Cover not available

In:Historical Linguistics 2022: Selected papers from the 25th International Conference on Historical Linguistics, Oxford, 1–5 August 2022
Edited by Holly Kennard, Emily Lindsay-Smith, Aditi Lahiri and Martin Maiden
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 369] 2025
► pp. 294–305

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

The history of numerals as a history of East African languages

 | Leiden University Centre for Linguistics
Published online: 7 April 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.369.19mou
Abstract
The paper discusses a shift in the number system of Proto-Tanzanian Cushitic from the word for “three” to mean “four”, and the one for “two” to mean “three”. This shift was brought about by contact between an incoming group of northern Cushitic speakers and the already present group of Tanzanian Cushitic speakers due to similarity in form between the words for “four” in Tanzanian Cushitic and “three” for in the incoming group. This shift pulled the word for “two” to fill the gap of the old “three” and triggered the innovation of a new internally derived word for “two”. This scenario provides a more intricate view on the Cushitic migration from Ethiopia to Tanzania. Kw’adza joins the rest of Tanzanian Cushitic undergoing this complex and unique set of shifts, but Aasa does not.
Article outline
  • 1.Semantic shift in the Tanzanian Cushitic numerals
  • 2.A ‘Khoisan’ form for “four” in the Tanzanian Rift valley languages
  • 3.Summary and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
References (41)
References
Amborn, Hermann, Gunter Minker & Hans-Jürgen Sasse. 1980. Das Dullay: Materialien zu einer ostkushitischen Sprachgruppe. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Appleyard, David. 2006. A comparative dictionary of the Agaw languages. (Kuschitische Sprachstudien 24). Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Banti, Giorgio. 1993. Noterelle sui sistemi di numerali nell´ Africa nord-orientale. Studi italiani di linguistica teoretica e applicata 22/1. 127–68.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Black, Paul. 1973. Gidole dictionary. Ms. [= Diraytata]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1974. Lowland East Cushitic: Subgrouping and reconstruction. Yale PhD dissertation.
Black, Paul & Shako Otto. 1973. Konso dictionary. Ms.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blažek, Václav. 2018. Cushitic numerals. Folia Orientalia 54. 33–60. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cabredo Hofherr, Patricia. 2008. Les pronoms impersonnels humains — syntaxe et interpretation. Modèles linguistiques 57. 35–56.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Claus. 1910. Die Wangomwia. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 42. 489–97.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Conti Rossini, Carlo. 1927. Sui linguaggi parlati a nord dei Laghi Rodolfo e Stefania. In Franz Boas (ed.), Festschrift für Carl Meinhof: Sprachwissenschaftliche und andere Studien, 247–55. Hamburg: Friedrichsen.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Donaldson Smith, Arthur. 1897. Through unknown African countries: the first expedition from Somaliland to Lake Rudolf. London: Edward Arnold, publisher to the India Office.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ehret, Christopher. 1980. The Historical Reconstruction of Southern Cushitic Phonology and Vocabulary. Berlin: Reimer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1995. Reconstructing Proto-Afroasiatic (Proto-Afrasian): Vowels, Tone, Consonants, and Vocabulary. (University of California Publications, Linguistics 126). Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fleming, Harold. 1969. Asa and Aramanik: Cushitic Hunters in Masai-Land. Ethnology 8(1). 1–36. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Greenberg, Joseph. 1978. Generalisations about numeral systems. In Joseph Greenberg (ed.) Universals of Human Language 3: Word Structure, 249–205. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gvozdanovic, Jadranka. 1999. Types of numeral changes. In Jadranka Gvozdanovic (ed.) Numeral Types and Changes Worldwide, 95–112. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hayward, Dick. 1984. The Arbore language: A first investigation. Hamburg: Helmut Buske.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hudson, Grover. 