Teens and Twenties

[Richard Parker]

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 ŝamʔiyäh (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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