Re: [tied] Re: IE right & 10

Harald:

> The point is that it's highly unlikely that they had numerals up to
> exactly 6. If you look at the world's huntre-gatherer languages and
> their dialects you will not find a great variety in the cutoff point
> of their numeral systems. The cutoff point will almost invariably be
> 2-4, [...]

I would argue that modern hunter-gatherers are not representative of
the state of affairs some six thousand years ago. Currently, modern
life fragments most hunter-gatherer populations to a severely limited
area. They have little other hunter-gatherer bands around them to trade
with. I can't see how this doesn't affect how hunter-gatherer cultures
nowdays operate. The question is how hunter-gatherers typically use
number systems in a world where hunter-gatherers are the norm, not
post-industrial cultures.


= gLeN