Daniel Everett discusses the Pirahã and their language. The language has no words for numbers, no words for right and left and lacks any examples of recursion. This last trait forces us to rethink everything we thought we knew about language.
The discussion of the Pirahã language itself is excellent, but Everett’s discussion of why endangered languages need to be preserved is absolutely fascinating. His recommendations for preserving endangered languages include preserving natives speaker’s land and their heath. He also recommends studying and documenting these languages over a long period of time, as he has done with the Pirahã language.
From http://www.longnow.org/projects/seminars/
More information on this seminar is available at http://blog.longnow.org/2009/03/23/daniel-everett-endangered-languages-lost-knowledge-and-the-future/
Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour talks about language in the Amazon with Dr. Daniel Everett…
Guest: Dr. Daniel Everett, Chair of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Tagged with science dr. kiki language linguistics culture daniel everett
Audio extract of a filmed seminar interview with the Indian sociologist and anthropologist M.N. Srinivas, in which he reflects on his research and teaching in India and his role in building up anthropology and sociology.
Professor M.N. Srinivas, in a discussion led by Jack Goody (JG) and Stephen Levinson (SL) on 24th May 1982. Those present include Deborah Swallow (DS), Caroline Humphrey (CH), Gordon Prain (GP), Marcus Banks (MB), Alan Macfarlane (AM), Sarah Harrison (SH) and Michael Madha (MM). The film is approximately 1 hour 37 minutes long and was filmed by the Audio Visual Aids Unit in Cambridge, under the direction of Martin Gienke.
For the full video interview, visit the Anthropological Ancestors website here: http://www.alanmacfarlane.com/ancestors/srinivas.html
Summarized transcript of the seminar: https://www.dspace.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/1810/436/1/SRINIVAS.DOC
Really cool talk about the knowledge lost as languages vanish. Pretty amusing, too. From http://longnow.org/seminars/02009/mar/20/endangered-languages-lost-knowledge-and-future/