Pirahã: The Amazonian Tribe That Challenges Everything We Know About Language | SLICE

00:10:54
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQnyh_1kqy8

Zusammenfassung

TLDRThe video explores the linguistic debate between Daniel Everett and Noam Chomsky regarding the Pirahã language. Everett claims that Pirahã lacks recursion, a crucial component of Chomsky's Universal Grammar, which posits that an innate structure underlies all human languages. The video details how this claim sparked controversy in the linguistic community, with critical responses from Chomsky and others. An upcoming scientific expedition aims to investigate these claims further, evaluating how cultural aspects influence language structure. By examining the unique characteristics of Pirahã, the research seeks to provide insights into the relationship between language and culture, challenging established theories in linguistics.

Mitbringsel

  • 🗣️ Daniel Everett challenges Noam Chomsky's theories.
  • 📚 The Pirahã language allegedly lacks recursion.
  • 🔍 Recursion allows sentences to expand indefinitely.
  • 🌍 Cultural influences may shape language structure.
  • 🧠 Universal Grammar claims an innate language structure.
  • 🔭 A scientific expedition aims to test Everett's claims.
  • 📜 The debate questions what makes human language unique.
  • 🚨 Chomsky's influence in linguistics is significant.
  • ✨ The Pirahã's cultural fixation on the present impacts their grammar.
  • 🤔 The controversy has broad implications for linguistics.

Zeitleiste

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The video discusses Daniel Everett's shift from missionary work to academia, where he challenges Noam Chomsky's theory of universal grammar by claiming that the Paha language lacks recursion, a key component of Chomsky's theory. This claim ignites controversy, as it contradicts the long-held belief that recursion is fundamental to all human languages. Everett's assertion that Paha does not exhibit recursion raises questions about the validity of universal grammar, leading to a heated debate in the linguistic community.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:54

    In response to Everett's claims, a new expedition led by Professor Ted Gibson aims to scientifically test the recursion hypothesis using a computer program designed for language analysis. The expedition seeks to gather recordings of the Paha language to provide quantifiable evidence in this ongoing debate. Everett argues that cultural factors influence language structure, suggesting that the Paha's unique grammatical features stem from their cultural focus on the present, resulting in a grammar devoid of recursion. This perspective challenges the notion that language variations are independent of cultural influences.

Mind Map

Video-Fragen und Antworten

  • What is the main controversy discussed in the video?

    The controversy revolves around Daniel Everett's claim that the Pirahã language lacks recursion, challenging Noam Chomsky's theory of Universal Grammar.

  • Who is Noam Chomsky?

    Noam Chomsky is a highly influential linguist known for his theory of Universal Grammar.

  • What does 'recursion' refer to in linguistics?

    Recursion is the ability to embed clauses within clauses, allowing for sentences to expand indefinitely.

  • What is Universal Grammar?

    Universal Grammar is the theory that the structure of language is innate and genetically encoded in humans.

  • How does Everett's claim affect the understanding of human language?

    If Everett is correct about Pirahã lacking recursion, it undermines the notion that recursion is a universal property of all human languages.

  • What is the purpose of the expedition mentioned in the video?

    The expedition aims to gather evidence to test Everett's claims about the Pirahã language.

  • What cultural aspects does Everett believe influence the Pirahã's grammar?

    Everett suggests that the Pirahã's preoccupation with the present affects their grammar, resulting in a lack of recursion.

  • Who is leading the research expedition to test Everett's claims?

    Professor Ted Gibson is leading the research expedition.

