In many languages in Micronesia, clever ways of extending their counting systems to numbers far beyond imagination were developed in precolonial times. Here, we provide an exhaustive overview of these systems, highlight their characteristics, and account for some of their most intriguing features. Based on a critical assessment of the available data and the in-depth analysis of both paradigmatic cases and peculiarities, we draw inferences about some more general patterns that suggest a rather long tradition of specific ways of counting both in Micronesia and the area beyond.

中文翻译：

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密克罗尼西亚的计数方式

在密克罗尼西亚的许多语言中，在前殖民时代开发了将计数系统扩展到远超想象的数字的巧妙方法。在这里，我们提供了这些系统的详尽概述，突出了它们的特征，并解释了它们的一些最有趣的特征。基于对可用数据的批判性评估以及对典型案例和特性的深入分析，我们对一些更普遍的模式进行了推论，这些模式表明密克罗尼西亚及其以外地区有着相当悠久的特定计数方法的传统。