what starts amusing, and then becomes just plain fascinating...

[rivendellrose]

Amazon tribe converts to atheism the missionary sent to convert them.

Okay, I admit - I was originally sucked in by the headline. How could I not be? But the rest of the article, if it is, in fact, accurate, has some truly fascinating implications in a more general anthropological context. I don't think I've ever heard of a human culture anywhere that didn't have either marriage or funerary rituals of some kind, nor of one that's completely lacking a creation myth. And linguistically... well, the claim is that "There are only 11 phonemes (speech sounds). There are no numbers, no words for colors. No words for please, thank you or sorry." And there's something in this that supposedly defies Universal Grammar? Okay, I admit it - I'm thoroughly flummoxed. The linguistic stuff sounds... probable, to me, without much experience (and without digging into the details), but the cultural stuff seems... exceedingly unusual, running to suspicious. I'll be doing a Google hunt of my own, as well as ordering this book from the library, but does anybody know anything about this culture / this guy straight out? Because it looks like a candidate for a modern-day Tasaday hoax to me... or, a little more generously, another mess like Margaret Mead in Samoa.

Wikipedia is no help, since it seems this Everett fellow is the only person they're quoting. And the tribe is down to 360 people. Always charming to know that we can knock a culture down to almost nothing and have only one man's word on anything about them. :P

Edited to add this link to a New Yorker article about the linguistic hubbub surrounding this whole thing. Still in the process of hunting references and so on, but will probably have to stop soon. Have emailed the linguist of the house to see what she thinks. ♥

Comments

[lacrimaeveneris.livejournal.com]

From a psycholinguistic view, this is going to be groundbreaking if its true. Let me know what you find!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

It's the "if it's true" part that's niggling at me. :P I've sent it on to K, my linguist-friend, to see if she can make up or down of it better than I can, but even the anthro stuff seems... improbable, to me. I'll keep you updated if we find anything!

[snakewhissperer.livejournal.com]

if its true very intersting, but it sounds just a wee bit too unbelieveable? I mean most people adopt things that make their lives easier for one.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's where I'm at, too. I mean, the breadth of variety in anthropology is, of course, always surprising to us, but... the details here just don't ring true to me. It sounds too much like someone's idea of a strange and bizarre culture, not like something that would really make sense. And of course, what do I know? I just have an undergrad degree. But this guy seems dubious, to me.

[spazzychic.livejournal.com]

*yoink*

I'll see if I can gather info from my blog. This is neat!

[errantly.livejournal.com]

Replying to the Spaz's comment, since she led me here. If you find any more information, rivendellrose, let us know! I'm definitely interested in finding out if this cultural tale has any truth to it.

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

That's so interesting if it's true. I will be staying posted to see what you all dig up.

[maymargaret.livejournal.com]

OK, I still need to dig through the other articles you sent me. I'm dubious. At first glance I tend to think of the myths about tribes who don't have a past tense and have no sense of the past. A combination of over simplifications, missunderstandings and wishfull thinking. Also clicks and tones are phonemes and not at all odd to people who use them. I'm not sure about langs without numbers or colors, though I'm pretty sure that the terry pratchett one two many lots system is not unheard of. I havn't read any of the actual work, so it may not be as bad as it's appearing. People do tend to take anything a little odd, read it as impossible then wave it around.