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One, Two, Many - Language Shapes Thought

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the all-natural-language-processing dept.

Chuck1318 writes "The Piraha tribe in the Amazon has only three words used in counting, that mean one, two, and many. A psychologist testing them has found that they are unable to accurately perform tasks involving quantities as few as four or five. He says that this shows that, at least for numbers, language shapes and limits how people can think." I can't help but be reminded of the gully dwarves from Dragonlance when reading this.

3 of 919 comments (clear)

  1. Since no one else has said it.... by Xiver · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    There are FOUR lights!

    --
    10: PRINT "Everything old is new again."
    20: GOTO 10
    1. Re:Since no one else has said it.... by Xiver · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Offtopic? It references counting, perception, and psychology... how is it offtopic? If anything it should get the +1 star trek geek modifier.

      --
      10: PRINT "Everything old is new again."
      20: GOTO 10
  2. Re:Where have I heard this before? by RPI+Geek · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Interestingly enough, there is evidence that crows can count to 7.

    Bugs Bunny - "No, no, no. You're doing it all wrong! You have to say, 'You have till the count of four to get out of there or else I'll shoot you!'" Redneck crow - "Oh, ok. Um, uh... one. Um... uhhhh, ummmmm, two.... Hey rabbit critter, what comes after two?" BB - "Three. [While attaching metal pipe to the rifle and making it point at the crow's pappy]ience] I figured that math wouldn't be his strong suit." Crow - "Hey pappy, what comes after 3 in countin'?" Pappy - "Four Elvis." Crow - "Four?" *BANG!* Pappy - "Now why'd you go and shoot your Pappy for?" *BANG* .....

    --

    - "Nobody came out that night, not one was ever seen. But Old Man Stauf is waiting there, crazy sick and mean!"