Daniel Everett

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Daniel Leonard Everett (born July 26, 1951 in Holtville , California ) is an American linguist specializing in phonetics and phonology .

Life

Daniel Everett went to Brazil in 1977 to evangelize the Pirahã people . According to his own statement with the following motivation: "But when I first went to Brazil in 1977, my only degree was an undergraduate diploma in 'Bible and Foreign Missions' from the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago."

Influenced by their concept of truth and the lack of a Pirahãs creation myth , he slowly lost his faith and became an atheist from 1985 onwards . Everett worked at the University of Pittsburgh from 1989 to 1999 ; from 2006 to 2010 he taught at Illinois State University . Since 2010 he has been Professor of Sociology at Bentley University in Waltham .

Teaching

Everett was best known for his controversial theses on the Pirahã language, which, according to him, deviate in essential points from other languages ​​and thus speak against Chomsky's assumption of a universal grammar. Because the language of the Pirahã does not know many of the elements that Noam Chomsky , Steven Pinker and others consider genetically determined. The Pirahã language uses around half of the consonants and vowels of the (Greek) alphabet. This language has no prefixes or suffixes, no plural or singular forms, and no other complicated properties such as irregular forms. Evidently that's enough for the communication of the Pirahã, concluded Everett from his language research. Since there are no passive constructions in the language of the Pirahã, all narratives have main characters in the plot. Past tenses are completely absent, instead of chronologically or logically connecting main and subordinate clauses there are sequences. Like pearl necklaces, they string together the words: “Dog's tail at the end is bad.” In the spiritual world of the Pirahã, knowledge requires the report of an eyewitness: They distinguish precisely whether the person who is telling something, has seen and heard or just hearsay knows. Such evaluations are also added as an ending to the verbs at the end of a spoken message. The missionary's stories became completely implausible the moment he had to admit that he had never seen or heard of Jesus. Their language focuses on direct experience and is linked to direct experience. Conversations about the spirit world are not fictional for the Pirahã. For her, dreams are experiences like everyone else. Topics that are not rooted in subjective experience are alien to the Pirahã.

Works

  • The happiest people. Seven years with the Pirahã Indians in the Amazon . Translated by Sebastian Vogel. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt , Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-421-04307-8 .
  • The greatest invention of mankind. What my years in the Amazon have taught me about the essence of language . Translated by Harald Stadler. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-421-04594-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Daniel Everett: The Pirahã: People Who Define Happiness Without God. In: Freethought Today 27/3. April 2010, accessed on May 2, 2018 .
  2. ^ Godless Tribe De-converts Christian (interview). (YouTube video; 10:07 minutes) In: Radio New Zealand . June 29, 2009, accessed May 2, 2018 . Patrick Barkham: The power of speech. In: The Guardian . May 2, 2018, accessed May 2, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Daniel Everett. Bentley University, accessed May 2, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Everett, Daniel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Everett, Daniel Leonard (full name); Everett, Daniel L.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American linguist
DATE OF BIRTH July 26, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Holtville , California