The Pirahã
June 25th, 02007 by Alexander Rose
I recently came across this stunningly good linguistics article published in the New Yorker (April of 02007). While I am certain that folks working on our Rosetta Project will have varying opinions on the work being described in the article, I found it an excellent primer into the world of endangered language and field linguistics.
The story is about trying to crack the language of the Pirahã, a tribe in South America, whos language and culture arguably defies almost all linguistic and behavioral convention. The story twists and turns through academia, Chomsky, the Amazon, missionary groups, bible translators, and the 25 year relationship of one field linguist with this exceptional tribe.
This entry was posted on Monday, June 25th, 2007 at 9:54 am and is filed under Rosetta. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Posted on December 4th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
[...] by Time and the London Times. A New Yorker article about Everett’s work has been discussed here previously. And if you’re wondering about the title, it comes from the Pirahã’s lack of [...]