comprehension and heartfulness.

Byelorussian: Andrey Borushko
Bulgarian: Cvetelina Petrova
Upper Sorbian: Edward Wornar
Macedonian: Orce Dimitrievsky
Lower Sorbian: Grzegorz Jagodzinski
Polish: Tomasz Witkowski
Serbian: Vladislav Obrenovic
Slovakian: Mark Hucko
Slovenian: Andrey Yarc
Ukrainian: Yana Musatova
Croatian: Vladislav Obrenovic
Czech: Lenka Gorakova

Also I will be very grateful, if anyone will report me about the mistakes in the comparison tables (if any), and for the counting system of Lower Sorbian language.