Feature GB334: Is there synchronic evidence for any element of a quinary numeral system?

Patrons: Jakob Lesage

Description ⇫

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

  1. If both an earlier stage and a borrowed numeral system are attested, only code the earlier stage.
  2. If only a clearly borrowed numeral system is attested, and nothing is known about an earlier stage, code ?.
  3. If in doubt whether the numeral system is borrowed or not, code it as if it were not borrowed.
  4. Code 1 if a source mentions that there is a quinary numeral system and you can verify this in the presented numerals.
  5. Code 1 if you find a quinary numeral system in the numerals presented in a grammar or a dictionary.
  6. Code 0 if a source mentions that there is no quinary numeral system and/or you can verify this in the presented data.
  7. Code 0 if a language has a minimal numeral system that does not contain numerals beyond 5.
  8. 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.)


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0 absent 1394
1 present 386
? Not known 408
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Values ⇫

Name Glottocode Family Macroarea Contributor Value Source Comment