Re: Numbers from 1-10

Quoting Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>:

> En réponse à Chris Bates :
>
>
> >What happens if your language doesn't stretch to 10 by design? I don't
> >have a language like that, but people always mention (I'm not sure if
> >its a myth or not) some languages, especially aborigonal ones, which
> >supposedly don't have words for higher numbers.... I wonder if it really
> >is true, or another peice of information along the likes of "Eskimos
> >have lots of words for snow" which derives from the fact that the
> >language is poly-synthetic, so there are lots of words, but not lots of
> >roots that mean snow.
>
> I think the claim is rather that there are languages with no specialised
> number words above three. It doesn't mean that they can't count above
> three, but that they don't have a unique way to do it (they use expressions
> made up for the occasion, with a transparent meaning). At least, I've read
> something like that somewhere (I just don't remember where :(( ).
Mark Rosenfelder says that somewhere in his material on numerals 1-10 in a
zillion tongues. I'm to lazy to excavate the exact reference right now. He
also mentions a language which reportedly have no numerals at all.

                                                        Andreas