首页
登录
职称英语
A World Without Time or Number The Piraha are an isolate
A World Without Time or Number The Piraha are an isolate
游客
2023-10-20
51
管理
问题
A World Without Time or Number
The Piraha are an isolated Amazonian tribe of hunter-gatherers who live deep in the Brazilian rainforest. The tribe has survived for centuries, although there are now only around 200 people left. The Piraha, who communicate mainly through hums and whistles, have fascinated ethnologists for years, mainly because they have almost no words for numbers. They use only three words to count: one, two, and many.
We know about the Piraha thanks to Dan Everett, a Professor of Phonetics, who spent seven years with the tribe in the 1970s and 1980s. Everett discovered a world without numbers, without time, without words for colours, without subordinate clauses and without a past tense. Their language, he found, was not just simple grammatically: it was restricted in its range of sounds and differed between the sexes. For the men, it has just eight consonants and three vowels: for the women, who have the smallest number of speech sounds in the world, to seven consonants and three vowels. To the untutored ear, the language sounds more like humming than speech. The Piraha can also whistle their language, which is how men communicate when hunting.
Their culture is similarly constrained. The Piraha can’t write, have little collective memory, and no concept of decorative art. In 1980 Everett tried to teach them to count: he explained basic arithmetic to an enthusiastic group keen to learn the skills needed to trade with other tribes. After eight months, not one could count to ten: even one plus one was beyond them. The experiment seemed to confirm Everett’s theory: the tribe just couldn’t conceive the concept of number.
The Piraha’s inability to count is important because it seems to disprove Noam Chomsky’s influential Theory of Universal Grammar, which holds that the human mind has a natural capacity for language, and that all languages share a basic rule structure, which enables children to understand abstract concepts such as number.
Questions 71 -75
Complete the summary with a maximum of three words from the passage.
The Piraha is a tribe who has lived in the Brazilian rainforest for hundreds of years. They communicate just with【R1】______. This has made many ethnologists interested in them. Their language is very special, not only because it is simple【R2】______, but also because it is different【R3】____the sexes. Men and women acquire different【R4】______. Although a professor of phonetics has tried to teach them【R5】______, he failed. This seems to disprove Noam Chomsky’s influential Theory of Universal Grammar. [br] 【R2】
选项
答案
grammatically
解析
(文章第二段第三句前半句提到“Their language,he found,was not just simple grammatically…”,即Piraha人的语言在语法上是极其简单的。)
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3113037.html
相关试题推荐
Therehavebeenanumberofstudiesonsmokingamongtheyoung.【T1】________,
Therehavebeenanumberofstudiesonsmokingamongtheyoung.【T1】________,
Therehavebeenanumberofstudiesonsmokingamongtheyoung.【T1】________,
Withoutapeacefulenvironment,economicdevelopmentwouldbe________.A、inquest
Youngchildren________languagesintuitively,withouthavingtobetaughtgramm
Thenumberofmagazinesissuedthisyearhasincreasedto________oflastyear.A、
[originaltext]W:Frank,wejustgotoursalesfiguresinandthenumbersareve
[originaltext]W:Frank,wejustgotoursalesfiguresinandthenumbersareve
[originaltext]W:Frank,wejustgotoursalesfiguresinandthenumbersareve
[originaltext]W:Frank,wejustgotoursalesfiguresinandthenumbersareve
随机试题
[originaltext]Caroleisateenagegirl.Shethinkssheisabittoofat,or
GreatasNewtonwas,manyofhisideas______todayandarebeingmodifiedbythe
类实验性研究的优点是()A.在护理研究中可行性高 B.比较实用
柔性短管的长度,一般宜为150~300mm,其连接处应严密、牢固可靠,柔性短管可
治疗子肿之脾虚证的代表方剂是A:真武汤 B:白术散 C:四苓散 D:鲤鱼汤
偿还期在1年以上10年以下的国债是()。A.短期国债 B.中期国债 C.长
Ⅱ期临床试验需要多中心试验,即进行试验的医院的数目必须是A.在1个及1个以上
房地产开发项目前期策划的主要原则,可从()等层次考虑。A:可行性原则 B:调适
正常蓄水位至死水位之间的水库容积,称为()。A.兴利库容 B.死库容 C.防
结核病最主要的传染源是A.急性血行播散型肺结核患者 B.慢性纤维空洞型肺结核患
最新回复
(
0
)