2 Jun
2010
2 Jun
'10
7:06 a.m.
On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 7:00 PM, <arcarlini at iee.org> wrote:
Liam Proven [lproven at gmail.com] wrote:
There's at least one New Scientist article that covers this
particular group. I read it on dead tree, but I assume that
subscribers could just search the archives for Everett and
see it for themselves. one/two/many does seem to be for real,
but there are many other fascinating things about these people
and their language and how it seems to have shaped their
thought processes.
Sadly I am not a subscriber.
On Sun, May 30, 2010 at 7:45 PM, Rich Alderson
There is
a language in the Amazon Basin, I believe Pirah?, (and this
is not like the "1,2,many" urban legend--there are write-ups in
linguistic journals) which works in base 19. ?Each finger joint, the
back of the hand, the wrist, the forearm, the upper arm, and the
shoulder are the counting points.
This intrigued me and I went straight off to read about it. I guess they'd at least be able cope with binary
(at least
for sufficiently small numbers).
Apparently not. He spent 8mth trying to teach adult Pirah? to count to
10, using the Portuguese words, as many adult male Pirah? know a few
words of this language. They asked him to teach them, as they feared
getting ripped off when trading with outsiders.
After 8mth, they gave up. None had mastered even the rudiments of
counting. A few children had showed some promise but they were sent
away from the lessons by the adults and not allowed to return.
It's a very interesting group of people. Everett & his wife - who
possibly speaks better Pirah? than him - went there as missionaries.
The Pirah?'s strictly evidential approach to life - if you haven't
seen it yourself, it's not real, more or less - has caused Everett to
abandon his christianity and become a rational atheist (good for
him!), but also their mindset seems to have acted as a sort of immune
system for them, defending them from contamination with religion or
indeed 20th/21st century life. That's a good thing for them, I think.
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/liamproven
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