I'm a linguist working with an Amazonian indigenous tribe

>>1787152
Have you ever fucked one of them?

What are the women like around you (if you're a man)? Do they find you very attractive due to your alien-ness or are more curious than anything?

>>1787166
>>1787172

Pirahã women won't talk to non-pirahã men ever, every time I need to speak with a woman I need to first talk to a man, and he will then communicate what I said to the girl, and then she will talk to him, and so on. Their society is oddly matriarchal, the women usually make decisions about what men should do. They're also 100% polygamous, and jealousy is a completely alien concept. After hitting 40 years they will usually stick with one partner though.

I don't know if the girls think I'm attractive, but probably not. The name they gave me is also the name of a long, white fish, so that's probably how they see me lel.

>>1787152

I assume they don't have toilets. What sorts of means of waste disposal do they use? Are they more sanitary than modern Indians?

>>1787219
Some villages have toilets wich are the standard western toilet so it's p ok. Otherwise you'll have to shit on a river/the forest and find some decent leaves to wipe your ass in the case they're laking toilet paper, which fortunately is not that common fortunately.

I forgot to dump some info about them on the OP, so here is some stuff from the wikipedia page, I can clarify if anyone is interrested:

>As far as the Pirahã have related to researchers, their culture is concerned solely with matters that fall within direct personal experience, and thus there is no history beyond living memory. Pirahã have a simple kinship system that includes baíxi (parent, grandparent, or elder), xahaigí (sibling, male or female), hoagí or hoísai (son), kai (daughter), and piihí (stepchild, favorite child, child with at least one deceased parent, and more).

>the Pirahã have no concept of a supreme spirit or god, and they lost interest in Jesus when they discovered that Everett had never seen him. They require evidence based on personal experience for every claim made. However, they do believe in spirits that can sometimes take on the shape of things in the environment. These spirits can be jaguars, trees, or other visible, tangible things including people.

>Pirahã is perhaps second only to Rotokas in New Guinea for the distinction of having the fewest phonemes of any of the world's languages. Women sometimes pronounce s as h, reducing the inventory still further.

>Curiously, although not unprecedentedly, the language has no cardinal or ordinal numbers.

>The language may have no unique words for colors. There are no unanalyzable root words for color

also, if anyone want to hear how the language sounds, here's a nice sample (speaking it is fucking hard jesus christ)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHv3-U9VPAs

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What do you think about this memer

>>1787259

My current research revolves around proving he is wrong lel.

He is very likely wrong about many things, and right about others. My thesis advisor is friends with him, said he's p crazy but also a competent researcher. Despite his extensive memery, I consider his work very valuable. Also, his hate towards missionary work with indigenous tribes is completely justified, fuck those guys.

>>1787227

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear about what I was asking.


What are the prevalent attitudes towards waste and its disposal. If you were to take a dump in the middle of the village and leave it there, would it be a faux pas? How much of one? How much effort do they go to to shit somewhere far away from heavily trafficked areas? Does fecal matter make one unclean, spiritually as well as physically?

damn daniel

>>1787271
Since women don't talk to you irl, do you masturbate thinking about Chomsky?

>>1787152
How many of the tribe are tfw no gf robots

How often do they have sex

Do they practice divorce? How prevalent is it

Is it true that it's impossible to teach them to count?

what do they think of >us

>>1787298
I think if you took a shit at the middle of the village it would generate an uncomfortable situation, they'll always go somewhere far away for this. I don't know if they consider fecal matter as much of a taboo as we do, but they're fairly clean about it.

>>1787324
I masturbate and make sacrifices to my lord and savior noam chomsky daily, pic related, my waifu

>>1787328
They have sex frequently, I'm yet to meet a permavirgin Pirahã. They'll begin having sex at around 10~11, and age differences doesn't seem to matter much (the guy I have most of my elicitation sessions with is 17 and his current partner is 11, they just had a baby). Since marriage is not really a thing, divorce is an alien concept, if they decide to stick with a partner, they'll stay together until death. They rarely have arguments with one other, overall they're very peaceful.

>>1787346
It certainly seems so. It is unclear if this is due to a linguistic factor (ie, they don't have numbers in Pirahã therefore they lack the mental apparatus allowing numeracy) or a cultural one (they live in a culture that simply doesn't need counting).

>>1787356
That's a mystery. They are usually very welcoming and friendly, but it's really like they don't care much about us or what we think. Their way of life revolves around "just chilling" 24/7 and leading a mundane existence. If the white man is not trying to murder them, they don't care much, so they'll act in their default way (peacefully).

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>>1787413
forgot my pic

>>1787413
>>1787152


When will you start showing them cuckold porn?

>>1787152
Is it true they can speak to each other by singing or whistling tones? No words needed.
Maybe I'm thinking of another language.

>>1787152
is this tribe arawak or tupi-guarani?

>>1787413
>tfw no piraha fuckfriend

>>1787152
How many Natives have you converted and brought into the fold of the lord?

>>1787953
Yes that's correct. When I'm around women they'll usually speak with the hum speech with each other, as in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYpjFObtV94 it's really unique, and I obviously can't understand anything. Singing/whistling is also common, and there aren't many works about this yet. I work with syntax so I'm not doing it.

>>1787964
None. Their ethnical origins are unclear, some people speculate they are originally from Peru. Linguistically and culturally they're isolated, the language is probably the last survivor of the Mura language family, but the Mura no longer exist so it's hard to tell. One of the older Pirahã women told me she saw her father speaking Pirahã with a Mura man when she was little, and they were "both speaking different languages, but could understand each other".

>>1787468
Fun fact: it's very common for them to switch partners like literally telling your friend 'hey now you can have sex with my current girl and i'll have sex with yours how about that?' 'oh okay', women also do that.

>>1787413
>, I'm yet to meet a permavirgin Pirahã.

Interesting. The "red pillers" would have us believe that that kind of "free love" situation would create a bunch of sexless beta males.

>>1788021
did they practiced cannibalism or head hunting?
do they make ayahuasca?

>>1788021
Is homosexuality practiced?

>>1787252
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9aZsmE7INg

All I hear

>>1788043
im pretty sure that a random tribe in the jungle is going to behave differently then modern western girls so they could stI'll have a point

>>1788047
No, they eat mostly fish, goat meat, sometimes monkey meat, and fruits. They don't make ayahuasca but they make some sort of mandioca based wine which tastes really really odd. They also smoke absurdly strong tobaco hand rolled cigarettes that look like huge joints, it's funny.

>>1788067
Good question, as far as I'm concerned, no, but it's possible. I'd need to ask other researchers with more experience in the field. Missionaries are still widely present so they might have convinced them that homosex is wrong and all that.

Do they make or use any weapons? If so, what kinds?

>>1788086
>sometimes monkey meat
how do they get the monkeys?

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>>1788108
Simple, give them weapons and eat the losers

Is there any credence to the claim that there was a massive pre-columbian amazonian society? It seems pretty cool, but I'm not sure how historical it is.

>>1788086
do they know how to make curare or some other neurotoxic shit? what about medicines in general, abortives, that sort of stuff?

>>1788086
Are you working for Ethnologist like Everett? Also, do you know if their number is gone up or down since Everett visited them? I'd imagine that lots of them are children

How do they dress or decorate themselves? Is their any kind of rank significance to it?

What do you think of Michael Heckenberger? Is this tribe near the Xingu people?

>>1787252
>>As far as the Pirahã have related to researchers, their culture is concerned solely with matters that fall within direct personal experience, and thus there is no history beyond living memory.

Is this true? Surely it can't be even Aborigines had the Dreamtime as a shared cross-generational culture.

> They require evidence based on personal experience for every claim made.

Is this true? Do they not understand other kinds of proof or do they just reject them?

>>1787152
Is there prostitution?
Do they have criminality? Like in stealing, murdering, raping, etc.
What happens if you break the law?
How do they solve conflicts with each other?

>>1788101
>>1788108
They make bows and arrows and are VERY skilled with them, it's scary. They can fish easily with bows, hitting flying birds too, so killing a monkey in the jungle is easy.

>>1788127
Not sure about it, a lot of people speculate about that. I personally believe there was once at least a huge language family there with a strong relation to the asian-polynesian languages.

>>1788131
Number is down, estimated around 300~400 people now. There were once 4 villages, now there are 3. And you're correct, there are lot of children, most of the old are nearly dead sadly because they are the only ones who can tell the traditional narratives. I'm currently writing my masters dissertation and I recieve a grant from my university.

>>1788133
Sometimes they are butt naked, usually they wear regular clothes they get from donations, they actually like wearing clothes. Women make necklaces with shells and simple jewelry they get from donations, they really love those necklaces. I don't think societal ranking is expressed by body decorations, but they do have a simple leadership system, which is not very endorsed.

>>1788138
Guy did more good than harm so I guess he's okay. No, the Pirahã live closer to central Brazil.

>>1788145
They truly have some sort of cultural skepticism, it's not as much as they don't believe things that can't be proved as they don't care about it. They're very practical people and are primarly concerned with tangible things. It's like they're the supreme stoics, if they can see and do something about it, they'll do it, if not, it doesn't matter at all. The claims on 'no shared memory' are false though, there is a narrative culture, carried by the elder Pirahã who'll tell those stories to the young.

Their views on death are also crazy, they mostly see death as a natural fact and when people die they just go like 'well ok, it happens, too bad' and that's it, there's no burial rite whatsoever.

Fun story: once an older pirahã died and the federal organ responsible for indigenous people had to come to the village to guarentee he'd be properly buried (due to the risk of diseases). so they gave the Pirahã a wooden coffin and said "ok go ahead and bury him according to our customs", the pirahã just buried the old man at the forest and let the coffin stay at the beach for hours. eventually one pirahã kid stole the coffin's lid and started using it a surfboard at the river.

>>1788205
Everett claims they used to trade 'sex' for things like canoes with the other tribes, so prostitution could be a thing. Not sure if this is still prevalent right now. No criminality whatsoever, I've asked numerous times about murder and everyone tells me "never a Pirahã killed another Pirahã". They had some beefs in the past with other tribes and between themselves, not sure if someone died in the proccess. They solve conflicts a lot like us, but except of guns they use bows. Conflicts are extremaly rare though.

>>1788306
>the Pirahã live closer to central Brazil

I meant closer to the north of Brazil, while Xingu is at the center

I'm out to study for my exams, will be back later at night, thanks everyone for your interest. If the thread is still alive when I'm back I'll answer more questions. Also sorry for my spelling mistakes and weird grammar, my only contact with english is reading and writing academic work.

>>1788306

Where do they think you come from? Have any ever expressed an interest in seeing your world?

>>1787271
>Also, his hate towards missionary work with indigenous tribes is completely justified, fuck those guys.

Just curious I want to know why? I do to but I just want to know his.

>>1787152
Why did you decide to work on Pirahã over other potentially unstudied languages?

>>1788294
>asian-polynesian languages
I know the theories say they got to the coast but what evidence is there that they got all the way to the amazon?

Do any of them keep pets?

What kind of visual arts do they practice?

>>1787152
Is the trans amazon highway an actual highway? Is it paved?

What are the main issues in their lives? Problems with gold miners/foresters?

>>1787152
Do you have some pics of them you could share?

>>1787152
Do they have any mother-child goddess worship? Peace children? Child sacrifice?

>>1787413
Fucking savages.

>>1788043
Did you miss the matriarchy post above?

>>1788077
I think doodlebob may actually use more phonemes.

>>1788375
From what I recall, there's a fairly large genetic divide between people in the Central/South America and the rest of North America.

Combined with the evidence that Pacific travelers reached South America fairly early, there's some thought that everyone from northern Mexico southwards is descended from them, while the people northwards are descended from Siberians.