Weitere Video-Zusammenfassungen anzeigen

Erhalten Sie sofortigen Zugang zu kostenlosen YouTube-Videozusammenfassungen, die von AI unterstützt werden!
Untertitel
en
Automatisches Blättern:
  • 00:00:01
    [Music]
  • 00:00:20
    abandoning missionary life ort began to
  • 00:00:23
    focus on his academic
  • 00:00:26
    career he had long suspected something
  • 00:00:29
    was fun mentally different about petar
  • 00:00:33
    grammar and if his hunch was right it
  • 00:00:37
    could transform our understanding of
  • 00:00:39
    human
  • 00:00:43
    [Music]
  • 00:00:46
    language at the time that I was going
  • 00:00:48
    through the uh spiritual crisis and the
  • 00:00:51
    family crisis and the marriage crisis I
  • 00:00:54
    was also going through an intellectual
  • 00:00:56
    crisis and I had to say something about
  • 00:00:58
    this at the same time that I tried to
  • 00:01:00
    explain a number of the unique
  • 00:01:04
    characteristics of the Paha
  • 00:01:05
    [Music]
  • 00:01:08
    language I had no idea when I started
  • 00:01:10
    writing this paper that it was going to
  • 00:01:12
    be controversial to the degree that it
  • 00:01:14
    was Daniel Everett had just picked a
  • 00:01:17
    fight with the father of modern
  • 00:01:19
    Linguistics gnome Chomsky gnome is not
  • 00:01:23
    only the most influential linguist in
  • 00:01:25
    this sense of the past Century but I
  • 00:01:28
    think it's probably the case that he's
  • 00:01:29
    the most influential linguist of all
  • 00:01:32
    time I finished the paper I sent it off
  • 00:01:35
    to the number one Journal of
  • 00:01:36
    anthropology and then all hell broke
  • 00:01:43
    loose I think he knows he's wrong that's
  • 00:01:46
    what I really think it might be an
  • 00:01:48
    interesting question of a social
  • 00:01:50
    anthropology but can't have anything to
  • 00:01:53
    do with the nature of language this just
  • 00:01:56
    doesn't make any sense I had people
  • 00:01:59
    sending me male accusing me of uh racist
  • 00:02:03
    views and I think it's a move that many
  • 00:02:07
    many intellectuals make uh to get a
  • 00:02:09
    little bit of attention I was appalled
  • 00:02:12
    when I read that Chomsky had said that
  • 00:02:14
    Dan was a charlatan I I know both these
  • 00:02:16
    people and that is not right that is
  • 00:02:19
    unacceptable the reason there was so
  • 00:02:21
    much fuss is really not very scientific
  • 00:02:24
    I mean it was here's this guy coming out
  • 00:02:26
    of the Jungle with this language that
  • 00:02:28
    only he knows and he's saying that the
  • 00:02:30
    greatest linguist in history is dead
  • 00:02:32
    wrong about his most important idea I
  • 00:02:36
    there's also questions about whether any
  • 00:02:37
    of it's true but that's another
  • 00:02:41
    story The Bitter war of words is in
  • 00:02:44
    reaction to the grammatical anomaly Dan
  • 00:02:47
    Everett claims to have found according
  • 00:02:49
    to Everett P dear shows no evidence for
  • 00:02:53
    recursion the ability to combine an
  • 00:02:55
    endless number of ideas in a single
  • 00:02:58
    sentence so let's say that we have the
  • 00:02:59
    simple sentence like Bill saw Mary and
  • 00:03:02
    now we want to make that part of a
  • 00:03:03
    larger sentence John said that bill saw
  • 00:03:06
    Mary but for this to be recursion we
  • 00:03:08
    have to be able to keep going so we
  • 00:03:10
    might want to say something like John
  • 00:03:12
    said that Bill said that Mary said that
  • 00:03:15
    Peter said that Irving bought a house
  • 00:03:18
    and that is real that is true recursion
  • 00:03:21
    the ability for a sentence to just keep
  • 00:03:23
    going on forever if in a language you
  • 00:03:25
    can show there is a largest sentence and
  • 00:03:28
    you can't make it any larger
  • 00:03:30
    that language doesn't have recursion and
  • 00:03:32
    petera is such a
  • 00:03:34
    language in 2002 Nome Chomsky proposed
  • 00:03:37
    that recursion is the basis of all human
  • 00:03:40
    language a key component of his theory
  • 00:03:43
    of universal
  • 00:03:45
    grammar the most influential idea in
  • 00:03:49
    linguistics Universal grammar argues the
  • 00:03:52
    structure of language the grammar is
  • 00:03:55
    innately found in the human
  • 00:03:57
    genome something we are born with
  • 00:04:00
    rather than
  • 00:04:01
    learn according to the theory all human
  • 00:04:04
    languages regardless of their surface
  • 00:04:07
    differences share a common deep
  • 00:04:09
    structure a universal
  • 00:04:12
    grammar it's a powerful idea and it's
  • 00:04:16
    dominated Linguistics for more than 50
  • 00:04:19
    years in a modern sense Universal
  • 00:04:21
    grammar is just the theory of the
  • 00:04:25
    genetic component of the language
  • 00:04:28
    faculty uh that it exists
  • 00:04:31
    is hard to
  • 00:04:33
    [Music]
  • 00:04:37
    deny if Everett is right about pahar
  • 00:04:41
    then many believe the case for Universal
  • 00:04:43
    grammar is severely
  • 00:04:47
    undermined Chomsky who kind of has an
  • 00:04:50
    outsize influence in linguistics
  • 00:04:52
    whatever his latest pronouncement is
  • 00:04:55
    everyone takes very seriously in a
  • 00:04:58
    recent paper chsky argued that the
  • 00:05:01
