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Amazonian Tribe Has No Word To Express Numbers

Posted by kdawson on from the how-many-fingers dept.

In 2004 we discussed the Piraha, a tribe in the Amazon, when a study appeared characterizing their language as a "one, two, many" language. Now reader mu22le informs us of a new study of the Piraha pointing to the possibility that they use no number words at all. Instead they seem to use the word formerly thought to mean "two" to represent a quantity of 5 or 6, and the "one" word for anything from 1 to 4. The language has about 300 native speakers. "The study... offers evidence that number words are a concept invented by human cultures as they are needed, and not an inherent part of language, Gibson said."

2 of 482 comments (clear)

  1. Numbers? by Esion+Modnar · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    This. Is. Piraha!

    --

    They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...
  2. Re:Not surprising. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Kind of like Bush administration who can't count the $$ spent on Iraq war.