Re: ConNumbers
From: | Kristian Jensen <kljensen@...> |
Date: | Wednesday, June 9, 1999, 3:31 |
Barry Garcia wrote:
>
>I read somewhere that there is one culture in South America that
>has numbers for: one, and many. Thats it! I guess they dont feel
>the need to keep specific counts on everything.
Not just one culture. There are a few in New Guinea as well, so I've
heard. I have also heard that some Papuan languages have a binary
system. They count: one, two, two-and-one, two-and-two,
two-and-two-and-one, two-and-two-and-two, etc. etc. When they get to
the point where thay have to say so many two-and-twos, they just say
that there's many.
-kristian- 8)