Counting and Makua Culture

We speak the Makua-Metto language, but in the province south of us, Nampula, they speak a different dialect known simply as Macua or Makua.  Most of the villages we work in speak Makua-Metto (in the districts of Montepuez, Balama, Namuno, Ancuabe, Pemba) or Makua-Saka (in the district of Chiure). But in the southern part of the Namuno district in the administrative post of Macoka, near the Lurio River, the people there speak the Makua dialect from Nampula.

This Sunday, I traveled down to worship with churches in that area.  Along the way, a few of us talked about something I’ve been curious about for a while – their counting system.

Here’s a video of our friend Aquimo Saibo counting from #1-30. 

Now you might think it is interesting the way Aquimo starts counting with his pinkie finger and then when he gets to ten, he shows that by putting his fists together.  My Mozambican friends often think it is odd if I start counting with my index finger… (for more on culture and body language differences in Moz see my post from a few years back: "What's in a Shrug?")

Anyways, what I think is really interesting is their counting system as a whole.  We’ve wondered if it is should be categorized as a base-five number system.

Here are pages 225 and 226 from Gino Centis’s book Método Macua (2000), along with a few observations for clarification:

Both Makua-Metto and Makua use a noun class system and numbers must correspond to the noun class of what you are counting.  For example, in Nampula Makua, if you were counting people you would say: mmosa, ànli, araru, axexe, athanu.  But if you were counting goats you would say: emosa, pìli, tthàru, xexe, thanu.  Those are examples of two different noun classes and their impact on the counting system.  The four columns that follow on the page are examples of each of the four noun classes.  (Ah, so fun and complicated…)

As you go down the list you can see that literally the way they count is:

a.      One to Ten: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 5+1; 5+2; 5+3; 5+4; 10

b.      Eleven to Twenty: 10+1; 10+2; 10+3; 10+4; 10+5; 10+5+1; 10+5+2; 10+5+3; 10+5+4; 2 of 10

c.      Twenty-One to Thirty: (2 of 10)+1; (2 of 10)+2; (2 of 10)+3; (2 of 10)+4; (2 of 10)+5; (2 of 10)+5+1; (2 of 10)+5+2; (2 of 10)+5+3; (2 of 10)+5+4; 3 of 10.

d.      Once you get to 100 (on page 226) – it is literally “a group of ten of ten”).

Some more observations:

Interestingly, if you look up the word they use for ten, Muloko, in Dicionario Macua-Português (1990, p. 151), the first meaning that is given is “group, line or list”; then the secondary meaning that is given is “ten or group of ten.”  So, in Nampula Makua, Muloko is “group” or “ten” and Miloko is the plural form which means “groups” or “tens.”  As a side note, that word Muloko is also used among the Lomwe people (a sub-dialect of Makua) as a name for the church.  The churches of Christ among the Lomwe people, for example, often refer to themselves as “Muloko a Kristu,” or “the group of Christ.”

If the Makua Nampula number system seems cumbersome to you, rest assured that Makua people that I’ve talked to also find it difficult.  They say that once you count to 20, 30 or above, Makua people will almost always switch to Portuguese (the national language that is taught in schools).

For the Makua-Metto people in Cabo Delgado, their number system follows a 1-10 system.  Their numbers 1-5 are very similar to Makua from Nampula, but 6-10 are normally borrowed from Swahili (the language spoken in Tanzania just north of us).

I’m not exactly sure, but as far as I understand what the Nampula Makua speakers are using is not truly a base-5 system. Instead it seems like a hybrid system where “two groups of fives” forms a “ten group” that is added to from there.  I would love to hear any thoughts on what this system should be called.

Thanks for indulging my curiosity for a few minutes!  I hope it added up to an interesting blog post on the intersection of counting and culture.

Grace and Peace,

Alan