Numeral systems in American Indian languages east of the Rocky Mountains

Abstract

The numerals one through ten in the American Indian languages east of the Rocky Mountains are often arranged in what we shall term quinary, subtracting and multiplying systems. By examining the reconstructed proto-languages, we see that the modern languages have often evolved new numeral systems, sometimes superimposing these on the original numeral systems. Thus, they have mixed systems, e.g., a mixture of subtracting and quinary, multiplying and quinary, etc. A further comparison of each numeral system with the numeral systems of the surrounding languages reveals that the new systems, i.e., the systems which are not found to be inherited, are often the result of diffusion.

After examining the numeral systems of the proto-languages found east of the Rocky Mountains, we attempt to demonstrate that there are/were three main diffusion areas. These are the quinary, the subtracting, and the multiplying areas. We also compare these diffusion areas to the culture areas described by the anthropologists, to see if their boundaries coincide.