I once read that the Pirahã could speak in whistles. Is this true? Have you seen this happen?

>>1789009
>>1788021
There's a culture in the Canaries that also does a whistling thing.

From what I've read it just mimics their normal language, it isn't like a signal code or separate language in itself. Obviously if you know otherwise please enlighten me, but I'd be willing to bet what the Pirahã are doing is just a paralinguistic (this may not be the proper term but you get my point) approximation of their normal language, not some different code-speech.

Proofs? Timestamp? Anything?

Post photos of Amazon qts.

Do You want to collect some oral corpus ?, since i bet they have no written form of their language.

Your work is Just observation and collecting data for know ?
What particularities have their language on vocabulary or syntax ?

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I'm back bois

>>1788424
They got lots of doggos, they dogs will even ride canoes with them, it's cute.

>>1788521
None, they doesn't seem to care much about art in general. The women craft necklaces, but that's it.

>>1788565
The section I go through is paved and quite decent for northern Brazil standards. I heard the inner parts are p shitty though.

>>1788905
None

>>1789020
You're correct, it is paralinguistic, when using whistling or hummed speech only the tonal features of sentences and words are maintened. What is impressive is how well they can communicate like this.

>>1789112
Don't know how could I provide you with proofs, but here's a pic with a timestamp of current brazilian. Pic is my tools of trade, notebook with some fieldnotes, my handy TASCAM recorder, Everett's original dissertation on Pirahã only published in portuguese and some cards for elicitation sessions

>>1789153
I'm currently collecting a small narrative corpus and conducting elicitation sessions where I make small tests to investigate the language syntax.

How much they know about their history?! What about the rest of the world? Did they know about Brazilia, America, Russia, China?

>>1788346
>>1789290

They don't care much about the world or life outside of their villages. They believe I'm "from another village" or "the white place/village", and as far as they're concerned, everyone who is not a Pirahã or from one of the few close tribes is from a general place labeled "other villages". Sometimes a few of them will go to one of the nearest town in order to buy things like medication, toilet paper, clothes or food. When they're sick or a baby is about to get born they'll usually go the closest hospital. The missionaries provide a lot of things to them, including basic healthcare (p much the only good thing about the missionaries, since the State doesn't give a shit).

>>1789283
What languages are you personally fluent in? How much of their language have you learned, if any?

>>1789289
How are their sentences organized ?
Like SOV/OSV and such, do they have strange lexical particularities, like i red That in some languages, "father" is only a verb.

how well protected are they from the various amazonian industries like say logging or farming

or is that area fairly untouched?

>>1789314
I can speak portuguese (native), english (decently), french (intermediate) and japanese (intermediate). I can understand spanish due to its closeness to portuguese but can't speak it very well at all. My Pirahã is very shitty, the language is REALLY hard due to its crazy verbal inflection system and to its insane nasal fonology (I'd never guess I'd one day have trouble with nasal vowels, being a portuguese speaker and all, but jesus christ it's hard). I can speak basic stuff and ask things, since that's all I do with my experiments.

>>1789325
Not very well protected. We do have a government agency responsible for indigenous people but it is fairly corrupt and inefficient. The Pirahã live close to the agricultural frontier and I think it'll reach them eventually. When it does, they'll likely be exterminated unless someone with power does something.

>>1789320

Canonical order is SOV, typical sentence is something like:

ti pii ti’gabagai

Literally

I water drink+want

‘Gabagai’ is one of the language’s many verbal inflexions, it indicates ‘will to do something’

Pirahã’s syntax is really unique, there’s a lot of discussion about it blocking recursion and all that, I’d suggest searching for ‘the pirahã debate’ between Everett and the chomskyans.

How far back can you date their history? Like are there stories that go back a century or more in the past?

>>1789351
Ty man, gonna look into it, look interesting

>>1787227
Tell them that shitting in water sources is retarded and a great way of spreading diseases

>>1787191
>they won't talk to any male outsider
>matriarchal, no jealousy

>>1789332
Wow I assumed you were an American college student or something. Also thanks for the great thread, it's very interesting.

>>1787252
>no written records, their language cannot hold for long term concepts
>they demand full proofs of everything outside their cultural sphere
surely indios are retarded

>>1788086
do they 420?

>>1789415
You do have a point, never thought about this contradiction before. It could be the case the women don't talk to male outsiders due to fear of the Pirahã males, but in my experience the males are ruled by the women, not the opposite, the women don't talk to foreigners because they don't want to, that's my perception. Another thing is that a lot of the younger girls can understand portuguese, but refuse to speak it since they consider it "a burden" so they make their male partners communicate with outsiders.

>>1789371
That's hard to tell, they seem to understand the past as a single monolithic unit, so idk. They've been in contact with whites for 200~300 years though. But your question is p good, will investigate further when I have the chance.

Do they know about world events such as WW2, Hiroshima or the Moon Landing? How about Napoleon or the Cold War?

Do you think there is a correlation between patriarchal society and technological advancement?

Do they have humour and jokes?

>>1789487
And do they have words for places like Britain, France, the US and China?

How has their population not over-grown to a point of there being conflict over resources? It seems like they don't prepare about stocking up on food that much, and their lack of laws seems like there's no overllaping interest between them. What's stopping them from having a bunch of kids and outgrowing the wants they have, and resorting to conflict?

What do they think of guns and can we explode something around them, they must be kept in constant fear of us civilized men

Do you ever take them to the outside world?

Are they interested in education?

What kind of animals do they hunt?

>>1789487
No, they're not aware of any of these things, I don't think they're even aware of major events in Brazilian history. They might have a word for the US considering they had a lot of contact with american missionaries, but I'm not sure of it. The rest of the world is something they just don't think much about, so everything outside might be 900 countries or a single country to them, it makes no difference.

