Article published In: Diachronica
Vol. 40:3 (2023) ► pp.287–340
Papuan-Austronesian contact and the spread of numeral systems in Melanesia
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Published online: 19 July 2023
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.22005.bar
https://doi.org/10.1075/dia.22005.bar
Abstract
This study analyzes the numeral systems of Austronesian and Papuan languages, investigating their areal distribution and considering their most likely ancestral states. The presence or absence of different methods of numeration has often been ascribed to contact-induced change. This can certainly be seen in scholarship pertaining to Melanesia, where Austronesian languages probably first came into contact with Papuan languages around 3,500 years ago. Indeed, since Proto-Austronesian is reconstructed as having employed a decimal (base-10) numeral system (with reflexes occurring throughout the Austronesian world), the presence of quinary (base-5) numeral systems in the Austronesian languages of Melanesia has commonly been attributed to contact with Papuan languages. Relying on a typological survey of 1,825 languages, this paper argues that highly conventionalized quinary systems were probably rare in Melanesia prior to the arrival of Austronesian languages. Rather, it was more likely that Austronesian speakers spread lexicalized quinary systems to Papuan groups, not the other way around. In making this argument, the paper stresses that, while numeration may be something that is linguistically encoded in a systematic fashion, it may also be realized as a cultural feature without strongly conventionalized lexicalized expressions.
Keywords: areal typology, counting, binary, quinary, decimal, New Guinea, Oceanic, Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, Papuan, Austronesian
Résumé
Cette étude analyse les systèmes de numération des langues austronésiennes et papoues dans le but d’examiner leur répartition géographique et de découvrir leurs états ancestraux les plus probables. La présence ou l’absence de différentes méthodes de numération a souvent été attribuée au changement induit par le contact linguistique. Cela a souvent été mis en évidence dans les études relatives à la Mélanésie, où les langues austronésiennes sont probablement entrées en contact pour la première fois avec les langues papoues il y a environ 3 500 ans. En effet, parce qu’on reconstruit en proto-austronésien un système numérique décimal (utilisant la base 10), avec une descendance partout dans le monde austronésien, la présence de systèmes numériques quinaires (utilisant la base 5) dans les langues austronésiennes de Mélanésie a généralement été attribuée au contact avec les langues papoues. Cet article, basé sur une enquête typologique de 1825 langues, soutient que les systèmes quinaires hautement conventionnels étaient probablement rares en Mélanésie avant l’arrivée des langues austronésiennes. Au contraire, il est plus vraisemblable que c’est aux locuteurs austronésiens que les groupes papous doivent les systèmes quinaires lexicalisés, et non l’inverse. L’article souligne ainsi que, si la numération peut être quelque chose qui est linguistiquement encodée de manière systématique, elle peut également être exprimée comme une caractéristique culturelle sans expressions lexicalisées fortement conventionnelles.
Zusammenfassung
Diese vorliegende Studie untersucht die Zahlensysteme austronesischer und papuanischer Sprachen, um ihre geografische Verteilung zu ergründen und ihre wahrscheinlichsten Urzustände herauszufinden. Die An- beziehungsweise Abwesenheit bestimmter Zählmethoden wird oft Sprachkontaktphänomenen zugeschrieben, vor allem in Arbeiten über Melanesien, wo austronesische und papuanische Sprachen wahrscheinlich erstmals vor etwa 3.500 Jahren miteinander in Kontakt kamen. Da man Uraustronesisch mit einem Dezimalsystem rekonstruiert (d. h. auf der Zahlbasis 10) und dessen Reflexe im austronesischen Raum weit verbreitet sind, geht man häufig davon aus, dass die Anwesenheit eines Quinärsystems (d. h. auf der Zahlbasis 5) in mehreren austronesischen Sprachen Melanesiens auf Kontakt mit papuanischen Sprachen beruht. Mit Hilfe einer typologischen Untersuchung von 1.825 Sprachen stellt dieser Aufsatz die Hypothese auf, dass hoch konventionalisierte Quinärsysteme in Melanesien vor der austronesischen Ankunft wohl eher selten waren. Es ist wahrscheinlicher der Fall, dass lexikalisierte Quinärsysteme von austronesischen Sprechern an papuanische Sprecher übertragen wurden, nicht umgekehrt. Bei dieser Behauptung betont der Aufsatz, dass Zählweisen zwar systematisch sprachlich kodiert sein können, aber sie können ebenfalls als kulturelle Eigenschaft ohne stark konventionalisierte lexikalisierte Ausdrücke erscheinen.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Methodology
- 2.1Coding process
- 2.2Languages and classification
- 3.Results
- 3.1Austronesian
- 3.2Papuan
- 4.The geographical distribution of numeral systems in the New Guinea area
- 5.Reconstructing numerals greater than ‘two’ in Papuan families
- 6.Limited conventionalization in Papuan quinary systems
- 7.The typological profile of Papuan numeral systems
- 8.A cultural practice of digit tallying
- 9.Contact and quinary systems
- 10.Conclusion
- Supplementary material
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Abbreviations
References
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