Editing Numeral (linguistics) (section)

===4: quaternary===
{{Main|Quaternary numeral system}}
Quaternary systems are based on the number 4. Some [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian]], [[Melanesians|Melanesian]], [[Sulawesi]], and [[Papua New Guinea]] ethnic groups, count with the base number four, using the term ''asu'' or ''aso'', the word for [[dog]], as the ubiquitous village dog has four legs.<ref name="Ryan, Peter p&nbsp;219">Ryan, Peter. ''Encyclopaedia of Papua and New Guinea''. Melbourne University Press & University of Papua and New Guinea,:1972 {{isbn|0-522-84025-6}}.: 3 pages p&nbsp;219.</ref> This is argued by anthropologists to be also based on early humans noting the human and animal shared body feature of two arms and two legs as well as its ease in simple arithmetic and counting. As an example of the system's ease a realistic scenario could include a farmer returning from the market with fifty ''asu'' heads of pig (200), less 30 ''asu'' (120) of pig bartered for 10 ''asu'' (40) of goats noting his new pig count total as twenty ''asu'': 80 pigs remaining. The system has a correlation to the [[dozen]] counting system and is still in common use in these areas as a natural and easy method of simple arithmetic.<ref name="Ryan, Peter p&nbsp;219"/><ref>Aleksandr Romanovich Luriicac, Lev Semenovich Vygotskiĭ, Evelyn Rossiter. ''Ape, primitive man, and child: essays in the history of behavior''. CRC Press: 1992: {{isbn|1-878205-43-9}}.</ref>