I know next to nothing of sociology/anthrpology so I can't answer your second question, but sounds like an interesting hypothesis.
They laugh all the time and are constantly making jokes about everything, but their humour is REALLY strange, it's like they're ironically shitposting all the time, that's the best analogy I can make, it's hard to explain. Once a white man pointed at one of their goats and asked "hey what does it eat?" and on the pirahãs answered "bread." and all of them burst into laughing as if this was the greatest joke of all time (it was funny to them because obviously the goat ate grass, it was a goat goddamnit). They also find it really funny when foreigners try to speak pirahã, but they're helpful too and will promptly teach you things if you ask them.

For some absurd reason, whenever they see asians or people of japanese descent they will say "look, a brother!", maybe because they believe they're phisically similar i don't know, but it's cute/funny.

>>1789517
> it's like they're ironically shitposting all the time
It is like 4chan is some kind of primitive internet tribe or something...

>>1789499
We make ourselves the same question and we have no idea. One of the many weird things about them.

>>1789506
One of them once came to my university for some experiments, but I think it was just him. They sometimes go the nearest town, but that's it. Some of them are interested in learning portuguese, specially the younger generation, I don't know if any of them wants to one day go to college or something, but probably no. There's a school at one of the villages where the kids learn basic stuff and portuguese, but I don't know if it really works.

They hunt fish, birds and sometimes monkeys, but mostly fish.

Would you ever try to tell them about the moon landing? Or even airplanes?

Do they have mythology?

Do they know what gravity is?

Do they find white people attractive? Ugly?

What they do for fun and in their free time?

>>1789517
>it's like they're ironically shitposting all the time
At last I have found a place where I belong

>>1789548
I'll try to tell them about the moon landing, they'll probably find it funny or wonder why the fuck did we do it. They're familiar with airplanes since missionaries and researchers used to arive at the river by them, they even have a word for airplanes, 'gahio' I think. They probably have no idea of the phisical concept of gravity and I think explaining this to them would probably be either really funny or really hard, probably both. They find white people strange, they see us as weirdass people with even weirder ideas and intentions.

>>1789562
Swim, play with the kids, walk around, talk with each other, tell stories, crafting bows and necklaces, stuff like that.

Do they have any metalworking?

>>1789588

You're a Chomsky edge lord so I'm not surprised, but why the hate towards missionaries?

>>1789588
So you're a white Brazilian or?

>>1789610
(not him) isn't it obvious, you retard?

First: They're untrained with encountering these people they could fuck things up by annoying them and have them become hostile or not talkative to outsiders.

Second, they're linguistically and culturally unique that it's very well worth it to preserve them to study them down. Having missionaries come in and trying to convert them to jebus and influence Portguese and English on them would destroy that.

Third (from reading before comments) there's missionaries are probably retarded Protestant American cunts, who by traveling all the way to the rural Amazon to convert the tribe, must have some serious ideological intent in their interest with going there. Why don't these cunts try to convert some people in the Middle East instead with their faggotry.

>>1789610
I'm actually a christian lel. Also, my sole interest in chomsky resides at his linguistic work, couldn't care less about his political books.

The missionaries are not exactly bad people, I mean, they're the ones actively making sure those populations don't get killed by the industry or by diseases, since our government doesn't give a shit. The main issue is that they're oblivious with how to deal with indigenous populations without damaging their culture, they don't really care about what those populations want, they'll just show up and do everything they can to convince them they want christianism (more specifically, protestantism). They've made a lot of terrible shit here, and they will actively get in the way of research unless you become friends with them and pretend you're also a hardcore protestant.

This article is a bit shitty in some aspects, but an overall decent read on missionaries http://www.rejectionofpascalswager.net/mission.html

>>1789629

>all this butthurt

They know how to make fire? Can you trade things like smartphones and mirrors for sex? They find farts funny? They have musical instruments?

>>1787191
Actually sounds interesting as fuck. Why are you there? And are there any uncontacted tribes in the region that you are suppose to stay away from?

>>1789636
I find farts funny and would give you a mirror for sex if that's what you mean anon..

>>1789636
They know how to make fire, you can probably trade cheap consumer goods for sex, never tried though, a lot of people go to them and offer cheap shit in trade of Brazil nuts (shit sells for super high prices for you gringos). I-I don't know if they find farts funny, but I'm laughing just to think they do and the cultural consequences of it (could farts be universally funny?). They don't have musical instruments but they sing all the time.

What do they cry at?

Do they like electronics?

Do they have sexual fetishes?

Do they use wheels?

Did you learned deep wisdom of native man?

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Thank you very much for this thread and your replies OP. Fascinating as fuck.

Do they understand photographs or videos?

Because there's obvious tinkering to be done there.

Also, have you tried playing them music.

>>1789638
I'm here for research, that's my current 'job', I'm writing my masters dissertation. There are some tribes in the region nobody is supposed to mess with, if you get in their area they'll shoot arrows at you on sight. If you're lucky the arrows will be poisoned and you'll die quickly, otherwise you'll be adrift in a boat for hours bleeding to death. The local people call those tribes the "índios bravos", literally "angry natives" os just "os bravos", "the angry".

>>1789646
Also, introduce string instruments e.g. guitar to them.

Do they despise patriarchal society? Are they even aware of it? Do they never ask questions about our civilisation?

Do they know about the Internet? What do they think?

>>1789652
Those angry natives are the smart ones, given how the welcoming natives got fucked over.

>>1789646
They cry when they get phisically hurt or ill. Since their first contact with electronic equipament was with recorders, they call everything "a recorder", computers, phones, etc. They recently saw tablets and called them "paper recorders". They don't care much about them though, they sometimes look briefly at my notebook screen, and eventually ask to hear their own recorded voices. I don't know if they have sexual fetishes.

>>1789647
Idk, I think they accidentally taught me to care less about things, which made my life much better.

>>1789649
They do but they don't care, everyone was expecting it to blow their minds but they just went 'ah, nice'. Never tried showing them our music, there are some people interested in the native Pirahã singing and music, will suggest this to them.

