Happiest People On Earth Changing Some Views
Sun. 15 2009 | David Ginter
Dan Everett was a linguist working as a full time missionary when he traveled to the very center of the Amazon forest to evangelize the Piraha (pronounced “Peetaha”) tribe. That 1977 trip would change both Everett and is changing what we “know” about human nature. Instead of converting the Piraha to Christianity, the Piraha de-converted Everett. Yet Everett’s religion wasn’t the only thing being challenged, the Piraha have the most unique language ever known to mankind.
Their culture, language, world view, and nearly everything about them is such defiance of our modern ways of thinking that it’s like trying to explain the tax code to a 3rd grader (or one of Obama’s cabinet members for that matter – OH SNAP!). In spite of this difficulty, I’m still going to attempt to outline some of their more unique qualities.
The Piraha emphasize the experience of here and now. Their word, xibipiio (pronounced ibip-pee-u), is a verb signifying something going in and out of immediate experience. Imagine you’ve had dinner with a friend; they’re now part of your immediate experience – xibipiio. Now you watch them drive away – xibipiio – they’ve left your immediate experience. This focus on immediacy of experience has pervasive effects on virtually all aspects of their lives, beginning with their language itself.
The Piraha have 16 different suffixes that can go at the end of a word, which means that their number of verb tenses total 2^16 power (English has a total of 12). These verb tenses reveal how each Piraha attained the evidence for the statement they’re making. An English example verb tenses revealing evidence would be: John said that he heard the lion (someone you know – past tense); I hear the lion (personal and immediate). The Piraha are a very empirical society; if you or someone you know didn’t see it, it didn’t happen. This is why Everett was unable to convert them to Christianity, there’s no direct evidence.
Despite their repetoir of verb tenses their catalogue of actual phonems is tiny. The men have 3 vowels and 8 consonants for a total of 11 phonemes. Women have 3 vowels and 7 consonants and speak somewhat differently from the men. Mothers don’t usually speak to their children, instead they hum the language. The length, tones, etc. conveys information. Their language can also be whistled, but only men will do so.
The Piraha are the first documented example of a language that lacks recursion (a compound sentence that refers back to the subject or object, with the possibility to create indefinitely long expressions: “I saw John in the hammock that I wanted to sit in…”). The lack of recursion creates a language that keeps information slow and verifiable. We all discuss things that we don’t have evidence for on an everyday basis, and recursion helps us do this. This entire article is an example of both. I don’t know Dan Everett personally, nor have I met the Piraha tribe (this was a recursive sentence).
They have a concentric view of time as opposed to our more linear view of time. This means that all references are in relation to the present moment – no calendars. They don’t even have words for yesterday or tomorrow. They have words for “other day” and “big time” (which could refer to something farther in the past or future). They have no creation stories, no rituals, nor any story to console themselves upon encountering death. They grieve (especially for dogs), but they bounce back quickly.
They don’t have any counting system, including a number for 1, though they’re cognitively capable of learning to count. Instead of numbers, they measure things by approximations of size. Numbers, like recursion and syntax, are considered something humans have innately.
They have a map of their environment in their heads and instead of left, right, up, down, they give absolute directions (the way we might say “You’ll come to a three way stop and there you need to turn towards the big green building on Baker Street”). Their directions reflect their close relationship to the jungle.
They don’t have metaphors.
They have the simplest known kinship system. They have words for biological sons, daughters, and a genderless name for the generation above and below a person. That’s it.
Their view on love is more utilitarian and marriage can begin before puberty, slowly becoming more affectionate.
They only work 4 hours per day, and spend most of their time enjoying themselves. One group of MIT psychologists called the Piraha the happiest people in the world – based on a smile index.
These remarkable people have caused a great stir in the scientific world. Everett’s claim that they lack recursion has brought several teams of linguists and/or psychologists to investigate further. Regardless of the many debates still surrounding the Piraha, we can be very sure that we have much to learn from them.
[...] that your pet can have emotional attachments and understanding (dogs a little more than cats). Language is a powerful force in shaping human identity. It directs our communication of abstract things and gives rise to a society’s creativity and [...]
—ONE—
“The Piraha are a very empirical society; if you or someone you know didn’t see it, it didn’t happen. This is why Everett was unable to convert them to Christianity, there’s no direct evidence.”
***I wonder, seriously, as a Jesus follower myself, first, why he did not introduce them (evangelize them first) to a real language and way of thinking, and also, 2) why he did not rely on prayer and miracles which are available to the missionary (according to his Bible), and which are evident tools used in many many missionary efforts.
—TWO—
“They only work 4 hours per day, and spend most of their time enjoying themselves.”
***A truly primitive society; one to which Americans are obviously aspiring. Not necessarily a good thing, eh?
—THREE—
“Regardless of the many debates still surrounding the Piraha, we can be very sure that we have much to learn from them.
*** I don’t mean to be offensive, but, “I don’t think so, Tim”
To your first point, they don’t respond to written language. Accounts from authors whom they can’t know personally won’t cut for them. He did try to evangelize with all the Moody Bible Institute methods he could think of, but their worldview and language just didn’t accomodate for the abstractions necessary for religous thought.
Second, it depends on your values. The word primitive means primary. In other words, closer to our primary (of first order) human nature. It’s a more experiential reality, folks enjoying their time rather than accumulating on the idea that they can spend time enjoy themselves later.
Third, I like a Home Improvement reference. Kudos. But I meant that in more a cognitive/neurological/psychological sense. I’m about to write a couple articles on how language affects the brain and subsequently our ideas about the world. That’s what I was alluding to; a future article that isn’t done yet. Studying the Piraha is leading to some truly fascinating insights into what makes people tick, at a subconscious level. I hope you read those, I did a lot of research for them. They’ll be on here probably late this week.
To your first point, they don’t respond to written language. Accounts from authors whom they can’t know personally won’t cut for them. He did try to evangelize with all the Moody Bible Institute methods he could think of, but their worldview and language just didn’t accomodate for the abstractions necessary for religous thought.
Second, it depends on your values. The word primitive means primary. In other words, closer to our primary (of first order) human nature. It’s a more experiential reality, folks enjoying their time rather than accumulating on the idea that they can spend time enjoy themselves later.
Third, I like a Home Improvement reference. Kudos. But I meant that in more a cognitive/neurological/psychological sense. I’m about to write a couple articles on how language affects the brain and subsequently our ideas about the world. That’s what I was alluding to; a future article that isn’t done yet. Studying the Piraha is leading to some truly fascinating insights into what makes people tick, at a subconscious level. I hope you read those, I did a lot of research for them. They’ll be on here probably late this week.
To your first point, they don’t respond to written language. Accounts from authors whom they can’t know personally won’t cut for them. He did try to evangelize with all the Moody Bible Institute methods he could think of, but their worldview and language just didn’t accomodate for the abstractions necessary for religous thought.
Second, it depends on your values. The word primitive means primary. In other words, closer to our primary (of first order) human nature. It’s a more experiential reality, folks enjoying their time rather than accumulating on the idea that they can spend time enjoy themselves later.
Third, I like a Home Improvement reference. Kudos. But I meant that in more a cognitive/neurological/psychological/anthropological sense. I’m about to write a couple articles on how language affects the brain and subsequently our ideas about the world. That’s what I was alluding to; a future article that isn’t done yet. Studying the Piraha is leading to some truly fascinating insights into what makes people tick, at a subconscious level. I hope you read those, I did a lot of research for them. They’ll be on here probably next week.