(By David Gil): "Most languages have a series of cardinal numerals such as English one, two, three, and so on. Some of the ways in which such numerals are formed are described in Chapter 131. In addition, most languages also have various other series of numerals, whose forms are derived from cardinal numerals, and whose denotations combine the concept of number with other concepts of a variety of different kinds. Perhaps the most well-known of these other series are the ordinal numerals, described in Chapter 53. This map is concerned with one of the many other kinds of numeral series, namely, distributive numerals. ❡
Consider the following English sentence, containing the cardinal numeral three: (1) John and Bill carried three suitcases. ❡
How many suitcases did John and Bill carry? Sentence (1) is ambiguous, allowing for two possible answers to the preceding question. Under one interpretation, there was just a single set of three suitcases which both John and Bill carried. But under another interpretation, there were two sets of three suitcases, one set which John carried, another set which Bill carried. Or in other words, there were three suitcases per person, for a total of six suitcases. ❡
In English, the latter interpretation can be forced by means of operators such as each, as in John and Bill carried three suitcases each, or apiece, as in John and Bill carried three suitcases apiece. However, in other languages, there is another way of increasing the availability of this interpretation, by means of a distributive numeral..."