1989. Highland East Cushitic Dictionary. (Cushitic Language Studies 7). Hamburg: Helmut Buske.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kießling, Roland. 2002. Die Rekonstruktion der südkuschitischen Sprachen (West-Rift): von den systemlinguistischen Manifestationen zum gesellschaftlichen Rahmen des Sprachwandels. (Kuschitische Sprachstudien 19). Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kießling, Roland & Maarten Mous. 2003. The lexical reconstruction of West Rift (Southern Cushitic). Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kruijsdijk, Iris. 2024. The position of Asá and Qwadza within Cushitic. In Yaqian Huang, Nina Hagen Kaldhol, Jun Jie Lim, Sharon Rose & Anthony Struthers-Young (eds.), ACAL in SoCAL: Selected papers from the 53rd Annual Conference on African Linguistics, 347–365. Berlin: Language Science Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Maguire, R. A. J. 1927–28. Il-Torobo. Journal of the African Society 27. 127–41, 249–68.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Merker, M. 1904. Die Masai: Ethnographische Monographie eines ostafrikanischen Semiten-volkes. Berlin: Reimer.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mous, Maarten. 2003. The Making of a Mixed Language: The case of Ma’á/Mbugu. (Creole Language Library 26). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mous, Maarten & Christian Rapold. 2021. A critical re-assessment of suggested Cushitic loans and their history in East African Bantu. Paper presented at WOCAL 10, June 2021.
Owens, Jonathan. 1985. A grammar of Harar Oromo (Northeastern Ethiopia). Hamburg: Helmut Buske.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Petrollino, Sara & Maarten Mous. 2010. Recollecting Words and Expressions in Aasá, a Dead Language in Tanzania Anthropological Linguistics 52(2). 206–16. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Plazikowsky-Brauner, H. 1963. Zahlen und Zahlensysteme in den sogenannten kuschitischen Sprachen. Mitteilungen des Instituts für Orientforschung 8. 466–83.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sands, Bonny & Mauro Tosco. 2022. Early East African and Peripheral East Cushitic: Foragers and pastoralists in early East Africa. Paper presented on December 14 2022 in the Rift-Valley Network Seminar Series. [URL]
Sasse, Hans-Jürgen. 1979. The consonant phonemes of Proto-East-Cushitic (PEC): A first approximation. Afroasiatic Linguistics 7(1). 1–67.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Savà, Graziano. 2005. A Grammar of Ts’amakko. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sidwell, Paul. 1999. The Austroasiatic numerals ‘1’ to ‘10’ from a historical and typological perspective. In Jadranka Gvozdanovic (ed.) Numeral Types and Changes Worldwide, 253–271. Amsterdam, John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tosco, Mauro. 2000. Cushitic Overview. Journal of Ethiopian Studies 33(2). 87–121.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2022. A Gawwada Dictionary. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Treis, Yvonne. 2007. Cardinal Numerals in Kambaata. In Machalík, Tomáš and Jan Záhořík (eds.), VIVA Africa 2007: Proceedings of the IInd International Conference on African Studies. Pilsen, 27–28 April, 55–70. Pilsen: Dryada.
Voßen, Rainer. 1997. Die Khoe-Sprachen. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wondwosen, Tesfaye Abire. 2006. Aspects of Diraytata Morphology and Syntax: A Lexical-Functional Grammar Approach. PhD Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wondwosen, Tesfaye. 2015. A Grammar of Mosittacha. Addis Ababa: Academy of Ethiopian Languages and Cultures.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yibeltal, Getahun Birhan. 2018. Documentation of Mositacha and Description of its Morphology. Addis Ababa PhD thesis.
Zaborski, Andrzej. 1987. Basic Numerals in Cushitic. In H. Jungraithmayr & W. W. Müller (eds.), Proceedings of the Fourth International Hamito-Semitic Congress (Marburg, 20–22 September 1983), 317–47. (Amsterdam Studies in the Theory and History of Linguistics Science Series IV: Current Issues in Linguistics Theory 44). Amsterdam: Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zelealem, Leyew. 2003. Some Points on Cushitic and Omotic Numerals. Paper Presented at the 4th International Conference of Cushitic and Omotic Languages, April 10–12, 2003, Leiden University, The Netherlands.
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue