% pubman genre = article
@article{item_3521462,
title = {{Papuan-Austronesian contact and the spread of numeral systems in Melanesia}},
author = {Barlow, Russell},
language = {eng},
issn = {0176-4225; 1569-9714},
doi = {10.1075/dia.22005.bar},
year = {2023},
abstract = {{This study analyzes the numeral systems of Austronesian and Papuan{\textless}br{\textgreater}languages, investigating their areal distribution and considering their most{\textless}br{\textgreater}likely ancestral states. The presence or absence of different methods of{\textless}br{\textgreater}numeration has often been ascribed to contact-induced change. This can{\textless}br{\textgreater}certainly be seen in scholarship pertaining to Melanesia, where{\textless}br{\textgreater}Austronesian languages probably first came into contact with Papuan{\textless}br{\textgreater}languages around 3,500 years ago. Indeed, since Proto-Austronesian is{\textless}br{\textgreater}reconstructed as having employed a decimal (base-10) numeral system{\textless}br{\textgreater}(with reflexes occurring throughout the Austronesian world), the presence{\textless}br{\textgreater}of quinary (base-5) numeral systems in the Austronesian languages of{\textless}br{\textgreater}Melanesia has commonly been attributed to contact with Papuan languages.{\textless}br{\textgreater}Relying on a typological survey of 1,825 languages, this paper argues that{\textless}br{\textgreater}highly conventionalized quinary systems were probably rare in Melanesia{\textless}br{\textgreater}prior to the arrival of Austronesian languages. Rather, it was more likely that{\textless}br{\textgreater}Austronesian speakers spread lexicalized quinary systems to Papuan groups,{\textless}br{\textgreater}not the other way around. In making this argument, the paper stresses that,{\textless}br{\textgreater}while numeration may be something that is linguistically encoded in a{\textless}br{\textgreater}systematic fashion, it may also be realized as a cultural feature without{\textless}br{\textgreater}strongly conventionalized lexicalized expressions.}},
journal = {{Diachronica}},
volume = {40},
number = {3},
pages = {287--340},
}