>>1789654
They're not aware of it. They don't ask many things about our civilization and they probably don't know about the internet, maybe they heard about it but I doubt they understand what it is.

I'd like to add:

Most of friends keep insisting that I introduce anime to the Pirahã, they believe it will blow their minds.

They kill deformed or ill children? If I, a white man with pectus excavatum were to walk shirtless around them, would they consider me an abomination or a god? How they feel about black people?

Do they use a currency?

What do their houses look like?

What do they look like physically?

Do they dislike your curiosity?

Do they like our languages?

Btw thank you OP this is a gr8 thread m8

Do they use drugs?

Do they die young?

You should play Die Fledermaus to them, please tell us results.

Do they have any daily routine?

>>1789679
Many Brazilian tribes practice infanticide, I've never heard of the Pirahã doing it though. And good question, my guess is they'd think you're hurt and offer to help you.

>>1789682
They use the Brazilian currency to buy stuff at towns, otherwise they'll trade things, mostly Brazil nuts and fishes. They either live in simple huts made of wood and large leaves or in small houses built by FUNAI or the missionaries. They look like pic related. They don't care much, they'll answer most of my questions untill it makes them bored, then they'll resume doing whatever they were doing. They probably think our language is shit, they call it "weird head" literally.

Well I'm off to sleep, thank you everyone for your questions and your interest. I hope I could answer properly most of your questions.

Also, if any BRs or people living in São Paulo lurking, I'll be giving a talk about my work at University of São Paulo's V Workshop on Indigenous Languages on 21/10, if you're interested, show up!

>>1789710
Thanks op

>>1789610
Whether or not you approve of missionary work they have historically made the biggest contribution to linguistic fieldwork.

>>1789629
>must have some serious ideological intent in their interest with going there.

They want an easy conversion base. France tried to do conversions in the muslim parts of French Africa but the vast vast majority stayed muslim for various reasons like that the benefit to going Catholic was very slim.

a tribe doesn't give a fuck about anything: the thread

>>1788021

This is the absolute most beautiful way to communicate I've ever known , I'm a social retard with a young daughter. I desperately want to learn how to do this so that I can calm her when she goes into a raging fit cause her old man cannot into human.

Thanks OP, you're doing a great service

Keep up the good work!

>>1789763
How old are you and are you still with the mother? Not to be intrusive, I just never hear about the lives of people here.

>>1787152
how do I get your job?

>>1787413
>I think if you took a shit at the middle of the village it would generate an uncomfortable situation, they'll always go somewhere far away for this. I don't know if they consider fecal matter as much of a taboo as we do, but they're fairly clean about it.
The Mongols would continue conversations while pissing or shitting out in the open, albeit away from the village. Are Piraha this comfortable?
Sorry to continue this line of questioning, but sanitation and the customs attached are very interesting.
>>1787413
>It certainly seems so. It is unclear if this is due to a linguistic factor (ie, they don't have numbers in Pirahã therefore they lack the mental apparatus allowing numeracy) or a cultural one (they live in a culture that simply doesn't need counting).
Has any Piraha infant been raised outside the tribe to rule out a hypothetical biological reason?

>>1788294
>They make bows and arrows and are VERY skilled with them, it's scary. They can fish easily with bows, hitting flying birds too, so killing a monkey in the jungle is easy.
They the guys who hold the bows with the feet?

>>1789517
>ironic shitposting transcends all cultural barriers

Kek

>>1789678
It won't

>>1789710
Gracias señor

>>1789678
You must do it. Only a culture as laid back and uncaring as this could be impartial enough to tell us who the true best waifu is.

No-nasals or no-velars analysis? Or neither?

Bilabial trill before /o/? k

In your opinion what does the -sai morpheme represent?

Do they have an oral tradition? Have you tried to write stories from the elders down?

All this talk about oral tradition: what about traditions of the anal variety?

Fantastic thread op, thank you for your time.

I cant help but romanticize this people, can you tell me anything to stop thinking these guys are living an awesome life?

>>1789517
>it's like they're ironically shitposting all the time
This is why they're primitive. They've yet to realize that ironic shitposting is still shitposting.

>>1789667
>I don't know if they have sexual fetishes.
Tell them some of the strange things that the white men will fap to.

...Actually, do they understand masturbation? If people have sex so much, there probably isn't a need.

>>1789776
This isn't a job, he's a student.

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>>1787152
are there any tribal qts?

Wow thread is still alive, nice.

>>1789776
As another poster pointed out, even though I get paid for it by a student scholarship and have no traveling/accommodation expenses, it's not really a 'job'. But then again, if anyone wants to work with Amazonian languages, here's what you need:

1. A degree in something like linguistics/anthropology at a decent university, if you're at something like an ivy league in the US you're 100% guaranteed to get into literally any graduate programs in Brazil.

2. You should probably learn portuguese, otherwise you'll struggle a lot.

3. You need to like travelling to remote places and not worry too much about loneliness. Social skills are VERY important as well, since most of your work will revolve around making the right contacts to get into the right places AND not antagonizing with the wrong people (missionaries, woodworkers, government agencies).

Again: if you're a gringo and you want to get your masters/phd in Brazil, you have high chances of doing it, everyone loves academic foreigners here.

>>1789886
There is one Pirahã who was partially raised outside of the tribe, he is currently the only full bilingual Pirahã, and he can count and tell colors and everything else like a portuguese speaker I think.

>>1790158
Ehhhh, my phonology skills are utter shit, but I wouldn’t go with no-velars, but not sure of it, when they speak I can clearly hear /k/ and not stuff like /hi/. No-nasals seems absurd for me. Also, I can't hear the bilabial trill at all, but other researchers insist it's there. Maybe my hearing is fucked, but I'm much more of a syntax guy.

