Teens and Twenties

[paulli at GATE.SINICA.EDU.TW]

Hi, Richard,
  Just a little note. Saisiyat numeral Sam'iLaeh
'20' < ma'iLaeh 'person', not < samiyah, as you
cited. Also note that 'person' may be more
appropriate than 'man'. The word 'Formosan' is used
to refer to the Autronesian peoples, while
'Taiwanese' is usedd to refer to the Chinese people
who have lived on the island of Taiwan.
--Paul Li

---- 原始郵件 ----

  日期： Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:32:01 -0800 (PST)
  寄件人：Richard Parker <richardparker01 at yahoo.com>
  主旨： [An-lang] Teens and Twenties
  收件人：an-lang at anu.edu.au

  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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