The Linguistic Theory of NumeralsOriginally published in 1975, this was the first detailed linguistic study of natural language numeral systems. It draws on two quite different scholarly traditions. The first is carried on by anthropologists and others compiling and cataloguing data on the different counting-systems of the world. The second explores generative grammar, which analyses the universal features and the formal organisation of these numeral systems. Dr Hurford is able to extend and modify the detailed theory of generative grammar by testing it against this material and discovering the rules, conventions and constraints which apply. He includes separate chapters on the numeral systems of English, French, Mixtec, Hawaiian, Danish, Welsh and Yoruba; the book is therefore also a contribution to the grammars of these languages. The book is primarily intended for linguists, but there is an introduction to the relevant principles of generative grammar in the first chapter, to help make the work accessible also to anthropologists and mathematicians. |
Contents
THE SYNTAX AND SEMANTICS OF ENGLISH NUMERALS | 19 |
MIXTEC NUMERALS | 89 |
FRENCH NUMERALS | 99 |
DANISH NUMERALS | 117 |
BIBLICAL WELSH NUMERALS | 136 |
HAWAIIAN NUMERALS | 202 |
YORUBA NUMERALS | 211 |
SOME FURTHER PROBLEMS | 233 |
A BASIS FOR TYPOLOGY | 247 |
SOME OTHER NUMERAL GRAMMARS | 257 |
| 287 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
abbreviated ac wyth Ainu American English associated Biblical Welsh British English cant chant characterized as illformed Chinese numeral chwe constraints convention Danish ddeg deep structure deleted derivation deugain diagram English numerals example fact filoedd formulation framework French Genesis given grammar hundred igba immediate constituent incomplete lexical entry inserting interpreted language left-hand lexical extension component lexical items lexicalization rules lexicon linguistic Merrifield million minus Mixtec mlynedd morphemes multiplication namyn node notation noun NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER PHRASE NUMBER PHRASE NUMBER number-names numeral expressions numeral system onety onid operation CALCULATE Packing Strategy phedwar ugain phonetic representation phonological form phrase markers PHRASE NUMBER NUMBER phrase structure rules Plural postulate pymtheg recursion rule expanding Sanders semantic component semantic representations šiko specified statements structure underlying subtraction symbol syntactic tagmemic tair teen thousand thri ugain transformational ugain mil underlying structure vigesimal vingt wellformedness Welsh Bible word boundaries Yoruba ΙΟ