It was once believed that no Australian Aboriginal languages had numbers above 5. Certainly I was taught this in school, though it seems to be not entirely true

It was once believed that no Australian Aboriginal languages had numbers above 5. Certainly I was taught this in school, though it seems to be not entirely true. Interestingly, for groups that which we don't have a record of specific words for abstract numbers above say 5 or 6 or 7, they had words for specific items in a sequence above these numbers. (The article gives the example of birth order.) So, in answer to the kids question, the concept of six may survive the lack of an abstract number. [0] http://blogs.slq.qld.gov.au/ilq/2014/09/09/indigenous-number-systems/ http://blogs.slq.qld.gov.au/ilq/2014/09/09/indigenous-number... [1] https://theconversation.com/countering-the-claims-about-australias-aboriginal-number-systems-65042 https://theconversation.com/countering-the-claims-about-aust...