For numbers forty and beyond, up until three hundred eighty, the original number pattern will repeat, with every number changing the number that goes in front of "-kipiaq." Sixty will be written as "piŋasukipiaq," eighty will be written as "sisamakipiaq" and one hundred will be written as "tallimakipiaq." They are combined in terms of five in a similar manner as the ones, as shown below.

 

Table Listing Iñupiaq Numbers in Twenties

English	Iñupiaq	Literally	Audio
Twenty	Iñuiññaq	Twenty
Forty	Malġukipiaq	Two twenties
Sixty	Piŋasukipiaq	Three twenties
Eighty	Sisamakipiaq	Four twenties
One Hundred	Tallimakipiaq	Five twenties
One Hundred Twenty	Tallimakipiaq Iñuiññaq	Five twenties and one twenty
One Hundred Forty	Tallimakipiaq Malġukipiaq	Five twenties and two twenties
One Hundred Sixty	Tallimakipiaq Piŋasukipiaq	Five twenties and three twenties
One Hundred Eighty	Tallimakipiaq Sisamakipiaq	Five twenties and four twenties
Two Hundred	Qulikipiaq	Ten twenties
Two Hundred Twenty	Qulikipiaq Iñuiññaq	Ten twenties and one twenty	Not Available
Two Hundred Forty	Qulikipiaq Malġukipiaq	Ten twenties and two twenties	Not Available
Two Hundred Sixty	Qulikipiaq Piŋasukipiaq	Ten twenties and three twenties	Not Available
Two Hundred Eighty	Qulikipiaq Sisamakipiaq	Ten twenties and four twenties	Not Available
Three Hundred	Akimiakipiaq	Fifteen twenties	Not Available
Three Hundred Twenty	Akimiakipiaq Iñuiññaq	Fifteen twenties and one twenty	Not Available
Three Hundred Forty	Akimiakipiaq Malġukipiaq	Fifteen twenties and two twenties	Not Available
Three Hundred Sixty	Akimiakipiaq Piŋasukipiaq	Fifteen twenties and three twenties	Not Available
Three Hundred Eighty	Akimiakipiaq Sisamakipiaq	Fifteen twenties and four twenties	Not Available
Four Hundred	Iḷagiññaq	Four Hundred	Not Available

 

You might have noticed that we just repeated the count from one to twenty, replacing the last letter of each word with the post-base -kipiaq. However, anywhere you would see atausiq get used will be replaced with the word for twenty, iñuiññaq.

Money Model: Part 3

 

The second digit in the Iñupiaq counting system makes things quite a bit more complicated, because the language really starts to conflict with the base-10 arabic numeral system at this point. The number 40 is translated as malġukipiaq, but your first thought might be that, if sisamat is 4, sisamakipiaq should be 40.  One method I use to keep myself straight is to think of each number in the second place value as a twenty dollar bill.

Table showing the translation of Iñupiaq words to twenty-dollar bills

Iñuññaq
Malġukipiaq
Piŋasukipiaq
Sisamakipiaq

 

And since we can change out five twenty-dollar bills for a hundred-dollar bill...

Table showing the translation of Iñupiaq words to hundred-dollar bills

Tallimakipiaq
Qulikipiaq
Akimiakipiaq

We use all the words for five, ten and fifteen dollar, adding -kipiaq to the end, to represent one hundred, two hundred and three hundred dollars respectively.

Example 1: 296

Two one-hundred dollar bills = qulikipiaq

Four twenty dollar bills = sisamakipiaq

Three five dollar bills = akimiaq

One one dollar bill = atausiq

If we add that all up, we get 200 + 80 + 15 + 1, to get 296

Taking the words for each of those in that order, we get qulikipiaq sisamakipiaq akimiaq atausiq.

Example 2: 305

If any bills are not included, we simply don't include them in the words. For example, 305 would just be:

Three one-hundred dollar bills = akimiaq

One five dollar bill = tallimat

Which gives us 300 + 5, or akimiakipiaq tallimat.

Example 3: 129

For the second place value, we just use the word iñuiññaq anywhere we would use the word atausiq. 

One one-hundred dollar bill = tallimakipiaq

One twenty dollar bill = iñuiññaq

One five dollar bill and Four one dollar bills ("almost" ten dollars) = quliŋŋuġtaiļaq

Since we "almost" had ten dollars, we replace the tallimat and sisamat (total of 9) that we would have had with quliŋŋuġtaiļaq. Putting everything together, we have 100 + 20 + 9 to get tallimakipiaq iñuiññaq quliŋŋuġtaiļaq.

 

"Almost" again

Any time we are one dollar away from being able to make a five, twenty or one-hundred dollar bill (with the exception of four, which is still sisamat), we use -ġutaiļaq at the end of the word. This will always happen at the end of the word string, but it can be a bit tricky to think about when you are one short of a number. 

One important point is that it is specifically when you are only ONE short of the next number. 380 is twenty short of 400, so it still is stated as akimiakipiaq sisamakipiaq, even if that specific place value is one away from being the next place value. 

279 is qulikipiaq sisamakipiaġutaiļaq

299 is akimiakipiaġutaiļaq

379 is akimiakipiaq sisamakipiaġutaiļaq

399 is iḷaġiññaġutaiḷaq

Regardless of how high the place values go, you will only use -ġutaiḷaq when you are only one short of a number in a higher place value.

Beyond 400

Four hundred marks the third place value in the Iñupiaq counting system, and past this we will repeat all of the numbers again, but using -agliaq instead of -kipiaq. This third place value will be combined with the words in the same manner, so 842 would be said as malġuagliaq malġukipiaq malġuk. Notice how each place value is doubling from the previous place value, even though the word for two is used in each of these words? This will continue to happen as we move into higher place values. This happens because this is a base-20 system. This disconnect between the Arabic numeral system and the language for counting ultimately led to the development of the Kaktovik numeral system.

 

Practice

Try levels 3 and 4 to practice the vocabulary for numbers 20 through 400. You can also try the higher levels to practice the vocabulary for numbers higher than 400. Click here to open the program in a new window.

References:

Maclean, E. A. (2014). Iñupiaq to English Dictionary. University of Alaska Press.

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