Properties of Lower Numerals and their Explanation

In a recent article (Rutkowski 2003) Paweł Rutkowski argues that the numerals 1-4 are treated specially in their syntax in across languages. Rutkowski wishes to explain this contrast as due to the working memory’s limited capacity, which cognitivists argue is indeed four items. We challenge this claim by presentation typological data to show a decreasing tendency of lower numerals to be more idiosyncratic and that 4 is a soft and arbitrary cut-off point outside Indo-European languages. We therefore argue that frequency, with special attention to cognitive reference points, is a better explanation

Whence the Kanum base-6 Numeral System?

Base-6-36 numeral systems, a typological rarity, are found in Kanum languages of New Guinea as testified by Donohue (Linguistic Typology 12: 423-429, 2008). We look at the probable relatives of the Kanum languages and show that the base-6 system must have emerged in the Tonda group specifically. Since there is no evidence of body-part terms in the base-6 forms attested, we speculate that these systems have a different origin. Specifically, we suggest that the base-6 systems arose for counting yams. The ethnographic data for Kanum and other relevant languages are in concord with such a scenario. Whether there is a historical connection with base-6 systems of the Kolopom languages, near, but not adjacent, to the west, remains an open question. If there is a connection, it is areal rather than genetic, but sufficient evidence for a pre-historic areal connection remains to be collected. Equally, if not more, puzzling would be the conclusion that there is no historical connection, given the rarity of base-6 in the world as a whole

Rarities in numeral systems

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