GRAMMAR OF THE YUKAGHIR LANGUAGE 



113 



Met ea'e-get^ tit' del' li'gei, my father from he is old ; that 



is, he is older than my father. 



2. The superlative is formed by means of the ablative of one 

 of the nouns compared preceded by the pronoun ai'mut' (all). 



Ciimui odu'peget' ^ tu' del^ (i'g^h ^^1 ^^e Yukaghir from he is 



old ; that is the oldest. 



Numerals. 

 § 42. The following are the principal cardinal numbers : 



2. 



3- 



4. 



5- 

 6. 



Independent. 

 I . Irki'ei 

 A' taxloi 

 Ya'loi 

 Ya' loxloi (three and 



one) 

 1' u'gan'boi 



Ma' Igiyaloi"^ (two times 

 three) 



7. /^^^r-^/V/ (one above, one 



more) 



8. Ma' Igiyeloxloi'^ (two 



times four) 



9. Kuiii' rkilejeoi (ten, one 



missing) 

 10. Ku' nel^ 



Used as Modifiers. 

 l'rki}i coro'?fiox (one man), 



A'taxun '' two men. 



Van " three " 



Ye' loktin 

 I'n'gairboje 



Ma' Igiyaii 



Pii7'ki'yin 



u 



four 

 five 



six 



" seven ' 



Ma Igiyelokuii " eight '■ 



Kuiii' rkilejeoje " nine ' 

 Kuni'yin '' ten '• 



§ 43. Judging from the above list of numerals, one might 

 draw the conclusion that the Yukaghir system of numeration 

 is not quinary, as it is with the Chukchee, Eskimo, and most of 

 the Indians, but tertiary. But it should be pointed out on the 

 other hand, that hv' gairboi (five), as it seems to me, contains 

 the word xa' irbo (palm, wrist, /. e., five fingers) since x pre- 

 ceded by IV change into its corresponding consonant g ; in 



• Instead of odu'lpeget\ from odtcl^, Yukaghir. 



'^ Ala'lgi or Malgil'' means joint. A'-e'/nalgil^ (all the joints together) means a 

 year. Ma^lgiya/oi, malgiyeloxloi, mean joint-three, joint-four, ?'. e., each one con- 

 tains three or four. 



