Number Concepts Represented by Cycad Leaves and the Innovation of Overcounting in the Tutuba Language

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Other Title
  • ソテツの葉で具現化するツツバ語の数の概念とOvercountingへの改新

Abstract

<p>In Tutuba, a minority language of the Republic of Vanuatu, the numbers 11–19 use the undercounting additive method reflecting the Proto-Oceanic language, whereas numbers 21 and higher use overcounting. Overcounting can also be found in Orkhon Turkic inscriptions of the 700s and Mayan and Germanic languages. This way of counting, which at first can appear confusing, is rare worldwide, and its creation in conjunction with the Tutuba language, was unknown until now.</p><p>This paper focuses on how the Tutuba society used numbers 21 and higher in the context of traditional rituals. In the Tutuba society, pigs were highly valued as an indicator of wealth. At rituals, distribution and communal meals of pork were essential, and having a full accounting of the number of attendees was thus crucial. Accordingly, this paper concludes that at the Tutuba rituals, the abstract concept of numbers was embodied by the cycad leaf, thus, the method of enumerating by using cycad leaves brought about innovation of overcounting.</p><p>Furthermore, this paper reveals that the Tutuba society, which did not have letters, used cycad leaves to replace letters and play the role of record books that maintained quantities and attendee numbers.</p>

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Details 詳細情報について

  • CRID
    1390576524374773760
  • DOI
    10.11435/gengo.163.0_55
  • ISSN
    21856710
    00243914
  • Text Lang
    ja
  • Data Source
    • JaLC
    • KAKEN
  • Abstract License Flag
    Disallowed

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