The history of numerals as a history of East African languages
The paper discusses a shift in the number system of Proto-Tanzanian Cushitic from the word for “three” to
mean “four”, and the one for “two” to mean “three”. This shift was brought about by contact between an incoming group of
northern Cushitic speakers and the already present group of Tanzanian Cushitic speakers due to similarity in form between the
words for “four” in Tanzanian Cushitic and “three” for in the incoming group. This shift pulled the word for “two” to fill the
gap of the old “three” and triggered the innovation of a new internally derived word for “two”. This scenario provides a more
intricate view on the Cushitic migration from Ethiopia to Tanzania. Kw’adza joins the rest of Tanzanian Cushitic undergoing
this complex and unique set of shifts, but Aasa does not.
Article outline
- 1.Semantic shift in the Tanzanian Cushitic Numerals
- 2.A ‘Khoisan’ form for “four” in the Tanzanian Rift valley languages
- 3.Summary and conclusion
- Author queries
-
Notes
-
References
-
Appendix
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
References (40)
References
Amborn, Hermann, Gunter Minker & Hans-Jürgen Sasse. 1980. Das
Dullay: Materialien zu einer ostkushitischen
Sprachgruppe. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.
Appleyard, David. 2006. A
comparative dictionary of the Agaw languages. (Kuschitische Sprachstudien
24). Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.
Banti, Giorgio. 1993. Noterelle
sui sistemi di numerali nell´ Africa nord-orientale. Studi italiani di linguistica
teoretica e
applicata 22/1. 127–68.
Black, Paul. 1973. Gidole
dictionary. Ms. [= Diraytata]
Black, Paul. 1974. Lowland
East Cushitic: Subgrouping and reconstruction. Yale PhD
dissertation.
Black, Paul & Shako Otto. 1973. Konso
dictionary. Ms.
Blažek, Václav. 2018. Cushitic
numerals. Folia
Orientalia 54. 33–60.
Cabredo Hofherr, Patricia. 2008. Les
pronoms impersonnels humains — syntaxe et interpretation. Modèles
linguistiques 57. 35–56.
Claus. 1910. Die
Wangomwia. Zeitschrift für
Ethnologie 42. 489–97.
Conti Rossini, Carlo. 1927. Sui
linguaggi parlati a nord dei Laghi Rodolfo e
Stefania. In Franz Boas (ed.), Festschrift
für Carl Meinhof: Sprachwissenschaftliche und andere
Studien, 247–55. Hamburg: Friedrichsen.
Donaldson Smith, Arthur. 1897. Through
unknown African countries: the first expedition from Somaliland to Lake
Rudolf. London: Edward Arnold, publisher to the India Office.
Ehret, Christopher. 1980. The
Historical Reconstruction of Southern Cushitic Phonology and
Vocabulary. Berlin: Reimer.
Ehret, Christopher. 1995. Reconstructing
Proto-Afroasiatic (Proto-Afrasian): Vowels, Tone, Consonants, and Vocabulary. (University of
California Publications, Linguistics 126). Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Fleming, Harold. 1969. Asa
and Aramanik: Cushitic Hunters in
Masai-Land. Ethnology 8(1). 1–36.
Greenberg, Joseph. 1978. Generalisations
about numeral systems. In Joseph Greenberg (ed.) Universals
of Human Language 3: Word
Structure, 249–205. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Gvozdanovic, Jadranka. 1999. Types
of numeral changes. In Jadranka Gvozdanovic (ed.) Numeral
Types and Changes
Worldwide, 95–112. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Hayward, Dick. 1984. The
Arbore language: A first
investigation. Hamburg: Helmut Buske.
Hudson, Grover. 1989. Highland
East Cushitic Dictionary. (Cushitic Language Studies
7). Hamburg: Helmut Buske.
Kießling, Roland. 2002. Die
Rekonstruktion der südkuschitischen Sprachen (West-Rift): von den systemlinguistischen Manifestationen zum
gesellschaftlichen Rahmen des Sprachwandels. (Kuschitische Sprachstudien
19). Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.
Kießling, Roland & Maarten Mous. 2003. The
lexical reconstruction of West Rift (Southern
Cushitic). Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.
Kruijsdijk, Iris. 2023. The
position of Asá and Qwadza within Cushitic. ACAL
Proceedings. (Contemporary African
Linguistics). Berlin: Language Science Press.
Maguire, R. A. J. 1927–28. Il-Torobo. Journal
of the African
Society 27. 127–41, 249–68.
Merker, M. 1904. Die
Masai: Ethnographische Monographie eines ostafrikanischen
Semiten-volkes. Berlin: Reimer.
Mous, Maarten & Christian Rapold. 2021. A
critical re-assessment of suggested Cushitic loans and their history in East African
Bantu. Paper presented
at WOCAL 10, June 2021.
Owens, Jonathan. 1985. A
grammar of Harar Oromo (Northeastern
Ethiopia). Hamburg: Helmut Buske.
Petrollino, Sara & Maarten Mous. 2010. Recollecting
Words and Expressions in Aasá, a Dead Language in Tanzania Anthropological
Linguistics 52(2). 206–16.
Plazikowsky-Brauner, H. 1963. Zahlen
und Zahlensysteme in den sogenannten kuschitischen Sprachen. Mitteilungen des Instituts
für
Orientforschung 8. 466–83.
Sands, Bonny & Mauro Tosco. 2022. Early
East African and Peripheral East Cushitic: Foragers and pastoralists in early East
Africa. Paper presented on December 14
2022 in the Rift-Valley Network Seminar
Series. [URL]
Sasse, Hans-Jürgen. 1979. The
consonant phonemes of Proto-East-Cushitic (PEC): A first approximation. Afroasiatic
Linguistics 7(1). 1–67.
Savà, Graziano. 2005. A
Grammar of Ts’amakko. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.
Sidwell, Paul. 1999. The
Austroasiatic numerals ‘1’ to ‘10’ from a historical and typological
perspective. In Jadranka Gvozdanovic (ed.) Numeral
Types and Changes
Worldwide, 253–271. Amsterdam, John Benjamins.
Tosco, Mauro. 2022. A
Gawwada Dictionary. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.
Treis, Yvonne. 2007. Cardinal
Numerals in Kambaata. In Machalík, Tomáš and Jan Záhořík (eds.), VIVA
Africa 2007: Proceedings of the IInd International Conference on African
Studies. Pilsen, 27–28
April, 55–70. Pilsen: Dryada.
Voßen, Rainer. 1997. Die
Khoe-Sprachen. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.
Wondwosen, Tesfaye Abire. 2006. Aspects of Diraytata
Morphology and Syntax: A Lexical-Functional Grammar Approach. PhD Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim.
Wondwosen, Tesfaye. 2015. A
Grammar of Mosittacha. Addis Ababa: Academy of Ethiopian Languages and Cultures.
Yibeltal, Getahun Birhan. 2018. Documentation of
Mositacha and Description of its Morphology. Addis Ababa PhD thesis.
Zaborski, Andrzej. 1987. Basic
Numerals in Cushitic. In H. Jungraithmayr & W. W. Müller (eds.), Proceedings
of the Fourth International Hamito-Semitic
Congress (Marburg, 20–22 September
1983), 317–47. (Amsterdam Studies in the
Theory and History of Linguistics Science Series IV: Current Issues in Linguistics Theory
44). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Zelealem, Leyew. 2003. Some
Points on Cushitic and Omotic Numerals. Paper Presented at
the 4th International Conference of Cushitic and Omotic
Languages, April 10–12, 2003, Leiden University, The
Netherlands.