Lufkan Numbers

The Lufkan people use a base 5 numbering system, with numbers built up from the five syllables za (zero), ma (one), ta (two), pa (three), and la (four). A number word ends with ba, preceeded by the number in positional form. For example, the first ten cardinal numbers are

Ten is tazaba, twenty is lazaba, while three hundred and fourteen is tatatalaba.

To express very large numbers, the ending ga is used to represent powers of five. For example, mapabapaga is mapaba lots of five to the power of pa, or one thousand. One million is tatalabamamaga. Of course, the average Lufkan would not count with "thousand" or "million", but would instead use laga or mapaga.

Lufkan Time

Following their numbering system, the Lufkan kursa (day) is divided into 25 ozusa (hours). Each ozusa is further divided into 25 ivasa, with each ivasa consisting of 25 fotsa. The base measurement of time is the temsa, with 5 temsa in each fotsa. A temsa is about 1.106 seconds.

Lufkan Distance

The Lufkan people have a rich vocabulary for describing different distances. Most curious is the talsa, a unit of distance equal to 5.4321 centimetres - the simple progression of five numbers in the conversion has puzzled researchers as to the origins of the distance system.

The closest unit of distance to our kilometre is the mapsa, equal to about 848.7m. There are also many other units of measurement, from the very big to the very small.

Distance Puzzle

Lufkan researchers are very interested in any theories about the origin of the Lufkan distance system and whether there is any profound significance in the pattern in the talsa conversion. Please send theories to m.bulmer@uq.edu.au. Rewards for good theories will be in the form of chocolate.