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Team finds language without numbers

  Tags: Number System
 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room Post Reply
13 messages over 2 pages: 1
Virginian683
Diglot
Groupie
United States
Joined 6536 days ago

43 posts - 50 votes
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: French, Russian

 
 Message 9 of 13
18 September 2008 at 6:51pm | IP Logged 
William Camden wrote:
Tasmanian Aborigines reportedly had a very reduced counting system, but the last full-blooded one died in 1876, after her people received treatment from settlers that some have characterised as genocide.


Interesting. Well I suppose without concepts such as "currency," "history," or any form or science, counting would be rather redundant. It isn't often I look around and count things just for the hell of it.

Of course, if over many thousands of years a people had not first thought of counting, how could it develop anything characterizing an advanced culture?

In other words I agree with psychologists that language has a big impact on human thinking, but it is MAN who invents language.

Edited by Virginian683 on 18 September 2008 at 6:52pm

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zenmonkey
Bilingual Tetraglot
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Germany
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 Message 10 of 13
18 September 2008 at 11:17pm | IP Logged 
If you wish to learn about Pirahã the reference is Everett's book: A lingua piraha e a teoria da sintaxe: Descricao, perspectivas e teoria

You can also hear it in a video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7Spzjh9QgA

and herehttp://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=v7Spzjh9QgA

a good reference is
http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2008/01/piraha_the_worlds.html

NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9458681

Edited by zenmonkey on 18 September 2008 at 11:27pm

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maya_star17
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Canada
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 Message 11 of 13
18 September 2008 at 11:54pm | IP Logged 
Virginian683 wrote:

Interesting. Well I suppose without concepts such as "currency," "history," or any form or science, counting would be rather redundant. It isn't often I look around and count things just for the hell of it.

Of course, if over many thousands of years a people had not first thought of counting, how could it develop anything characterizing an advanced culture?

In other words I agree with psychologists that language has a big impact on human thinking, but it is MAN who invents language.
Agreed. Just for the record, it's called cognitive linguistics. Very anti-Chomsky :)
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Iversen
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Denmark
berejst.dk
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 Message 12 of 13
13 July 2009 at 3:24pm | IP Logged 
A long lecture on the subject is found at http://fora.tv/2009/03/20/Daniel_Everett_Endangered_Language s_and_Lost_Knowledge

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William Camden
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 Message 13 of 13
18 July 2009 at 11:59am | IP Logged 
Virginian683 wrote:
William Camden wrote:
Tasmanian Aborigines reportedly had a very reduced counting system, but the last full-blooded one died in 1876, after her people received treatment from settlers that some have characterised as genocide.


Interesting. Well I suppose without concepts such as "currency," "history," or any form or science, counting would be rather redundant. It isn't often I look around and count things just for the hell of it.

Of course, if over many thousands of years a people had not first thought of counting, how could it develop anything characterizing an advanced culture?

In other words I agree with psychologists that language has a big impact on human thinking, but it is MAN who invents language.


With the Tasmanians, we have to go on what was recorded about them by people who in many cases were exploiting them to death.

The development of civilisation is driven by need. If the Tasmanians did not need an elaborate counting system, there was no impetus to develop it.

Although they had numbers, the Incas had a formidable civilisation without writing, the only records being quipu, knotted string tied to sticks.


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