Money units Ostigid libergwen.

76 Buying and Selling 4. olmani- ‗dollar bills‘ 5. tula- ‗twenty‘ These five terms form the basis of the five-way distinction used to describe money units below. 1 Money unit prefixes used to describe quantities less than one dollar Two prefixes used by Darién Kuna for money valued at less than one dollar are mani- ‗five centsnickel‘ and ton- ‗fifty cents‘. a Mani- ‗coin‘ Mani - ‗five centsone nickel‘ is the smallest unit of money used for trade in the Darién. 30 In describing the cost of items valued between five and forty-five cents, the Kunas describe the cost as a multiple of five cent pieces. For example, if an item costs twenty-five cents, the Kunas would interpret the cost of the item as five five-cent units, or five nickels. The prefix mani- uses two forms of the numeral phrase. If an item costs from five to thirty cents i.e., one to six nickels, the form of the numeral phrase is mani- + basic number stem. If the item costs from thirty-five to forty-five cents seven to nine nickels, the form of the number phrase is mani- + kwa- 31 + basic number stem. Example 1. manibake ‗20 cents four five-cent units‘

2. maniatal

‗25 cents five, five-cent units‘

3. manikwakugle

‗35 cents seven, five-cent units‘

4. manikwapabak

‗40 cents eight, five-cent units‘ Exercise 10 . Money unit drill The teacher writes on the board one of the money quantities listed in the lesson. The teacher then says the Kuna money unit. The student repeats the money unit after the teacher. This exercise should be repeated several times. Examples Teacher writes: 5¢ Teacher says: manigwen Student says: manigwen Teacher writes: 10¢ Teacher says: manibo Student says: manibo 1. 5¢ manigwen ‗five cents‘ 2. 10¢ manibo ‗ten cents‘ 3. 15¢ manipá ‗fifteen cents‘ 4. 20¢ manibake ‗twenty cents‘ 5. 25¢ maniatal ‗twenty-five cents‘ 6. 30¢ maninerkwa ‗thirty cents‘ 7. 35¢ manikwakugle ‗thirty-five cents‘ 8. 40¢ manikwapabak ‗forty cents‘ 9. 45¢ manikwabakebak ‗forty-five cents‘ 30 mani kollogwad ‗cent‘ lit., yellow money is used only in the city and in larger towns. 31 kwa- is a Group I shape prefix see 5.4.1.3. 7.4 Grammar 77 b Ton- ‗fifty cents‘ Ton - is used to describe units of fifty cents. The most common use of the prefix ton- is in the description of an item which costs fifty cents, tongwen. Very occasionally other number stems are added to the prefix ton - and are used to describe values which are multiples of fifty cents. The numeral phrase is formed by ton - + basic number stem. Examples 1. tongwen ‗fifty cents one fifty-cent unit‘ Rarely used forms include:

2. tonbo

‗one dollar two fifty-cent units‘

3. tonpá

‗one dollar, fifty three fifty-cent units‘

4. tonbake

‗two dollars four fifty-cent units‘ 2 Money unit terms used to describe quantities of one dollar or more Two terms used by the Kuna in the Darién to describe money valued at more than one dollar are karta ‗dollar bill‘ and olmani- ‗gold sovereign‘. Karta ‗dollar bill‘ is the word used to describe dollar bills in Kuna. It actually means ‗paperbook‘. The form used to describe the denomination of a dollar bill or the price of an item is karta + ka- or mata- 32 + basic number stem. Although either ka- or mata- may be used in the numeral phrase, ka- is more common. The word karta is usually used to describe denominations of money valued at less than ten dollars. However, this is not always the case. When the term karta is used to describe denominations of twenty or more, the Group I prefixes, ka- and mata- are not usually used. Examples 1. karta kagwen ‗one dollar‘ 33 or karta matagwen 2. karta kabo ‗two dollars‘ or karta matabo 3. karta katulabo ‗forty dollars‘ or karta matatulabo or karta tulabo Olmani - ‗gold sovereign dollar bills‘ is another money unit prefix. The form used to describe the denomination of a bill or the price of an item is olmani- + basic number stem. This prefix is usually used to describe denominations of more than ten dollars, although occasionally one dollar amounts are described by this prefix. 32 ka- and mata- are Group I shape prefixes see 5.4.1.3. 33 Sometimes the loan word balboa or dólar is used in the place of karta. If an item was purchased in Colombia, the word peso might be used.