Kaktovik Inupiaq numerals
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|---|
 |
| Hindu–Arabic numeral system |
| East Asian |
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| Former |
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Inuit, like other Eskimo languages (and Celtic and Mayan languages as well), uses a vigesimal counting system. Inuit counting has sub-bases at 5, 10, and 15. Arabic numerals were not adequate to represent the base-20 system, so students from Kaktovik, Alaska, came up with the Kaktovik Inupiaq numerals,[1] which has since gained wide use among Alaskan Iñupiaq, and is slowly gaining ground in other countries where dialects of the Inuit language are spoken.[1]
The numeral system has helped to revive counting in Inuit, which had been falling into disuse among Inuit speakers due to the prevalence of the base-10 system in schools.
The picture below shows the numerals 1–19 and then 0. Twenty is written with a one and a zero, forty with a two and a zero, and four hundred with a one and two zeros.
The corresponding spoken forms are:
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| atausiq | malġuk | piŋasut | sisamat | |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| tallimat | itchaksrat | tallimat malġuk | tallimat piŋasut | quliŋuġutaiḷaq |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| qulit | qulit atausiq | qulit malġuk | qulit piŋasut | akimiaġutaiḷaq |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| akimiaq | akimiaq atausiq | akimiaq malġuk | akimiaq piŋasut | iñuiññaŋŋutaiḷaq |
| 20 | ||||
| iñuiññaq |
(19 is formed by subtraction from iñuiññaq 20, just as 9 is formed by subtraction from 10. See Inupiat language.)
In Greenlandic Inuit language:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Ataaseq | Marluk | Pingasut | Sisamat | Tallimat | Arfinillit | Arfineq-marluk | Arfineq-pingasut |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| Qulaaluat, Qulingiluat, Arfineq-sisamat |
Qulit | Isikkanillit, Aqqanillit |
Isikkaneq-marluk, Aqqaneq-marluk |
(Dependent on the region in Greenland. Numbers differ, as do accents)