Universal 1312:

Universal 1312:

Original

Every minuend is a base of the system or a multiple of the base.

Standardized

In numeral systems, every minuend is a base of the system or a multiple of the base.

Keywords

numeral

Domain

word formation

Type

unconditional

Status

achronic

Quality

statistical

Basis

56 languages mentioned in Greenberg 1978a

Source

Salzmann 1950: 82; Greenberg 1978a: 260 (#15)

Counterexamples

Zapotec (Oto-Manguean), since in the expression of 57 (60+2)-5 the minuend 62 is not a base or a multiple of a base. In Arikara (Caddoan), 7 is (8-1), 9 (10-1) and 11 is (12-1) in a decimal system. The exceptions here are 7 and 11. In Montagnais (Athabaskan), 7 is expressed as either (10-3) or (8-1) (mentioned in Greenberg 1978a).