Unlocking the secret sounds of language

[MJ Hardman]

Definitely in the neighborhood of my reaction.

Also -- what I call a 'deficit grammar'.  By listing all the stuff a
language does NOT have one learns precisely nothing.  I kept wondering all
through the article what the people *have*.  At the very end there is just a
hint that they do have all kinds of interesting stuff.  But that is not
where the interest is.

In my teaching I prohibit 'deficit grammars'.  E.g., what would we thing of
English if we said that English has no data source marking, English doesn't
have human/non-human, English doesn't have object incorporation, English
doesn't have sentence suffixes ...  They tend to get the picture.

MJ

On 05/08/2006 1:42 PM, "Richard Zane Smith" <rzs at TDS.NET> wrote:

> yes fascinating of course
> but what i find even more fascinating are these anthropologists!
> studying the Piraha mind like some NEW specimen,
> some unexplored mental territory to seize
> to collect,process,unravel,unlock, and file data on,
> to "reduce" another language to ink and paper writing
> and to wage proper war against any leading professors theories
> from within their lofty ivory towers of academia
> to proclaim the LATEST cutting edge conclusions
> yes 
> very interesting critters these anthropologists
> i might have to get my own bug jar out
> and collect a few of these anthros.
> do a few experiments...
> hmm...what happens when you pull this?
> hmmm yes,very interesting...
> better write that one down...
> richard
> 
> Richard Zane Smith
> 18474 S.Cayuga Rd.
> Wyandotte Oklahoma
>                                 74370
>