Concerning -sai, I consider most recent analysis by Nevins et. All and Everett's first hypothesis that it is a nominalizer BUT it allows the insertion of a sentence into internal argument position (OD).

>>1790467
They do and my next field trips will be focused on recording and transcribing the elders’ stories.

>>1791769
Thanks my man.
I also can't help but romanticizing them, which is noticeable in my posts. Maybe because they're quite the opposite of everything that makes us depressed and anxious in modern life. Their complete indifference to things that don't concretely matter to them is very inspiring in a weird way. Even weirder is the fact they themselves don't even realize their way of life is something extraordinary, it's the only way they know, so there's no point in even thinking about it. But then again, they're just people, they make mistakes and screw up too.

>>1789886
when im drinking in plen air for example, i continue to talk while peeing and, if im in open with my best friend, i continued to talk while shitting

>>1787413
What the fuck? Girls can have babies at age 10? Or is that a native thing?

>>1792849
tropical weather, females reach sexual maturity at an early age

Do they practice any form of martial art or fighting? Do they have a God? Do they like oral sex? Have you watched them fuck before? Is about dick big? Do abo girls prefer big abo dick over the smaller ones?

>>1792875
Source?

>>1787252
So that guy drives a Ferrari? Cool

>>1792692
>There is one Pirahã who was partially raised outside of the tribe, he is currently the only full bilingual Pirahã, and he can count and tell colors and everything else like a portuguese speaker I think.

What do the others think of him?

You said they are very open about sex, do they do it often? Is it still a pleasure thing or maybe something like closeness/intimacy?

>>1789517
>whenever they see asians or people of japanese descent they will say "look, a brother!"
whoa
Asian/Polynesian origin confirmed

>>1792875
Nope, this has been observed in animals but about humans is one hell of a subject. There are nutrition and cultural factors

http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/er.2002-0019

>>1787152
South Brazil fag here.
Do you have any pictures, OP?
Post'em all.

>>1790158
It may be a "particle" word. Like the "mal" in German or the "pues" and "este" in Spanish.

>>1788294
>they actually like wearing clothes.
Have you ever asked why?

>>1787252
>They require evidence based on personal experience for every claim made.
*Tips feather*

Great thread OP really enjoyed having a read.

>>1789710
Are you still here? I can't find anything online about this year's workshop. In which building is it? What time are you speaking?

>>1793965
I'm here, all info will be posted on this site https://vwliusp.wordpress.com/sobre/

I'll be speaking on the 21st, they didn't tell me the time or place yet, but I'm guessing it'll be held at FFLCH.

Also, for everyone saying thanks for the thread, I thank you for being interested in the subject.

These villages sound like something Diogenes would be the architect of. His Republic, so to say.

>>1794242
They so sophisticated to Diogenes.

>>1794398
You're right. Diogenes didn't live the cynic lifestyle until he was an adult and realized that minimalist spook-free life was key to content. These fuckers were born into it and still retain it when people come with modern tech and interact with them.

These people are living in the garden of paradise, while ironically, Protestants are trying to fuck everything up like the serpent. .

>>1794473
They get diseases and all other kinds of bad things too, you know

>>1792692
How do they control their population?
If they just fuck around without restriction?

In general would you be for or against making contact with uncontacted tribes when they're discovered?

You made my day OP

>>1794662
I bump for hope that this question will be answered

>>1787259
Not the OP, but what makes him a meme? I thought his "Don't sleep there are snakes?" was fascinating. In fact, his description of the jungle in the 70's sounds sensational at times, and maybe I can provide some of his account.

>>1789473
If I recall, Everett said he once came upon two men slapping each others' naked buttocks and grabbing each others naked dicks in a game while laughing. He also talked about them making fart jokes.

>>1788067
IIRC Everett said a young woman talked to him at a kind of "dance" celebration and (maybe jokingly) offered to have sex with him. Well, actually IIRC they asked him if he got tired of his wife and wanted to try someone else, but I might have remembered it wrong.

>>1789679
Everett described a case where he is sure it happened when they thought a sick baby would die anyway.

>>1787413
>They'll begin having sex at around 10~11, and age differences doesn't seem to matter much (the guy I have most of my elicitation sessions with is 17 and his current partner is 11, they just had a baby.

Everett described the same thing. I'm not a moralfag, but why doesn't the Brazilian government have a problem with loli fucking or try to enforce Brazilian law?


>>1792083
He probably saw some. I did visit a village in the Amazon once and there were some lolis running around butt naked and jumping into rivers, although many were dressed.

>>1788306
The boggling thing is that skepticism hasn't protected them from a degree of superstition. I'd like to know more about their spirits...

On the very first page of "Don't Sleep There are Snakes" the group he was with refused to go into the jungle today because an omen in the form of an invisible guy, told them they would die if they did. He also described some kind of "show" where people he knew would be act like they had been possessed by spirits, only to talk with falsetto voices, and when he asked about it they'd refuse to talk about it.

>>1793813
Evidence from calculus isn't intuitive.

>>1795129
Do you know how they control their population?

OP here, lost my sleep.

>>1794669
I think uncontacted tribes should be left alone unless they're in danger or threatening other tribes in some way, or, of course, if the tribe decides it wants contact with the outside world. The probability we'll do more harm than good is way higher than anything else, no matter how good our intentions are, it’s very easy to fuck up and they usually don’t need us.

>>1795129
Nice to see someone who've read the book, I also like it very much. There are probably many things I said that don't go with what Everett wrote, but do take his word over mine, he is the one who lived with the Pirahã for 30 years. Concerning your question about Everett being a meme, I think people like to bash on him due to his harsh criticism of chomskyan theory and his overall 'academic salesman' way of defending his ideas. I personally think he's ok, he did create a productive debate in linguistics and brought a lot of attention to Amazonian languages and cultures, which is great. I wouldn’t have heard of the Pirahã if it not for Everett’s work. Even though I disagree with his views on linguistics, I admire the man.

