The Sumerian ternary system and the concept of number. (original) (raw)

Proto-Muskogean numeral system

1990

From reflexes in the various daughter languages, the Proto-Muskogean numeral system seems to have been made up of five categories, cardinal numerals ( eg. Koasati ostll:kan 'four'), adverbial numerals (K. onostll:kan 'four times'), ordinal numerals (K. stonosta:ka 'fourth), causative cardinals (K. osta:lin 'to quarter') and causative adverbials (K. onosta:lin 'to do four times'). However clear this basic system is, the details vary from language to language, and the system itself is subject to variation. For example, in most languages there has been a partial or complete collapse of two categories into one, eg. Mikasuki satoci:na 'three times; third;' cf. Hitchiti atoci:na 'three times;' satoci:na 'third;' Koasati ontocci:nan 'seven; seven times.' This paper will attempt to set out the correspondences between the numerals of the various languages.

Numeral systems in the Alor-Pantar languages

2014. In Alor-Pantar languages. Language Science Press

This chapter presents an in-depth analysis of numeral forms and systems in the Alor-Pantar (AP) languages. The AP family reflects a typologically rare combination of mono-morphemic 'six' with quinary forms for numerals 'seven' to 'nine', a pattern which we reconstruct to go back to proto-AP. We focus on the structure of cardinal numerals, highlighting the diversity of the numeral systems involved. We reconstruct numeral forms to different levels of the AP family, and argue that AP numeral systems have been complicated at different stages by reorganisations of patterns of numeral formation and by borrowings. This has led to patchwork numeral systems in the modern languages, incorporating to different extents: (i) quaternary, quinary and decimal bases; (ii) additive, subtractive and multiplicative procedures, and; (iii) non-numeral lexemes such as 'single' and 'take away'. Complementing the historical reconstruction with an areal perspective, we compare the numerals in the AP family with those of the Austronesian languages in their immediate vicinity and show that contact-induced borrowing of forms and structures has affected numeral paradigms in both AP languages and their Austronesian neighbors.

Growing a numeral system: The historical development of numerals in an Amazonian language family

Diachronica, 2006

Numerals in many languages around the world can be argued to re ect a progressive build-up of historical stages (cf. Hurford 1987), each of which may also represent the synchronic upper limit of a numeral system in another language. is paper presents an intriguing test case of this claim by exploring the historical development of numerals in the languages of the Nadahup (Makú) family of the northwest Amazonian Vaupés region, in which the numeral strategies that can be inferred diachronically for one language are also represented synchronically in its sisters. e paper also demonstrates that even the most basic of the Nadahup numerals have transparent etymologies (a cross-linguistically unusual feature suggestive of their relatively recent development), and that areal di usion contributed to the expansion of the systems, supporting the characterization of the Vaupés as a linguistic area.

Numerals

Encyclopedia of Greek Language and Linguistics Online, Brill, 2024

The Proto-Muskogean Numeral System

1990 Mid-America Linguistics …, 1991

MAL C Kimball 'My brothers are four in number and my sisters are two in number.' Koasati (Kimball 1985:302) 3) oc6:si•ki•k ont61do-Vbco-toho-n oc6:si-ki ont6klo-n CrllLD-pauc-subj BE:SEVEN-habit-realis-sw CHILD-pauc BE:SEVEN-sw cikki:li-n KEEP-sw I ocliskik ontok16hcotohon oc6iki ont61don cikki:lin I 'Her children were seven in number, she took care of seven children.'• Choctaw (Nicklas, 1974:199) 4) alla mat toklo-h CHILD art-subj BE:TWO•phr:tcrm I alla mat tokloh/ 'The children are two in number.' In the Muskogean languages the basic derivational order is as follows: adverbial numerals are derived from cardinal numerals and ordinal numerals are derived from adverbials. Causative numerals are derived from the cardinals and causative adverbials from the adverbials. MAL C Proto-Muskogean Numeral System Koasati 1 c a ff Koasali 2 c a ff Alabama c 4 ff Choctaw c 4 rr Chickasaw c a ff Alabama c an h Five (X + 'one') 4: k 4 il le a a k a a a-'one' 'one person' 'one' 'one' 'one' 'only one' Although Creek and Hitchiti/Mikasuki have different words for 'one,' Proto-Muskogean •azxwa ka is reflected in the words for 'five': Creek cahld:pin, Mikasuki cahki:p-in (root cahld:pa-), cognate to Koasati cahappa:kan. In Koasati •xw often becomes h intervocalically; note that in Alabama f becomes h before k in cqhka:si 'only one,' cf. Koasati caffa:ka:sin. These forms for 'five' imply a pseudo-Proto-Muskogean 1 form **Cax"'apa ka 'with one,' Proto-Muskogean •apa ka, Creek apakita 'to be with, to be mixed in.' The Creek and Hitchiti/Mikasuki forms show syncope of the second syllable, also found in the Alabama form above. Creek c a h k i: p 'five' Hitchili