| Edition |
1st ed. |
| Description |
xviii, 283 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 25 cm. |
| Summary |
A linguist offers a thought-provoking account of his experiences and discoveries while living with the Pirah~a, a small tribe of Amazonian Indians living in central Brazil and a people possessing a language that defies accepted linguistic theories and reflects a culture that has no counting system, concept of war, or personal property, and lives entirely in the present. |
| Contents |
Discovering the world of the Pirah~as -- The Amazon -- The cost of discipleship -- Sometimes you make mistakes -- Material culture and the absence of ritual -- Families and community -- Nature and the immediacy of experience -- A teenager named Tukaaga : murder and society -- Land to live free -- Caboclos : vignettes of Amazonian Brazilian life -- Changing channels with Pirah~a sounds -- Pirah~a words -- How much grammar do people need? -- Values and talking : the partnership between language and culture -- Recursion : language as a matrioshka doll -- Crooked heads and straight heads : perspectives on language and truth -- Converting the missionary. |
| Subject |
Piraha Indians -- Amazon River Region -- Social life and customs.
|
|
Piraha dialect -- Social aspects -- Amazon River Region.
|
|
Jungles -- Amazon River Region.
|
|
Amazon River Region -- Social life and customs.
|
| ISBN |
9780375425028 |
|
0375425020 |
| Standard No. |
NZ1 12563342 |
|
AU@ 000042988809 |
|
