![]() ![]() ![]() I am not sure you have it in you to do that, so here are the best bits. Here are a few quotes because to get to that chapter you have to read first a few about recurssion in the language, Chomsky's Universal Grammar theory and general musings about linguistics. The best chapter of the book is when Everett after 20 or 30 years realizes that the Pirahas will never be converted (did I mention he went there as a missonary?) and consequently comes to the conclusion that the Bible is a load of rubbish. Also, there is no God (sorry if this last bit was a spoiler to some).īut I forgive Everett everything because anyone who says Chomsky is wrong and manages to undermine his whole silly theory is a friend of mine. They also don't have recurssion in their language, so clearly Chomsky was wrong. ![]() My kids grew up in the jungle and the Pirahas talk about sex a lot. It went like this: I went to Amazanionan Jungle to talk about God to the Indians. Let me just say in my finest Americanese - DOH! It really did take him YEARS to realise that. It took him YEARS to realise that the reason behind was that poor Brazilian people keep dying of all sorts of diseases and the world doesn't stop turning, so Brazilian people didn't understand why it should stop turning because of an American being sick. One example: Everett was really upset with all the people of Brazil for seemingly not giving a damn about the fact his wife was very sick with malaria, and maybe dying even. My initial reaction to him and what I was reading was: Oh geez, what an American! And I apologise to all my American friends, I love you all, but I did mean that pejoratively. One example: Everett was really upset with all the people of Brazil for seemingly not giving a damn about the fact his wi You know know that situation when you meet somebody and they really annoy you but later on, much to your surprise, you end being very good friends with them? That's what happened with me and Mr Everett. You know know that situation when you meet somebody and they really annoy you but later on, much to your surprise, you end being very good friends with them? That's what happened with me and Mr Everett. Everett's views are most recently discussed in Tom Wolfe's bestselling The Kingdom of Speech.Īdventure, personal enlightenment and the makings of a scientific revolution proceed together in this vivid, funny and moving book.more The perils of passionate academic opposition were then swiftly conjoined to those of the Amazon in a debate whose outcome has yet to be won. He shows the slow, meticulous steps by which he gradually mastered their language and his gradual realisation that its unusual nature closely reflected its speakers' startlingly original perceptions of the world.Įverett describes how he began to realise that his discoveries aboutĮverett describes how he began to realise that his discoveries about the Pirahã language opened up a new way of understanding how language works in our minds and in our lives, and that this way was utterly at odds with Noam Chomsky's universally accepted linguistic theories. ![]() Although Daniel Everett was a missionary, far from converting the Pirahãs, they converted him. ![]()
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