Minhast: Difference between revisions

In the Standard language, as in the Classical language, fractions are expressed using the formula, ''X min yešpa=yar Y ikšimakman'', where ''X'' represents the denominator and ''Y'' represents the numerator, a common pattern in dependent-marking languages such as Basque and Japanese.  Examples include ''Šentaz min yešpayār duxt ikšimakman'' for 3/20 (lit. From twenty portions, three have come).  Mathematical operations becomes tricky with fractions; adding 3/20 + 2/20 = 5/20 results in ''Šentaz min yešpayār duxt ikšimakman, šentaz min yešpayār šāni ikšimakman,  wahēk, matti  šentaz min yešpayār meneħ ikšimakman'', or "From twenty portions, three have stepped forward, from twenty portions, two have stepped forward; now behold, there are from twenty portions that five have stepped forward."

However, in practice the formula for forming fractions and conducting mathematical operations has been simplified. One encounters instead truncated formulas such as ''Šentazešpār duxtakman'' for 3/20, or ''Šentazešpār duxtakmammā, šentazešpār šānikman;  šentazešpār menekmandūr'' for 3/20 + 2/20 = 5/20.  The latter example, in addition to demonstrating truncation, shows how clause-like constructions involving the Subordinative ''=mā'' and Resultative ''-dūr'' have replaced what was originally a large noun phrase complex.  The ''min''=construction with ''yešpa'' and the Ablative clitic ''=yār'' was itself truncated and re-analyzed as the derivational suffix ''-ešpār'' for fractions.  This is a Gull Speaker innovation that has been attested as early as the 1600's, and has spread throughout the Lower Minhast dialects.  It has also spread into some Upper Minhast dialectal areas, principally in Išpa, Warat, and Uħpar Prefectures in Dog Speaker Country.  This innovation has also been adopted into the City Speaker dialect since it coalesced into a distinct dialect in the 1950's, via Bayburim, a Gull Speaker settlement that was incorporated into Aškuan before being returned to the Gull Speakers in 2016.

Additionally, another set of fractional numbers, albeit limited, exists and is divided into two categories, an attributive and a verbal:

Note the upper bound is '''tenth''' ''(erritt)'', '''not''' "twentieth" which would be expected from Minhast's vegisemal system; in this set, a decimal pattern is observed.  The fractions bear no resemblance to their ordinal and cardinal forms, having originated from different roots.  The verbal forms display some irregularity, as in ''kammak-i-an'' vs the expected ''kammak-an'', ''hadde-ħ-ħan'' instead of the expected ''haddehan'', and ''irt-an'' instead of the expected ''erritt-an''.