Regarding the 2nd part:In Moravcsik 1969: 83 a number of languages are noted where the indefinite article has a different origin (not from the numeral ‘one’): Amerind: Kwakiutl (Wakashan), Tonkawa (Coahuiltecan), Chinook (Chinookan);Classical Arabic (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic), Rumanian (Romance, Indo-European), Maranao (W. Malayo-Polynesian, Austronesian).Dryer 1989: 86 found out that 11 of 34 languages have an indefinite article that is quite distinct in shape from the numeral ‘one’.
1. See also discussion of the evolution of indefinite article in Heine 1997: 4.2.2. The claim is not that indefinites can only result from a numeral ‘one’. In Moravcsik 1969: 83 a number of languages are noted whose indefinite article has a different origin: Amerind: Kwakiutl (Wakashan), Tonkawa (Coahuiltecan), Chinook (Chinookan);Classical Arabic (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic), Rumanian (Romance, Indo-European), Maranao (W. Malayo-Polynesian, Austronesian).Dryer 1989: 86 found that 11 of 34 languages have an indefinite article that is quite distinct in shape from the numeral ‘one’.
1. See also discussion of the evolution of indefinite article in Heine 1997: 4.2.2. The claim is not that indefinites can only result from a numeral ‘one’. In Moravcsik 1969: 83 a number of languages are noted whose indefinite article has a different origin: Amerind: Kwakiutl (Wakashan), Tonkawa (Coahuiltecan), Chinook (Chinookan);Classical Arabic (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic), Rumanian (Romance, Indo-European), Maranao (W. Malayo-Polynesian, Austronesian).Dryer 1989: 86 found that 11 of 34 languages have an indefinite article that is quite distinct in shape from the numeral ‘one’.