<div>As a footnote to the Arop/Sissano/Warapu discussion, and following<BR>John Nystrom's experience that the Sissano don't<BR>have much more of a number system than one, two , and many.<BR>(Thanks to Rene van den Berg)</div> <div> </div> <div>Here's another example of the same thing, a century old,<BR>from Dr Strong in another corner of New Guinea:</div> <div><BR>"There is one quite exceptional Melanesian-speaking people <BR>who are strangely deficient as regards counting. In 1905 <BR>I was in their country. They live on the south coast in <BR>the Kuni district, inland from Hall Sound. These people have, <BR>or at least in 1905 had, no trace of any numeral beyond three. <BR>For "two" they used lua, and for " three" koi. These words are <BR>both obviously of Melanesian origin. </div> <div> </div> <div>In 1905 I was using a Motu-speaking Kuni native as guide. <BR></div> <div>On asking him how many times we would have to sleep on the road <BR>in going from
Mafulu to Kabadi, he replied in Motuan, " three <BR>times, toi. Like many of the people around Hall Sound he was <BR>unable to say a "t" and pronounced all his "t's" as "k's."</div> <div>So his pronunciation of the Motuan word toi was really koi. <BR></div> <div>On my asking the names of the places we had to sleep at, he <BR>correctly mentioned five names, and these names I afterwards <BR>verified. On asking him to explain why he said we had to sleep <BR>koi times and yet gave five names, he seemed quite unaware that <BR>the fact required explanation. </div> <div> </div> <div>At the time, I discussed this with some of the missionaries who <BR>could talk the Kuni language, and they confirmed the fact that in <BR>practice the Kuni people used the word koi to mean a few. </div> <div> </div> <div>The Kuni people, in fact, really only counted one, two, a few, many.</div> <div> </div> <div>The Kuni are the only Melanesian-speaking people in
British New Guinea<BR>who have gone far inland. Their language is obviously a regular <BR>Melanesian one, very closely allied indeed to the Motu of Port Moresby, <BR>which has a well-defined system of numeration, going at least up <BR>to a thousand. </div> <div> </div> <div>It is very difficult to see how the Kuni people can have lost numerals <BR>like " five," if they ever had them.</div> <div> </div> <div>I feel rather driven to the conclusion that the Melanesian numerals <BR>above toi are a comparatively recent introduction, subsequent to the <BR>arrival of the Melanesians in New Guinea. </div> <div>The Kuni natives are by no means deficient in intelligence. </div> <div>The Kuni guide I had was quite intelligent and particularly energetic".</div> <div> </div> <div>[ I would think he was "particularly energetic" if he spent 5 nights</div> <div>on the road, but only considered it worthwhile sleeping for 3 - RP] </div>
<div> </div> <div>Some Personal Experiences in British New Guinea. W. M. Strong<BR>The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain <BR>and Ireland, Vol. 49. (Jul. -Dec., 1919), pp. 292-308.<BR><A href="http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0307-3114%28191907%2F12%2949%3C292%3ASPEIBN%3E2.0.CO%3B2-T">http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0307-3114%28191907%2F12%2949%3C292%3ASPEIBN%3E2.0.CO%3B2-T</A></div> <div><BR>Later records for Kuni show:</div> <div> </div> <div>Strong 1905 kaona (1), lua (2), koi (few) </div> <div> </div> <div>Ray 1929 kaona (1), lua(2), koi, or kuana kaona (3), <BR>luana ove luana (4) koi (5)</div> <div> </div> <div>SIL 1975 kaona(1), lua (2), koi (3), vani (4), ima beke (5), <BR>ima lua itobu, ogala (10), ogala nua-bona (20) </div>
<div> </div> <div>Ogala (10) looks like a loan from Toura ukara (10). Ima lua itobu means <BR>'hand two complete'.</div> <div> </div> <div>This example is almost exactly like the Arop/Sissano/Malol/Sera one that's <BR>been under discussion here, and shows very speedy 'evolution' from virtually <BR>no number system at all, to an 'express train to decimalisation', presumably <BR>under the influence of 'peace and inter-group mixing' brought about by a <BR>paternal colonial government (even if the modern Kuni are 'making up numbers'<BR>to satisfy and impress enquiring linguists). </div> <div> </div> <div>The real question is: How did their almost complete absence of a number system <BR>come about?</div> <div> </div> <div>I feel a certain sympathy for Dr. Strong's opinion that 'the Melanesian numerals <BR>above toi are a comparatively recent introduction, subsequent to the arrival of <BR>the Melanesians in New Guinea'.</div> <div> </div>
<div>The majority of An languages in the 'Melanesian' area (from Timor to Vanuatu)</div> <div>have number systems that owe little to the PAn or POC proto-language </div> <div>'fully blown' decimal systems. </div> <div> </div> <div>You can practically 'see' number systems evolving, with some using their own <BR>'hand' word for 5, 2 x 5 for 10, and 'all done' or 'man' for 20, <BR>meaning they counted their toes as well.</div> <div> </div> <div>'Tekau' is a frequent word for 20 in Polynesian (Marquesan, Tahitian (ta'au), <BR>Tongan, Niuean, Tokelauan, and Maori (before contact - it's now replaced <BR>'hanguru' as 10). </div> <div> </div> <div>Perhaps someone could advise me whether tekau means <BR>'all done' or 'man'. </div> <div> </div> <div>Whichever it is, it shows definite 'fossilised' evidence of pre-Polynesian <BR>toe-counting.</div> <div> </div> <div>As does the Taiwanese Saisyat sam?iyah, that also means 20 and 'man'. <BR>They'd be
the last people you'd suspect of picking up bad habits from <BR>Mela- or Poly- nesians.</div> <div> </div> <div>Ray (1919) gives Sissano only two number words, bondanen <BR>and ildin, but in the same paper, he calls Arop a 'Papuan' language, <BR>with the full pontanan, entin, entin e pontenan...sequence.</div> <div> </div> <div>Ray counted Arop as a Papuan (Valman group) language, then on the Takon <BR>River, NW of Berlinhafen (Aitape), together with Malol, NW of Berlinhafen, <BR>on coast, and Varopu (Warupu) on two small islands in a lagoon, <BR>with Ser(a) and Sissano as Austronesian, located (at that time) on the <BR>'mainland west of Tumleo'.</div> <div> </div> <div>best regards</div> <div><BR>Richard Parker<BR>Siargao Island, The Philippines. </div> <div><BR>My website at <A href="http://www.coconutstudio.com">www.coconutstudio.com</A> is about the island and its people, <BR>coastal early humans, fishing, coconuts, bananas and whatever
took my fancy at the time.</div> <div> </div>