>>1795156
I believe there were attempts to introduce the Pirahã to contraceptive methods, I’m not sure if they use it, I wonder how in God’s name someone managed to explain condoms to them in Pirahã. I have 0 instruction on demography, so I truly don’t know how their population doesn’t grow, my blind guess would be mortality rates are high due to infections and poor healthcare.

>My current research revolves around proving Everett is wrong.

What is it exactly you're looking for and trying to prove or disprove?

What was Everett so wrong about? (Or right, because you later say he was right about many things too?)

What is your stance on recursion and universal grammar?

As far as I understand the recursion debate, Everett says in order for it to be considered possible it has to be observed. While Chomsky says just because you can't observe it, doesn't mean it isn't there, which seems like an epistemological question to me and it makes Chomsky's claim about recursion being the basis of creative language unfalsifiable. But then again why are Chomsky followers so desperately looking for it, when it's not that important to observe it happening? And I thought they already went there before, trying to prove they actually do have recursion but they always failed? What are you doing different? (Not trying to provoke, I'm genuinely curious about your methods.)

My grasp on the whole thing is still not very strong and since I'm an anthropology student I've been mostly educated on Everett's side. But since very few anthropologists (at least in my department) have extensive linguistic knowledge, I would still very much like to hear more about what Chomsky followers have to say about it.

When are you planning to post your results?

I'm currently reading up on the debate Everett had in 2012 in the Pragmatics & Cognition journal. Do you have any further literature suggestions? (Beside basic UG theory.) The anthropological side only ever mentions that Everett's arguments are in the end left unanswered (and therefore he """wins""") but are there any publications one the linguists side that are considered unanswered by anthropologists by you?

Also for anyone more interested in the debate, there's this documentary (but it's very much pro-Everett):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcOuBggle4Y

>>1795129
>The boggling thing is that skepticism hasn't protected them from a degree of superstition. I'd like to know more about their spirits...

>On the very first page of "Don't Sleep There are Snakes" the group he was with refused to go into the jungle today because an omen in the form of an invisible guy, told them they would die if they did. He also described some kind of "show" where people he knew would be act like they had been possessed by spirits, only to talk with falsetto voices, and when he asked about it they'd refuse to talk about it.

I've never witnessed this kind of thing, but my thesis advisor told me saw similar things, like the Pirahã looking and pointing at random places at the forest/river saying 'look, the spirit is there' and stuff like that. I really wish more anthropologists would come to work with them, their mysticism is still not very well registered or understood.

>>1795129
>>1789679
>They kill deformed or ill children?
>Everett described a case where he is sure it happened when they thought a sick baby would die anyway.
What he described was that after the baby was born the parents were out of the picture (I don't know for sure why anymore, but I think the mother died) and the baby was sick. So they wanted to let it die because there was no one to take care of it anyway.
When Everett took it in and treated it with medicine they then broke into his house when he was out and killed it, claiming that it was very sick and had to die.

So it's hard to say whether they killed it because they genuinely believed it was sick, or because they just didn't want an orphan kid around or simply because what Everett did challenged their world view.

There was also another story of a mother having troubles giving birth while her partner/husband was out, screaming for help but no one helped her, so she and the baby died.

>>1789756

>a tribe doesn't give a fuck about anything: the thread

they care about sex, shitty jokes and food

what else is there to life?

>>1795129
>I'm not a moralfag, but why doesn't the Brazilian government have a problem with loli fucking or try to enforce Brazilian law?
I don't think they really could do anything even if they wanted to. Not without the necessary infrastructure in place.

Plus the Piraha don't have a concept of age and can't count, so when Everett says a 17 year old had sex with an 11 year old then they're estimates as far as I know. I could be wrong here, but I don't remember Everett talking about age or birthdays in his book at all.

>>1795182
>What is it exactly you're looking for and trying to prove or disprove?

I'm currently trying to understand how APs (adjectival phrases) work in the language, ie, if the language allows adjective chaining, which is recursive. My data seems to point that, unlike Everett believes, the language allows adjective chaining by using either reduced relative clauses or simply a verbal inflection attached to the first adjective in the chain. But there's still much work to be done. Concerning adjectives, Everett believes all cases of multiple adjectives projecting over a single noun are simply result of parataxis, but I don't buy it.

I go with chomsky's general ideas on recursion and universal grammar. I like the overall theoretical apparatus chomsky created to investigate language, but I don't like how some people (mostly in the US) won't even consider the possibility of chomsky being wrong about some things. I mean, chomsky himself revised many of his theories, that's how science evolves.

>And I thought they already went there before, trying to prove they actually do have recursion but they always failed?

Some people did, mostly trying to test the language for recursion on sentencial or verbal levels, and truly Pirahã seems to completely block it.

>But then again why are Chomsky followers so desperately looking for it, when it's not that important to observe it happening?

I honestly don't know. Some people go way too hard into the whole thing. I like researching indigenous languages, it's fun, it's beautiful, I happened to like chomskyan theory, so that's it, it works for me.

Also, I'd like to add that I like Everett's anthropological views much more than his linguistics'.

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>>1787252
>Palatal Fricatives: The Language, The Movie, the Experience

Christ man, good on you. Linguistibro here, despite having so few phonemes Pirahã seems extremely difficult to articulate due to the crazy agglutination that goes on with only seemingly 2-3 extremely common syllabic clusters.

>>1795195
Forgot to make it more clear, they never said they killed the baby, they claimed the baby had died because it was sick (even though it wasn't anymore at this point).

>>1795208
Thank you for the response! I'm looking forward to reading about your results someday. I hope you get them published.

>>1795195
I imagined this kind of behaviour.
It is common in primitive cultures.
Actually someone has to find me one that doesn't do this.

>>1795213
Thanks fellow linguistbro. Fun (not so much for me) fact: the Pirahã will always laugh at me when I try to pronounce /ʔ/ and accidentally choke briefly.

