Language name and location: Rawo, Papua New Guinea [Refer to Ethnologue]
语言名称和分布地区: 拉沃语, 巴布亚新几内亚岛西北部桑道恩省

1. opa

2. yumunu

3. ino, inomunu

4. nuho, nu-o

5. mihu, nukumbi  

6. mihu wa opa  (5+1 )

7. mihu wa yumunu (5+2 )

8. mihu wa ino (5+3 )

9. mihu wa nuhu (5+4 )

10. mi-yumunu, nu-yumunu (5 x 2 )

Linguist providing data and dateː Dr. Glen A. Lean, Department of Communications, Papua New Guinea University of Technology, Lae, Papua New Guinea, 1991.
Sourceː Glendon A. Lean. Counting systems of Papua New Guinea, volume 13, West Sepik (Sandaun) Province. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Papua New Guinea University of Technology, Lae, Papua New Guinea, 1991.
提供资料的语言学家: Dr. Glen A. Lean, 1991 年.

Other comments: Rawo is spoken in the villages of Nawage, Rawo and Taris (Laycock, 1973,p.18) located near the Leitre Catholic Mission on the north mainland coast to the east of the Vanimo region. At the 1980 National Census, the three Rawo-speaking villages had a total population of 603 (National Statistical Office, 1982). Rawo together with Krisa, Puari and Warapu form the Krisa Family of the Sko Stock.

    Friederici (1913.p.42), as indicated earlier, has a set of number words referenced 'Leitere', i.e. Leitre or Rawo. This set is reproduced in Ray (1919,p.330) and in Kluge (1938, p.178). In addition to these published data we also have available four CSQs completed by informants from the Leitre area. The data are presented in Table 3. Frederici's data clearly display a 4-cyclic pattern. There are distinct words for 1 to 4. Thereafter we have the sequence:

    5ː no me u , i.e. 4 + 1' 6ː no me yu , i.e. 4+2"

    7: no m' eno, i.e. 4 +3

    Where 'u' is a 'one' morpheme, 'yu' is a 'two' morpheme, and 'eno' is 'three'. The number word for 8 is 'no-yu', i.e. '4-2' or '4 x 2'. The sequence is then:

    9: no-yu me u , i.e. 4x2+1'

   10: no- yu me yu, i.e. 4 x 2 + 2

   The data provided by the CSQ informants are in agreement with Friederici's data as regards the number words 1 to 4. These numbers are tallied on the fingers of one hand excluding the thumb. The number word for 4 appears to contain a 'hand' morpheme 'nu or 'nuh-' (which takes possessive suffixes).

   Where the CSQ informants differ from Friederici is that they all indicate a distinct word for 5, i.e. 'mihu' or (in one case) 'nukambi'. Thereafter the 4-cycle structure is displaced by a 5-cyclic pattern so that 6 is '5 + 1', 7 is '5 + 2', and so on. Thus it would appear that a system which originally possessed a 4-cycle structure and in which numbers were tallied on the fingers but not on the thumbs of the hands, has been displaced by a 5 cycle system in which fingers and thumbs are used, i.e. the usual digit-tally system. It is likely that this displacement has occurred as a result of the influence of the English or tok-pisin decimal systems. New data needed to compare with the old one.