> This is seen as proof of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, that words determine the concepts you can use: Pirahã can’t instantly compare collections of objects to s

> This is seen as proof of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, that words determine the concepts you can use: Pirahã can’t instantly compare collections of objects to see which is bigger (e.g. a pile of four batteries next to a pile of five) while people in cultures with other number systems can. My goodness. Sapir and Whorf had this theory, but neither gathered much data to prove it, and attempts to do so since Whorf's death in 1941 have not gathered much evidence for that theory. In fact the mass of evidence has been against it. A Christian missionary named Daniel Everett studied linguistics to preach to the Pirahã in the late 1970s. When he learned their language, he became convinced that they helped make the case for Sapir-Whorf and published many papers, but other linguists who went down to work with them found countervailing evidence. It's a pleasant theory to consider, but the evidence for it over the past eighty years has been thin, and most linguistics data seems to go against the theory.