- Of the considerable literature on this subject, cp. some of the general studies, e.g., Levi Leonard Conant, The Number Concept, New York 1931; W. J. McGee, Primitive Numbers, Bureau of American Ethnology Annual Report 19.821–51, Washington 1900; Cyrus Thomas, Numeral Systems of Mexico and Central America, ibid., 19.853–955; Roland B. Dixon and A. L. Kroeber, Numeral Systems of the Languages of California, American Anthropologist, n.s. 9.663–90, 1907; A. R. Nykl, The Quinary-Vigesimal System of Counting in Europe, Asia, and America, Language 2.165–73; Ewald Fettweis, Das Rechnen der Naturvölker, Berlin 1927; Theodor Kluge, (1) Die Zahlenbegriffe der Sudansprachen, Berlin 1937, (2) Die Zahlenbegriffe der Australier, Papua und Bantuneger, Berlin 1938, (3) Die Zahlenbegriffe der Völker Americas, Nordeurasiens, der Munda und der Palaioafricaner, Berlin 1939, (4) Die Zahlenbegriffe der Dravida, der Hamiten, der Semiten und der Kaukasier, Berlin 1941, (5) Die Zahlenbegriffe der Sprachen Zentral-und Südostasiens, Indonesiens, Micronesiens, Melanesiens und Polynesiens, nebst einer prinzipiellen Untersuchung über die Tonsprachen, Berlin 1941–2 (cf. review by J. Rahder, Language 23.181–5). However, as far as this paper is concerned, I am indebted rather to Professors George Herzog and C. F. Voegelin for their encouragement and valuable suggestions.
- Cf. George Peter Murdock, The Common Denominator of Cultures, The Science of Man in the World Crisis, ed. Ralph Linton, p. 124, New York 1945. Also, Burt W. and Ethel G. Aginsky, The Importance of Language Universals, Word 4.168–72 (1948).
- Morris Swadesh, South Greenlandic (Eskimo), Linguistic Structures of Native America, VFPA 6.36, New York 1946.
- Li Fang-Kuei, Chipewyan, ibid., p. 422.
- Leo J. Frachtenberg, Siuslawan (Lower Umpqua), Handbook of American Indian Languages, BAE Bull. 40, 2.431–629, Washington 1922.
- D. G. Brinton, The Betoya Dialects, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 30.273 (1892).
- Leo J. Frachtenberg, op. cit., p. 586; transcription of linguistic forms was simplified by the present writer.
- Only the above-mentioned positive form of the postulate is valid.
- By resemblance we mean the relationship of those morpheme alternants which can be grouped together into a single morpheme, as, for instance, English fif—and faiv, one being a bound morpheme alternant and the other a free morpheme alternant of the same morpheme unit. And also compare two English bound morphemes, -ti and -ti·n, which may occur in sequence with fif-, siks-, etc. However, in spite of our attempts to delimit the patterns as rigidly as possible, it seems that some overlapping should be allowed for in cases where a frame pattern form in an operational construction is multiplied by one. Cp. Encabellado with 5 = 1.5 ‘one hand’ and numerous other languages referred to in this paper. In such cases we list 5 under the heading of frame pattern and 1.5 under the heading of operative pattern.
- In working with aboriginal languages, we do not attempt to analyze the numerals for higher numbers—roughly those from 50 or 100 up—for two reasons: the data are in most cases not available, and if they are, they frequently represent a laboriously constructed or even non-existing answer of the informant to the investigator, and hence are not reliable; secondly, the structure of almost any numerical system would transpire quite sufficiently within the range of a few decades.
- An independent linguistic family on the upper Paragua River in Venezuela.
- Theodor Koch-Grünberg, Abschluss meiner Reise durch Nordbrasilien zum Orinoco, mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der von mir besuchten Indianerstämme, Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 45.448–74, Berlin 1913. On page 458 a footnote reads: “Die Kaliána haben nur eine Zahl und gebrauchen stets dasselbe Wort ‘mẹyakán,’ indem sie an den Fingern und dann an den Zehen weiterzählen.”
- List based on material collected by Theodor Kluge, op. cit. (3).
- Wendell C. Bennett, Numbers, Measures, Weights, and Calendars, Handbook of South American Indians, BAE Bull. 143, 5.601–19.
- Theodor Kluge, op. cit. (3), pp. 45f.
- Theodor Kluge, op. cit. (3). We use the following abbreviations in our analysis: R—range, C—cyclic pattern, F—frame pattern, O—operative pattern. In spelling the individual languages, we follow the practices of the Handbook of South American Indians.
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