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No, not at all. I think people might be surprised at just how basic the structures that he uses his evidence are. The Piraha study was a study with poor resear
by txru 10y ago
No, not at all. I think people might be surprised at just how basic the structures that he uses his evidence are.
The Piraha study was a study with poor research practices (subsequent researches have found conflicting findings from Everett's), and always ignored one massive problem, as told by a joke:
"Professor Chomsky! There's a language in Brazil that doesn't seem to have recursion or large numerals!"
Chomsky doesn't turn around.
"Can they learn Portuguese?"
"... Yes."
That's a lot of what his theories are-- that for a set of features in human language including types of structure like recursion, every homos sapiens has the ability to use them in language.
- bambax 10y agoNot a very good joke. Everett doesn't argue that the Pirahas are a different species; they're human so of course they can do what humans do! What he's saying (and I think demonstrated pretty well) is that not ALL languages are based on the same fundamental structures: to show this, one counterexample is enough.
- ktRolster 10y agoI don't know anywhere that Chomsky (or anyone) claimed that ALL languages are based on the same fundamental structures, but Wikipedia talks about it, and has links to articles showing that Everett's own examples include recursion. See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirah%C3%A3_language#Recent_controversy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirah%C3%A3_language#Recent_co...
- bambax 10y agoThe paragraph on Wikipedia has links to a grand total of 3 articles, one of which by Everett himself, and the other two by the same trio of people. So it's disingenuous to write that Wikipedia "has links to articles". Wikipedia points to a controversy started by 3 people, to which Everett responded, to which the same 3 people responded again. It's difficult to go any further since said articles are behind a paywall.
- YeGoblynQueenne 10y agoActually, Everett claims that the Piraha cannot learn Portuguese. He also claims that they were unable to learn simple arithmetic despite his -cough cough- best efforts. He might as well be claiming that the Piraha are a different species. Note: an inferior species. He's a gigantic asshole really.