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Angry Words: Chomsky, Everett and Amazon linguistics

Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2012 6:29 pm
by cwhelton
An angry dispute over linguistics and racism in the Amazon... "A former missionary discovers that the language (that the Piraha) people speak doesn't follow one of the fundamental tenets of linguistics, a finding that would seem to turn the field on its head, undermine basic assumptions about how children learn to communicate, and dethrone the discipline's long-reigning king, who also happens to be among the most well-known and influential intellectuals of the 20th century.

"It feels like a movie, and it may in fact turn into one—there's a script and producers on board. It's already a documentary that will air in May on the Smithsonian Channel..."

for the complete article see http://chronicle.com/article/Researcher ... he/131260/

I wonder if the Piraha have a bicameral culture, and that's the basic cause of the dispute?

Re: Angry Words: Chomsky, Everett and Amazon linguistics

Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 4:27 pm
by Moderator
Interesting article, thanks for sharing. Will comment further soon...

Re: Angry Words: Chomsky, Everett and Amazon linguistics

Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 11:21 pm
by Moderator
Here is a link to the Smithsonian documentary "The Grammar of Happiness," on Daniel Everett's work with the Pirahã:

http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/sc/we ... -happiness