Universal #539
Legacy number: 539
| Number | 537 |
| Original | If in a language, in any sum the larger addend precedes the smaller, then the same order holds for all larger numbers expressed by addition. |
| Standardized | IF in any sum the larger addend precedes the smaller, THEN the same order holds for all larger numbers expressed by addition. |
| Keywords | order, numeral |
| Domain | word formation |
| Type | implication |
| Status | achronic |
| Quality | absolute |
| Basis | 56 languages mentioned in Greenberg 1978a |
| Source | Greenberg 1978a: 273 (#27) |
Discussion
Counterexamples
English writers like Jane Austen (around 1800) tend to use (the more archaic) smaller-before-larger in culturally salient, frequent complex numerals, especially ‘four and twenty’ and ‘eight and fourty’, but larger-before-smaller elsewhere, e.g. ‘twenty-three’, ‘forty-seven’.
Notes
1. See a more general statement in #1357. 2. Cf. also #538.
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2. Cf. also <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=538"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">