Reconstructions

Note

In both PAn and PMP the meanings ‘hand, arm’ and ‘five’ were represented by the same morpheme, *lima. To distinguish the two a rare body-part prefix *qa- (found also in *qabaRa ‘shoulder’ and perhaps *qaqaqi ‘foot, leg’) was sometimes added to the word for ‘hand, arm’. Palauan chim ‘hand, arm, front paws (of animals)’ appears to reflect *qa-lima. Since the languages cited above, which fall into three widely divergent groups, all exhibit doublets with and without l-, it is possible that the ima variants are irregularly altered forms of *qa-lima rather than of *lima.

However, neither the reconstruction of *lima, nor of *qa-lima makes it possible to explain the above data through regular sound change, and it appears necessary either to recognize widespread convergence of a seemingly unmotivated type, or to reconstruct a vowel-initial doublet. Superficially similar forms in Taiwan (Saisiyat, Pazeh, Bunun ima ‘hand’) and in Melanesia (Motu ima ‘arm, hand; five’ and the Central Papuan loan in Mailu ima ‘hand; five’), unlike the forms cited here, can regularly reflect *lima.