Abstract

In many languages in Micronesia, clever ways of extending their counting systems to numbers far beyond imagination were developed in precolonial times. Here, we provide an exhaustive overview of these systems, highlight their characteristics, and account for some of their most intriguing features. Based on a critical assessment of the available data and the in-depth analysis of both paradigmatic cases and peculiarities, we draw inferences about some more general patterns that suggest a rather long tradition of specific ways of counting both in Micronesia and the area beyond.

Highlights

  • A few millennia ago, a group of seafaring people began to colonize most of those far-flung atolls and islands of what is nowadays known as Micronesia

  • We aim to provide an exhaustive overview of the counting systems in Micronesia and their characteristics, highlighting why they are among the most amazing systems in the world, and accounting for some of their most intriguing features

  • Because looking at sets of number words in individual languages or selected sources in isolation inevitably yields a patchy picture, our analysis considers the internal structure of counting systems in all Micronesian languages, their relationship to co-existing alternative systems in the same languages, their similarities with non-Micronesian systems in the same region, and the cultural practices linked to them whenever available

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Summary

Introduction

A few millennia ago, a group of seafaring people began to colonize most of those far-flung atolls and islands of what is nowadays known as Micronesia. Because looking at sets of number words in individual languages or selected sources in isolation inevitably yields a patchy picture, our analysis considers the internal structure of counting systems in all Micronesian languages, their relationship to co-existing alternative systems in the same languages, their similarities with non-Micronesian systems in the same region, and the cultural practices linked to them whenever available By integrating this range of data, we hope to generate the kind of compendium that will be of value to anybody interested in symbolic tools for quantification and number representation, including questions on how these tools may have evolved (e.g., Bender and Beller, submitted for publication; Bowern and Zentz, 2012; Calude and Verkerk, 2016; Epps et al, 2012). Know about the Micronesian counting systems, clear patterns emerge that do allow us to generate answers, to broader questions, with some degree of plausibility

Geographic context and historical background
Pathways of Micronesian settlement
Linguistic diversification
Ways of counting
Counting systems and numeral classifiers
Ways of counting in the Micronesian languages
Non-Micronesian languages in Micronesia
Assessing selected cases
Paradigmatic examples
Pohnpeian
Woleaian
Yapese
Puzzling cases
Reconstructing general patterns
The numeral classifier system as the source of counting units
Power numerals
Specific counting systems
Conclusion
Full Text
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