    narrow language faculty the part of
  • 00:05:03
    language that's specific to language
  • 00:05:05
    consists only of an ability to do
  • 00:05:09
    recursion uh not every linguist to put
  • 00:05:13
    it mildly accepts that I don't uh but it
  • 00:05:17
    was out there as the latest statement
  • 00:05:21
    from Mount Olympus on what's special
  • 00:05:24
    about language and so the claim that
  • 00:05:27
    there's a language that was missing
  • 00:05:28
    exactly that thing that Chomsky said is
  • 00:05:33
    essential obviously made it much more
  • 00:05:35
    interesting to people if I'm right and
  • 00:05:38
    Paha does lack recursion then recursion
  • 00:05:42
    can't be the universal basis for human
  • 00:05:45
    language so one of us is right and one
  • 00:05:47
    of us is
  • 00:05:49
    [Music]
  • 00:05:51
    wrong it's now been 2 years since ever's
  • 00:05:55
    last visit to the Amazon at mit's brain
  • 00:05:58
    and cognitive Sciences l lab a new
  • 00:06:00
    Expedition is preparing to go and test
  • 00:06:02
    his
  • 00:06:03
    claims leading the team is Professor Ted
  • 00:06:06
    Gibson I think Dan's most controversial
  • 00:06:08
    claim is the claim that human language
  • 00:06:11
    doesn't have to be recursive it's it
  • 00:06:13
    might be right and it might be wrong and
  • 00:06:14
    I just don't know the answer I think
  • 00:06:15
    that's a very interesting open
  • 00:06:17
    controversy how many rules along with
  • 00:06:20
    colleague Dr Steve padosi Gibson has
  • 00:06:23
    developed a new computer program for
  • 00:06:25
    analyzing human language he's designed
  • 00:06:28
    it specifically to test Everett's
  • 00:06:30
    recursion claim but first he needs pahar
  • 00:06:34
    recordings what Ted and I are doing is
  • 00:06:36
    is trying to make make the debate
  • 00:06:37
    scientific and so I think that that's
  • 00:06:39
    really the only way to to resolve these
  • 00:06:40
    kinds of questions um you can't just go
  • 00:06:42
    back and forth bickering you know all
  • 00:06:44
    the time you have to have some kind of
  • 00:06:46
    scientific method and and some some kind
  • 00:06:48
    of uh quantifiable evidence if if you
  • 00:06:50
    want to answer these things one of the
  • 00:06:53
    most interesting properties of this
  • 00:06:54
    language and culture is that they're
  • 00:06:56
    uninterested in in the outside world so
  • 00:06:58
    we get a uh a look at human cognition
  • 00:07:01
    without the influence of other cultures
  • 00:07:04
    just sort of one culture this Expedition
  • 00:07:07
    will be the largest and perhaps most
  • 00:07:09
    rigorous to test Daniel Everett's
  • 00:07:12
    ideas in the eyes of many its results
  • 00:07:15
    May well settle this
  • 00:07:19
    debate ett will accompany the team as
  • 00:07:22
    translator but taking on the world's
  • 00:07:24
    leading linguist is more than an
  • 00:07:26
    academic
  • 00:07:27
    argument it strikes at the heart part of
  • 00:07:30
    where human language stems
  • 00:07:33
    from what makes us human that's what
  • 00:07:36
    this debate is all about where does our
  • 00:07:38
    language come from is our language some
  • 00:07:40
    mysterious Gene that somehow crept into
  • 00:07:43
    our Evolution if so that's worth knowing
  • 00:07:45
    that's very interesting what I'm
  • 00:07:47
    claiming is that culture can affect not
  • 00:07:50
    just the words of a language but the
  • 00:07:51
    entire grammar of a language and I'm
  • 00:07:54
    saying that the Paha are one clear
  • 00:07:57
    example of this happening perhaps the
  • 00:07:59
    most radical claim of uh Dan Everett is
  • 00:08:02
    that the is that unusual features of
  • 00:08:05
    Paha grammar are uh a consequence of
  • 00:08:09
    features of their culture because
  • 00:08:11
    there's one uh generalization that I
  • 00:08:13
    think almost all linguists would agree
  • 00:08:15
    with which is that the variation among
  • 00:08:18
    languages doesn't have a whole lot to do
  • 00:08:20
    with variations across the the cultures
  • 00:08:22
    of the people who speak the languages so
  • 00:08:24
    just to be concrete mean some languages
  • 00:08:26
    put the verb in the middle and have the
  • 00:08:28
    object after
  • 00:08:30
    John 8 the sushi some have the verb at
  • 00:08:32
    the end John the sushi 8 but do any of
  • 00:08:35
    these features correlate with some kinds
  • 00:08:36
    of culture with more you know uptight
  • 00:08:40
    cultures or expressive cultures or
  • 00:08:42
    intimate cultures or technological
  • 00:08:45
    cultures the answer is generally they
  • 00:08:51
    [Music]
  • 00:08:54
    don't for Everett the detail of how Paha
  • 00:08:58
    culture affects GR
  • 00:09:00
    lies in their fixation with the
  • 00:09:03
    present this preoccupation he claims
  • 00:09:06
    produces a grammar with only a present
  • 00:09:09
    tense a grammar without
  • 00:09:12
    recursion a grammar of
  • 00:09:17
    [Music]
  • 00:09:28
    happiness
  • 00:09:58
    foree
  • 00:10:06
    [Music]
  • 00:10:14
    foree spee
  • 00:10:20
    [Music]
  • 00:10:35
    Bo
  • 00:10:37
    [Music]
Tags
  • Daniel Everett
  • Noam Chomsky
  • Pirahã language
  • recursion
  • Universal Grammar
  • linguistics
  • language and culture
  • scientific expedition
  • cognitive science
  • grammar