Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Linguistic similarities

I am fluent in 3 languages and can follow a conversation in 5. One thing I noticed recently is that the numbering systems have similar differences in most.
What do I mean?
In english there is something special in the numbers one and two. When you change them to first and second the root word changes. Whereas three and third are similar. Five and fifth are too. The same is true in Russian, Armenian, and to a degree in Japanese.

English
1234 One, two, three, four
1234th First, second, third, fourth

Russian
1234 Raz, dva, tri, chetire
1234th Perviy, Vtaroi, tretiy, chetvyortiy

Armenian
1234 Meg, yerku, yerek, chors
1234th Arachin, yegrort, yerort, chorot

Japanese
1234 Ichi, Ni, San, Shi
1234ppl Hitor, Futari, san nin, shi nin

It's kind of hard to decipher, but I wonder what this is attributed to?

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