title: The history of number words in the world's languages-what have we learnt so far?

authors: Calude, Andreea S.

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: For over 100 years, researchers from various disciplines have been enthralled and occupied by the study of number words. This article discusses implications for the study of deep history and human evolution that arise from this body of work. Phylogenetic modelling shows that low-limit number words are preserved across thousands of years, a pattern consistently observed in several language families. Cross-linguistic frequencies of use and experimental studies also point to widespread homogeneity in the use of number words. Yet linguistic typology and field documentation reports caution against positing a privileged linguistic category for number words, showing a wealth of variation in how number words are encoded across the world. In contrast with low-limit numbers, the higher numbers are characterized by a rapid and morphologically consistent pattern of expansion, and behave like grammatical phrasal units, following language-internal rules. Taken together, the evidence suggests that numbers are at the cross-roads of language history. For languages that do have productive and consistent number systems, numerals one to five are among the most reliable available linguistic fossils of deep history, defying change yet still bearing the marks of the past, while higher numbers emerge as innovative tools looking to the future, derived using language-internal patterns and created to meet the needs of modern speakers.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Reconstructing prehistoric languages’.

text: The history of number words in the world's languages-what have we learnt so far? For over 100 years, researchers from various disciplines have been enthralled and occupied by the study of number words. This article discusses implications for the study of deep history and human evolution that arise from this body of work. Phylogenetic modelling shows that low-limit number words are preserved across thousands of years, a pattern consistently observed in several language families. Cross-linguistic frequencies of use and experimental studies also point to widespread homogeneity in the use of number words. Yet linguistic typology and field documentation reports caution against positing a privileged linguistic category for number words, showing a wealth of variation in how number words are encoded across the world. In contrast with low-limit numbers, the higher numbers are characterized by a rapid and morphologically consistent pattern of expansion, and behave like grammatical phrasal units, following language-internal rules. Taken together, the evidence suggests that numbers are at the cross-roads of language history. For languages that do have productive and consistent number systems, numerals one to five are among the most reliable available linguistic fossils of deep history, defying change yet still bearing the marks of the past, while higher numbers emerge as innovative tools looking to the future, derived using language-internal patterns and created to meet the needs of modern speakers.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Reconstructing prehistoric languages’.

year: 2021

title: "Delicate, petite & other things I'll never be": trans-punk anthems and love songs

authors: Schott, Gareth R.

subjects: Social Sciences

abstract: Punk’s dogged durability continues to be driven by a communal ethos that once embodied inclusivity, resistance, challenge, and transformation. The precipitous absorption and integration of punk into the mainstream ran the risk of undermining the authenticity of its rebellion, DIY principles, and sub-cultural inimitability. Yet, in emerging from the underground punk has continued to provide a counter-normative framework and aesthetic. The ethos that underpinned first-wave punk is evident today in punk’s ongoing engagement with queer politics and persistent illustrations of gender fluidity. This article examines an articulation of “transgender as punk” focusing on the example of Laura Jane Grace, lead singer of U.S. anarcho-punk band Against Me!, who came out as transgender five albums into her public life as an established punk musician. Punk has time and again served as a site for making visible and verbalising discordant experiences, which Grace has accessed to document her complex and troubled personal intercessions, transgender realities, and their uncertain future.

text: "Delicate, petite & other things I'll never be": trans-punk anthems and love songs Punk’s dogged durability continues to be driven by a communal ethos that once embodied inclusivity, resistance, challenge, and transformation. The precipitous absorption and integration of punk into the mainstream ran the risk of undermining the authenticity of its rebellion, DIY principles, and sub-cultural inimitability. Yet, in emerging from the underground punk has continued to provide a counter-normative framework and aesthetic. The ethos that underpinned first-wave punk is evident today in punk’s ongoing engagement with queer politics and persistent illustrations of gender fluidity. This article examines an articulation of “transgender as punk” focusing on the example of Laura Jane Grace, lead singer of U.S. anarcho-punk band Against Me!, who came out as transgender five albums into her public life as an established punk musician. Punk has time and again served as a site for making visible and verbalising discordant experiences, which Grace has accessed to document her complex and troubled personal intercessions, transgender realities, and their uncertain future.

year: 2020-01-02

title: Supervision and culture: Meetings at thresholds

authors: Crocket, Kathie

subjects: supervision

abstract: Counsellors are required to engage in supervision in order to reflect on, reflexively review, and extend their practice. Supervision, then, might be understood as a partnership in which the focus of practitioners and supervisors is on ethical and effective practice with all clients. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, there has recently been interest in the implications for supervision of cultural difference, particularly in terms of the Treaty of Waitangi as a practice metaphor, and when non-Māori practitioners counsel Māori clients. This article offers an account of a qualitative investigation by a group of counsellors/supervisors into their experiences of supervision as cultural partnership. Based on interviews and then using writing-as-research, the article explores the playing out of supervision’s contribution to practitioners’ effective and ethical practice in the context of Aotearoa/New Zealand, showing a range of possible accounts and strategies and discussing their effects. Employing the metaphor of threshold, the article includes a series of reflections and considerations for supervision practice when attention is drawn to difference.

text: Supervision and culture: Meetings at thresholds Counsellors are required to engage in supervision in order to reflect on, reflexively review, and extend their practice. Supervision, then, might be understood as a partnership in which the focus of practitioners and supervisors is on ethical and effective practice with all clients. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, there has recently been interest in the implications for supervision of cultural difference, particularly in terms of the Treaty of Waitangi as a practice metaphor, and when non-Māori practitioners counsel Māori clients. This article offers an account of a qualitative investigation by a group of counsellors/supervisors into their experiences of supervision as cultural partnership. Based on interviews and then using writing-as-research, the article explores the playing out of supervision’s contribution to practitioners’ effective and ethical practice in the context of Aotearoa/New Zealand, showing a range of possible accounts and strategies and discussing their effects. Employing the metaphor of threshold, the article includes a series of reflections and considerations for supervision practice when attention is drawn to difference.

year: 2013