Counting in the Caquetá-Putumayo Region of Northwest Amazonia

This article examines numerals in the languages of the Caquetá-Putumayo (CP) region of Northwest Amazonia. Drawing on data from Witotoan, Boran, Arawak (Resígaro), and the isolate Andoke, the study shows that CP numeral systems share a set of structural properties shaped by long-term multilingualism. Numeral roots for ‘one’ and ‘two’ coexist with forms of different historical and functional origins, while fraternal, additive, and other lexical (‘middle/center/half’-based) strategies serve to express values above ‘two’. From ‘five’ onward, enumeration typically employs body-part terms, often extending to ‘twenty’. The analysis highlights the limited use of adnominal numerals within the noun phrase, the central role of classifier morphology, and selective borrowing within a broader Amazonian context. The findings contribute to our understanding of numeral systems as sites of cultural meaning, grammatical innovation, and regional contact in Northwest Amazonia.