114 JOCHELSON 



equals iri or we (together). And if this be so, the Yukaghir 

 system of numeration has two bases. Unfortunately, I have 

 been unable so far to discover the meaning of the word 

 ku'tiel' (lo). 



§ 44. All the rest of the tens are composed by multiplying 

 10 {ku' ncl') by the number of tens which precede the ten. Thus, 

 twenty = a' taxnn-kiL' nel'' (two tens), sixty = ma' Igiyan-kii' iiel^ 

 (six tens), etc. 



Units are put after the tens with the addition of the post- 

 position biidi' (on top, over and above) ; for instance : 



II. Kuni' rkibudi' = ku' nel-irkin-budi (ten, one over). 



34. Ya' nkimelyelokunbudi (three tens, four over). 



76. Piirki' yinkii! 7ielmalgiya' nbudi' (seven tens and six on top). 



§ 45. The independent cardinals are verbal forms in the third 

 person, positive form, singular, present-preterite tense, indefinite 

 conjugation of intransitive verbs (see § 75). They may be in- 

 flected like verbs, but not like nouns. For instance, to the 

 question, '' How many ? " you reply, ** Yaloi (*' three") ; but to 

 the question, " How many men?" the answer is, '* Van coro' - 

 mox' " ("three men "). 



The plural ^ number, present-preterite tense, will be : 



Mit ya' loyeili we three are, or we three have been. 



tit ya! loyemet^ you three are, or you three have been. 

 ti' tel ya' loni they three are 



(three of them), or they three have been. 



The future tense, plural : 



Mit ya' loteili we three shall be. 



tit ya' loteyemet' you three will be. 



ti' tel ya' loTntei they three will be. 



§ 46. Cardinal modifiers used as adjectives remain unchanged, 

 only the words modified by them undergo case-inflections. 



§ 47. There are no Yukaghir words for numbers above a hun- 

 dred. They used to say ku'nel'-ku' net (ten tens) for hundred : 



> It is plain that there can be no singular. 



