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Is there synchronic evidence for any element of a quinary numeral system?
Summary
Are any numerals above 5 formed with 5 as a base? For example, 6 = 5+1, 7 = 5+2, 8 = 5+3, 9 = 5+4, 11 = 5+5+1, etc.? One example of this is enough for a 1, except if it can be derived from an already existing non-quinary system (e.g. if 10 = 5x2, but other numerals are also formed by doubling, e.g. 4 = 2x2 and 6 = 3x2, this does not count).
Procedure
- If both an earlier stage and a borrowed numeral system are attested, only code the earlier stage.
- If only a clearly borrowed numeral system is attested, and nothing is known about an earlier stage, code ?.
- If in doubt whether the numeral system is borrowed or not, code it as if it were not borrowed.
- Code 1 if a source mentions that there is a quinary numeral system and you can verify this in the presented numerals.
- Code 1 if you find a quinary numeral system in the numerals presented in a grammar or a dictionary.
- Code 0 if a source mentions that there is no quinary numeral system and/or you can verify this in the presented data.
- Code 0 if a language has a minimal numeral system that does not contain numerals beyond 5.
- Code ? if the source does not contain enough data (e.g. not enough numerals) to verify whether or not there is a quinary numeral system.
Examples
Papapana (ISO 639-3: ppn, Glottolog: papa1265)
Papapana has a quinary system for numerals between 5 and 10 and a decimal system for forming multiples of 10 (Smith 2015: 94). It is coded 1 for this feature.
5 pepeitaunima five
6 pepeitaunima na’aria five one
7 pepeitaunima nuata five two
8 pepeitaunima tautono five three
9 pepeitaunima tauvasi five four
10 numanoa ten
...
19 numanoa pepeitaunima tauvasi ten five four
...
30 tautoi manoa four tens
70 pepeitaunima nuau manoa five two tens
Awar (ISO 639-3: aya, Glottolog: awar1249)
Awar has a quinary numeral system for numbers from 6 to 9 and a vigesimal system for multiples of twenty (Levy 2002: 159-161). The numeral for 5 is derived from the noun for ‘hand’ and the numeral for 10 is the plural of ‘hand’. The author does not mention how other multiples of ten are formed. Awar is coded 1 for this feature.
5 parʌmbã hand:mark
6 parʌmbut mbɨnʌ hand:side one
7 parʌmbut mbuni hand:side two
8 parʌmbut mbrɨbɨn hand:side three
9 parʌmbut pʌur hand:side four
10 pari hand:PL
...
20 mot yã mbɨnʌ man good one
40 mot yã mbuni man good two
60 mot yã mbrɨbɨn man good three
Tongva (ISO 639-3: xgf, Glottolog: tong1329)
Tongva has a numeral for 10 that literally means ‘two times five’ so would appear to have a quinary system. Upon closer inspection, however, the system is based on multiplication by 2, not multiplication by 5 (Hill & Hill 2019: 1371). Tongva is coded 0 for this feature.
10 wehee-$ mahaar two-times five
8 wehee-$ wat$aa7 two-times four
Amkoe (ISO 639-3: huc, Glottolog: hoaa1235)
Some languages have a minimal numeral system that does not include numerals higher than a certain number. Amkoe, for example, only has numerals up to three or four, depending on the variety (Collins & Gruber 2014: 133–137). Amkoe is coded 0 for this feature.
Further reading
Chan, Eugene. 2020. Numeral systems of the world. https://lingweb.eva.mpg.de/channumerals/.
Comrie, Bernard. 2013. Numeral bases. In Matthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds), The world atlas of language structures online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
Comrie, Bernard. n.d. Typology of numeral systems.
Hammarström, Harald. 2010. Rarities in numeral systems. In Jan Wohlgemuth & Michael Cysouw (eds), Rethinking universals: How rarities affect linguistic theory (Empirical Approaches to Language Typology 45), 11–60. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
References
Collins, Chris & Jeff Gruber. 2014. A grammar of ǂHȍã with vocabulary, recorded utterances and oral texts. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.
Hill, Jane H. & Kenneth C. Hill. 2019. Comparative Takic grammar. Berkeley: University of California.
Levy, Catherine. 2002. A tentative description of Awar phonology and morphology (Lower Ramu family, Papua-New Guinea). Brussels: Free University of Brussels. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Smith, Ellen Louise. 2015. A grammar of Papapana, with an investigation into language contact and endangerment. Newcastle, Australia: University of Newcastle. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Related Features
- GB333 Is there a decimal numeral system?
- GB335 Is there synchronic evidence for any element of a vigesimal numeral system?
- GB336 Is there a body-part tallying system?
Patron
Jakob Lesage