Numbers - connecting Austronesian languages
At first glance, Indonesian, Tagalog and Hawaiian are quite different. A look at the numbers highlights the differences, but points the way to discovering similarities.
English / Indonesian / Tagalog / Hawaiian
1 (one) / satu / isá / kahi
2 (two) / dua / dalawá / lua
3 (three) / tiga / tatló / kolu
4 (four) / empat / apat / há
5 (five) / lima / limá / lima
6 (six) / enam / anim / ono
7 (seven) / tujuh / pìto / hiku
8 (eight) / delapan / waló / walu
9 (nine) / sembilan / siyàm / iwa
10 (ten) / sepuluh / sampû / 'umi
0 (zero) / nol / sero / 'ole
Looking at the numbers, you can see the admittedly distant connection between these languages. The numbers 5 and 6 are particularly revealing of the connections. Haw. iwa is probably from the same source as Tag. siyàm, connecting three numbers. Which is a start in putting these together.
Hawaiian, with its extremely simple phonetic system, has wound up with some unusual correspondences to other Polynesian and, more broadly, Austronesian languages. The following are not necessarily universals, but they come up often enough to be worth mentioning, and worth applying here.
Haw. k = Aus. t : Haw. kolu, three ("tolu") = Tag. tatló
Haw. h = Aus. p : Haw. hiku, seven ("pitu") = Tag. pìto ; Haw. há ("pa") = Tag. apat
Haw. l = Aus. d : Haw. lua, two ("dua") = Ind. dua
That's four more numbers connected.
Zero is a tricky case, not to be counted, as these languages didn't have it until the West introduced it. That's why Indonesian has "nol," from Dutch (like "null") and Tagalog has "sero," from Spanish.
With zero out of the picture, we've got pretty good connections between languages for seven of the ten numbers. For a linguist, of course, this isn't proof, but it's still a pretty strong indication that these languages are from a common source.
English / Indonesian / Tagalog / Hawaiian
1 (one) / satu / isá / kahi
2 (two) / dua / dalawá / lua
3 (three) / tiga / tatló / kolu
4 (four) / empat / apat / há
5 (five) / lima / limá / lima
6 (six) / enam / anim / ono
7 (seven) / tujuh / pìto / hiku
8 (eight) / delapan / waló / walu
9 (nine) / sembilan / siyàm / iwa
10 (ten) / sepuluh / sampû / 'umi
0 (zero) / nol / sero / 'ole
Looking at the numbers, you can see the admittedly distant connection between these languages. The numbers 5 and 6 are particularly revealing of the connections. Haw. iwa is probably from the same source as Tag. siyàm, connecting three numbers. Which is a start in putting these together.
Hawaiian, with its extremely simple phonetic system, has wound up with some unusual correspondences to other Polynesian and, more broadly, Austronesian languages. The following are not necessarily universals, but they come up often enough to be worth mentioning, and worth applying here.
Haw. k = Aus. t : Haw. kolu, three ("tolu") = Tag. tatló
Haw. h = Aus. p : Haw. hiku, seven ("pitu") = Tag. pìto ; Haw. há ("pa") = Tag. apat
Haw. l = Aus. d : Haw. lua, two ("dua") = Ind. dua
That's four more numbers connected.
Zero is a tricky case, not to be counted, as these languages didn't have it until the West introduced it. That's why Indonesian has "nol," from Dutch (like "null") and Tagalog has "sero," from Spanish.
With zero out of the picture, we've got pretty good connections between languages for seven of the ten numbers. For a linguist, of course, this isn't proof, but it's still a pretty strong indication that these languages are from a common source.
