Teens and Twenties

[Ken Cook]

Richard,

You wrote...

"Many, if not most, Polynesian languages use 'man' for 20...."

This doesn't seem to be true for Samoan, Hawaiian, Tahitian, Tongan, or Maori.  In what Polynesian languages is 'man' used for '20'?

Ken Cook

  My Austronesian numbering systems research has hit a big blockage in knowledge (as available to me).

    Numbers up to 10 are interesting if only for numbers between 5 and 10. This tells me whether people were still counting on their fingers, one hand after the other. I can't tell if the system carried on to 2 x 10 or 'one man' without knowing the word for 20.

    Numbers are not just individual words, but reveal (as a set) a system of thinking. 

    The big division is between finger-and-toe counters to 20 (one man)  and those who 'progressed' to counting up two hands to 10, and then created a real decimal system of 2 x 10 = 20.

    - In the Bismarcks/New Guinea/Bougainville/Solomons, there is a very apparent break-line between the toe-counters and the decimal-users. This division roughly follows the linguistic family groups, the distribution of Lapita
    pottery, etc.

    - In Vanuatu, there is an apparent cline, from south to north. I can't do very much with numbers from 1-10 alone. I could try to see if my clumsy 1-10 numbers cline matches with John Lynch's language family grouping, or not. But I could refine the analysis if I knew the words for 20 in that area.
     
    - Many, if not most, Polynesian languages use 'man' for 20 - did they set out with a decimal, or a toe-counting system? If they came from Taiwan, then why did they switch back to a 'primitive' system that most Taiwanese groups no longer use?

    - In Taiwan, Saisyat had .am.iy.h (samiyah = man) as the 20 word. Is this a founder, or a settler symptom? 

    I lack a lot of information on numbers past 10 in WMP, Polynesian, Vanuatu, Micronesian and CEMP languages, and this is a little frustrating.

    If you can help with teens and
    twenties, please do.

    regards

    Richard Parker



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