The Pirahã Controversy: Numbers (part 3)

Apr 8, 2012 by

The Pirahã Controversy: Numbers (part 3)

In the previous post, I discussed a study conducted by Dr Peter Gordon that appears to show that the Pirahã not only lack number words (as has been argued previously by Dan Everett), but also lack the necessary cognitive mechanisms...

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The Pirahã Controversy: Numbers (part 2)

Apr 5, 2012 by

The Pirahã Controversy: Numbers (part 2)

In the previous post, I’ve described one experiment designed to shed some light on the number words in Pirahã and their use. But many more experimental studies add food for thought and fuel to the debate. One such study was...

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The Pirahã Controversy: Numbers

Apr 5, 2012 by

The Pirahã Controversy: Numbers

In addition to recursion, the Pirahã are claimed to lack numbers. Is this true? According to Dan Everett, the Pirahã lack not only numbers of any kind, but they do not have even a concept of counting and of any terms for...

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