Numbers as "Core Vocabulary" (was IE "Urheimat" and evidence from Uralic linguistics)

[Stanley Friesen]

At 08:43 AM 2/10/00 -0600, Peter A. Michalove wrote:
>replacement (by borrowing) of numerals.  One of the activities that leads
>to language contact and bilingualism is trade.  Of course, trade is an
>activity in which the numerals are essential, and one must know the
>numerals of one's trading partners.

>Therefore numerals are often subject to borrowing (others have cited
>several examples on this list), and the case of Indo-European, where the
>numeral system is well preserved throughout almost all of the family, has
>probably acted as a misleading example

Hmm, I wonder.  Could the stability of numerals in early PIE be due to it
being a language of trade?  If so, this tends to support my current model
of how it spread originally (at least in Europe).

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May the peace of God be with you.         sarima at ix.netcom.com