通过数字理解:印度尼西亚东南部阿罗尔岛库拉人的数字系统、演变及其认知

Humans Pub Date : 2024-01-17 DOI:10.3390/humans4010003
Shiyue Wu, Francesco Perono Cacciafoco
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摘要

本文旨在记录和重建印度尼西亚东南部阿罗尔岛库拉人使用数字系统、一般数字、基本算术以及相关概念和观念的语言过程。库拉人是来自阿罗尔-潘塔群岛(帝汶地区)的巴布亚人。他们的语言名称 "库拉语"(或 "科拉语")与人种名称相对应。该语言目前濒临灭绝,没有完整的文献记载。在语言特点方面,与该岛其他地区的语言相比,东阿罗尔的数字系统和数字术语在一定程度上表现出独特的特征。因此,库拉(Kula)数字系统不仅在词汇学和词典学层面具有重要意义,而且还代表了认知策略(如数字系统基数的选择和借助实际 "物体"(如手和手指)进行计数的视觉表现)在当地语言使用者创造数字术语过程中的重要作用。事实上,数字系统的发展反映了人类语言的演变和人类构建抽象数字概念的能力。数字在语言中的编码和表达方式会影响数字概念的概念化和理解模式。不同的数字系统可以表明涉及数量和测量概念的认知过程的差异。因此,数字系统的结构和特征可能会影响数字概念的心智表达和发展。本文重点研究库拉人的数字系统和当地人用来表示(和解释)数字的词汇单位,以及相关的概念、观念和象征意义。调查深入探讨了库拉数字系统的抽象程度,并试图确定其起源和重建。此外,文章还采用了比较的方法进行分析,将阿罗尔岛和东帝汶的几种巴布亚语和南岛语考虑在内,其双重目的是初步调查当地数字系统可能的共同演变和/或不同的命名过程及其历史语言学和词源学起源。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
Understanding through the Numbers: Number Systems, Their Evolution, and Their Perception among Kula People from Alor Island, Southeastern Indonesia
This paper aims at documenting and reconstructing the linguistic processes generating and substantiating the use of number systems, numbers in general, elementary arithmetic, and the related concepts and notions among the Kula people from Alor Island, Southeastern Indonesia. The Kula is a Papuan population from the Alor–Pantar Archipelago (Timor area). The name of their language, Kula (or Kola), corresponds to the ethnonym. The language is, currently, endangered and not completely documented. At the level of linguistic features, numeral systems and the terms for numerals from Eastern Alor exhibit, to some extent, unique characteristics, if compared to other languages spoken in other sectors of the island. Therefore, the Kula numbering system is not only significant at the lexicological and lexicographic level, but also represents the essential role of cognitive strategies (e.g., the choice of the base for the numbering systems and the visual representation of counting with the aid of actual ‘objects’, like hands and fingers) in the coinage of numerical terms among the local speakers. Indeed, the development of numeral systems reflects the evolution of human language and the ability of humans to construct abstract numerical concepts. The way numerals are encoded and expressed in a language can impact the patterns according to which numerical notions are conceptualized and understood. Different numeral systems can indicate variations in cognitive processes involving notions of quantities and measurements. Therefore, the structure and characteristics of a numeral system may affect how numeral concepts are mentally represented and developed. This paper focuses on the number system of the Kula people and the lexical units used by the local speakers to indicate (and to explain) the numbers, with the related concepts, notions, and symbolism. The investigation delves into the degrees of abstraction of the Kula numeral system and tries to ascertain its origins and reconstruct it. Moreover, the article applies to the analysis a comparative approach, which takes into account several Papuan and Austronesian languages from Alor Island and Eastern Timor, with the dual aim of investigating, at a preliminary level, a possible common evolution and/or divergent naming processes in local numbering systems and their historical–linguistic and etymological origins.
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