@article{401927,
  author         = {Hammarström, Harald},
  journal        = {Linguistic Typology},
  number         = {2},
  pages          = {305-319},
  publisher      = {Walter de Gruyter GmbH \& Co. KG},
  title          = {Whence the Kanum base-6 numeral system?},
  url            = {http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/lity.2009.13.issue-2/lity.2009.014/lity.2009.014.xml},
  volume         = {13},
  year           = {2009},
  abstract       = {Base-6-36 numeral systems, a typological rarity, are found in Kanum languages of New Guinea as testified by Donohue (Linguistic Typology 12: 423–429, 2008). We look at the probable relatives of the Kanum languages and show that the base-6 system must have emerged in the Tonda group specifically. Since there is no evidence of body-part terms in the base-6 forms attested, we speculate that these systems have a different origin. Specifically, we suggest that the base-6 systems arose for counting yams. The ethnographic data for Kanum and other relevant languages are in concord with such a scenario. Whether there is a historical connection with base-6 systems of the Kolopom languages, near, but not adjacent, to the west, remains an open question. If there is a connection, it is areal rather than genetic, but sufficient evidence for a pre-historic areal connection remains to be collected. Equally, if not more, puzzling would be the conclusion that there is no historical connection, given the rarity of base-6 in the world as a whole.},
  citekeys       = {langsci212:hammarstrom:2009bp},
  doi            = {10.1515/lity.2009.014},
  inlg           = {English [eng]},
  isreferencedby = {langsci212},
  issn           = {1430-0532},
  keywords       = {Kanum, linguistic area, New Guinea, number systems, numerals},
  lgcode         = {Kanum [kanu1280]},
  src            = {degruyter, haspelmath, langsci}
}