On Everett & Piraha: "history holds the key"

[Daniel L. Everett]

I won't comment on the first choice. On the second, I doubt if anyone  
would disagree with you either. But I don't think that Sapir himself  
was an extreme relativist. I don't know anyone who is in fact. Martin  
Joos maybe was.

D

On Apr 23, 2007, at 6:36 PM, Tom Givon wrote:

>
> Of course, if I had to choose between Chomsky and Pike as to which  
> one was more arrogant, insulated and selef-centered, I'm not sure I  
> could make a principled decision; maybe flip a coin? Not quite in  
> the same vein, if I were forced to choose between Chomskian extreme  
> universalism/innatism and Sapirian extreme relativism/inputism, I  
> would consider it a bad intellectual choice. I'd bet on somewhere  
> mid-way between the two; sort of like nature-nurthure or chicken- 
> egg. Cheers,  TG
>
> ============
>
>
> Daniel L. Everett wrote:
>
>>>>
>>>> Esa
>>>>
>>>> P.S. The point of my 1996 paper (arrived at, literally, on the   
>>>> last page) was anticipated by Dell Hymes & John Fought on p.  
>>>> 242  of their book  American Structuralism (Mouton, 1981  
>>>> [1975]). In  another context (= p. 160) they quote the following  
>>>> perceptive  remark: "You can't fight arrogance with humility."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>> The remark by Hymes and Fought, which I read years ago, is,  I   
>> believe about why Chomsky won over the linguistic world instead  
>> of  Ken Pike. I don't know that I agree with their assessment. In  
>> any  case, I should say that I have read in the history of  
>> linguistics  regularly
>> since the 80s and that my appreciation of Sapir has been strong  
>> since  1979, as I was beginning my PhD, though I didn't have any  
>> good ideas  on  how to integrate that into my own ethnogrammar  
>> research program  until about 2003 or so.
>>
>> Dan
>>
>>
>>
>> **********************
>> Daniel L. Everett, Professor of Linguistics, Anthropology, and   
>> Biological Sciences
>> and
>>
>> Chair,
>> Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
>> Campus Box 4300
>> Illinois State University
>> Normal, Illinois 61790-4300
>> OFFICE: 309-438-3604
>> FAX: 309-438-8038
>>
>> Dept: http://www.llc.ilstu.edu/default.asp
>> Recursion: http://www.llc.ilstu.edu/rechul/
>> Personal: http://www.llc.ilstu.edu/dlevere/
>>
>> Honorary Professor of Linguistics
>> University of Manchester
>> Manchester, UK
>> ***********
>> “The notion that the essence of what it means to be human is most   
>> clearly revealed in those features of human culture that are   
>> universal rather than in those that are distinctive to this people  
>> or  that is a prejudice that we are not obliged to share... It may  
>> be in  the cultural particularities of people — in their oddities  
>> — that  some of the most instructive revelations of what it is to  
>> be  generically human are to be found.” Clifford Geertz (1926-2006)
>>
>>
>>
>

**********************
Daniel L. Everett, Professor of Linguistics, Anthropology, and  
Biological Sciences
and

Chair,
Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Campus Box 4300
Illinois State University
Normal, Illinois 61790-4300
OFFICE: 309-438-3604
FAX: 309-438-8038

Dept: http://www.llc.ilstu.edu/default.asp
Recursion: http://www.llc.ilstu.edu/rechul/
Personal: http://www.llc.ilstu.edu/dlevere/

Honorary Professor of Linguistics
University of Manchester
Manchester, UK
***********
“The notion that the essence of what it means to be human is most  
clearly revealed in those features of human culture that are  
universal rather than in those that are distinctive to this people or  
that is a prejudice that we are not obliged to share... It may be in  
the cultural particularities of people — in their oddities — that  
some of the most instructive revelations of what it is to be  
generically human are to be found.” Clifford Geertz (1926-2006)