Counting Systems

doi:10.1017/9781108580410.018

15 - Counting Systems

from Part Three - Morphology

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 June 2022

Brigitte L. M. Bauer

Edited by

Adam Ledgeway and

Martin Maiden

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Adam Ledgeway: Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Martin Maiden: Affiliation:
University of Oxford

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Summary

The Romance counting system is numerical – with residues of earlier systems whereby each commodity had its own unit of quantification – and decimal. Numeral formations beyond ‘10’ are compounds, combining two or more numerals that are in an arithmetical relation, typically that of addition and multiplication. Formal variation across the (standard) Romance languages and dialects and across historical stages involves the relative sequence of the composing elements, absence or presence of connectors, their synthetic vs. analytic nature, and the degree of grammatical marking. A number of ‘deviant’ numeral formations raise the question of borrowing vs independent development, such as vigesimals (featuring a base ‘20’ instead ‘10’) in certain Romance varieties and the teen and decad formations in Romanian. The other types of numeral in Romance, which derive from the unmarked and consistent cardinals, feature a significantly higher degree of formal complexity and variation involving Latin formants and tend toward analyticity. While Latin features prominently in the Romance counting system as a source of numeral formations and suffixes, it is only in Romance that the inherited decimal system reached its full potential, illustrating its increasing prominence, reflected not only in numerals, but also in language acquisition, sign language, and post-Revolution measuring systems.

Keywords

arithmetical (operation)decad decimal (system)marking quantification (system of)teen vigesimal type of numeral approximative/cardinal/distributive/multiplicative/ordinal

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Handbook of Romance Linguistics , pp. 459 - 488

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108580410.018 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2022

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References

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