Yuchi Numbers 0-13 & 20:

stop is used in English to say "Oh'Oh" when we make an error. The vowel sounds include both oral and nasal vowels, but that distinction has not been delineated here.

In Yuchean there is little distinction between verbs and nouns, so the same word for "number" or "count" might be use as either a verb or a noun. The stress is on the context of who is doing the speaking and when. While the stories can be told in English, and have the same characters interacting and doing the same actions, something is lost in the translation which is somehow enriched with this contextualized telling in Yuchi.

The writer here is not a linguist, but has relied heavily on the unpublished work of Lewis Ballard, James Crawford, and Addie George to write this little primer on the Yuchi language. The unpublished thesis (A Euchee Grammar) by Mary Linn (2000) is also an excellent source, as will her forthcoming dictionary of the Yuchi language when it is completed.

nagõtehn
hit'é
nõwe
nõKá 
Talá 
tc'wahé
icdú
laxdjú
bifá
t'eKa
laxPé

(nah got neh)
(heet'e)
(no wen)
(no kah)
(tae lae)
(tch wa he)
(ish tu)
(lahsh ju)
(bee fah)
(t'aekae)
(thlahsh peh)

none/zero
one (or only)
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten

laxPé hit'é tah weh
laxPé nõwe tah weh
laxPé nõKá tah weh
k'hoshtahnonweh

eleven
twelve
thirteen…
twenty

Links:

These two, century-old, landmark texts on the Yuchi are available for free on the web:

Speck, Frank. Ethnology of the Yuchi Indians, Vol. 1. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1909.

Speck, Frank. Ceremonial Songs of the Creek & Yuchi Indians, Vol. 2. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1911.

Send e-mail to:
woktela@comcast.net

For additional information contact:
David Hackett
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
(865) 483-0058