Universal 530:
- Original
- The largest value of L in numeral systems with only simple lexical representation is 5 and the smallest is 2.
- Standardized
- IF a numeral system has only basic terms, THEN the largest value of L is 5 and the smallest value is 2.
- Keywords
- numeral
- Domain
- lexicon
- Type
- no genuine implication; rather: provided that
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- statistical
- Basis
- 56 languages mentioned in Greenberg 1978a
- Source
- Greenberg 1978a: 256 (#6)
- Counterexamples
1. See #530 for definition of SIMPLE LEXICAL REPRESENTATION. 2. An example for L=5 is Guana (Arawakan) with the (uncommon) system 1, 2, 3, 4, ‘many’. For L=2 the only example is Botocudo (Macro-Ge), with the system 1, ‘many’. The most common values for L are 3 and 4. However, even systems with L=4 often express 3 as 2+1. 3. Cf. #533.