>>1795218
Thank you man! I certainly hope so too haha. And thank you for your interest. Also, if you're interested or know people interested in researching Amazonian languages, please encourage them to come here, we need more people (and less missionaries).

>>1795228
>we need more people (and less missionaries).

I accidentally implied missionaries are not people, I dislike them but not that much.

>>1795228
>>1795233
How long have you been with them?
What do you eat there and how do you live.

I heard that they once blocked a street and blackmailed money from bypassers. Did you hear that?

>>1795228
I've always had trouble with pharyngeals in actual speech.

Saying them to practice and actually using them in a real language with actual syntax are two way different monsters.

>>1795250
>I heard that they once blocked a street and blackmailed money from bypassers. Did you hear that?
no op but everett said they dont even use money so i find that hard to believe

>>1795259
It was written in this article: http://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/2015-10/piraha-indianer-amazonas-brasilien

They had a problem with an other tribe and tried to make the FUNAI talk with them. That's why they blocked the street. While the blockade was up children begged money from bypassers that they used to buy stuff in a kiosk. Later they removed the blockade.

It's all what is written there.

>>1795270
>While the blockade was up children begged money from bypassers that they used to buy stuff in a kiosk.
It actually says children begged the bypassers for cookies, chips and cola that they bought at the kiosk before.

>>1787152

this thread outguns anything that has ever been on /sci/, /lit/, or /his/ OP you're a godsend

>>1795284
Well.
You are obviously right.

Still this seems like a very unusual behaviour for them.
I hoped to hear more on this.

>>1789652
How did you get this job?

It's basically my dream

>>1787152
Why haven't you enslaved and Christianize them all? Would you let the work of your Iberian ancestors go to waste?

what do they think about the stars, sun and moon?

has anyone ever tried improving their technollogy? i mean things like strong knots, how to make charchoal, easier ways to make fire (like a pump drill) ...assuming they didn't learn how to do all those things by themselves

>>1795337
>has anyone ever tried improving their technollogy? i mean things like strong knots, how to make charchoal, easier ways to make fire (like a pump drill) ...assuming they didn't learn how to do all those things by themselves
Not OP.

What Everett said is that they used to beg him to buy them newer brazilian boats. Since he can't do that he instead brought someone in to teach them how to build them themselves. After a week of learning they still asked him to buy them new boats. When he asked them what for when they could just build new ones now, they just said "oh, but Piraha are not boat builders" and that was the end of it. No one ever again built one.

>>1787152
You work with Dan Everett? What about Caleb?

are you sharing your thesis on the internet?

are there some good resources to learn Piraha or other indigenous Brazilian languages?

>>1788997
Most 'paleo-Indian' history in your average schoolbook is utter shite that hasn't been updated much since the 1940s. The Bering land bridge is only part of the story and based on a lot of assumptions. Na-Dené language groups and Inuit certainly came across that way (and much later, in boats).

E.g., there is no actual proof of an 'ice free corridor', and in fact more and more skepticism about it. Nonetheless, all native north Americans except the Inuit carry genetic lineages of this 'Bering land bridge' group starting ca. 14000 years ago. The evidence is good that a northwestern land or coast-based dissemination DID occur. Based on wide distribution (language families and genes), its likely these waves were (relatively) more technologically advanced, and perhaps had slightly more disease resistance, etc.

It's just that that does not seem to be the full picture. Long story short, there were certainly earlier 'pioneer' groups who settled in the Americas in small sporadic waves before the Bering era.

IIRC there is proof (genetic and oral tradition) of an earlier population in southern Brazil, for example, who are older than the so-called Clovis descendants. They are genetically distinct, and anomalous mtDNA traces of them still appear in some 'pure' native groups. I don't know (right now) if they are related to the earliest waves of primitive humans Abos/Negritos/Papuans, etc. but they were genetically (and according to legend, phenotypically) distinct from later Siberian hunters. They probably took a coastal route 3000-4000 years before Clovis, if not older.

Polynesians only settled extremities of Polynesia very late in history. New Zealand, Hawaii and all other 'farther' islands were only settled 800-1000 years ago. Easter island is as far as they got. If they had made landfall on the Pacific coast of South America in any meaningful way, there should be a LOT evidence of this (material and genetic), and basically there is none at all.

>>1789020
Silbo Gomero it's called. Yea, it's a whistled approximation of Spanish. There's also a Turkish whistled variety from some Black sea coast mountain/valley region. In both cases, where the terrain is similar, it's used to communicate over a longer distance than shouting would allow.

>>1789421
Wow, look at this pleb who doesn't understand linguistics or basic anthropology.

>>1789449
Marijuana is an Asian mountain plant, and given how far the village is from 'civilization', I'm guessing they don't have access.

>>1789517
I'm guessing you are Japanese-Brazilian then? Based on your knowledge of Nip language as well?

>>1792849
It's a bit early, but old enough to bleed = old enough to breed. Puberty can start from anywhere from 8-9 (on the early side) to (abnormally late) 15 or so. It's not at all that unusual.

There is evidence that the age fertility starts is also partially genetically inherited. Children of people who had children later in their life tend to start puberty later themselves. The converse may also be true, that having a child early in life results in an earlier onset of puberty for those children. Over countless generations, you could get fertility from age 10 or so. Not that remarkable really, considering lifespan in the Amazon is probably what? In the 50s, on average, for premodern times?

>>1795458
>and basically there is none at all
besides the fact that one of the oldest archaeological sites in the Western hemisphere is in southern Chile, sure, little evidence whatsoever.

And I never said it was specifically Polynesian peoples, obviously those guys are a more recent occurrence.

>>1793504
Why not?

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>>1789517
pic related, pirahã humor

>>1792052
wtf i hate pirahã now

>>1787191
>After hitting 40 years they will usually stick with one partner though.
ho yeah, women are aware of their deprecated nature, just like the nature of men, at this age and that men love to to please them. perfect noBS society

>>1795498
Did you not read my post? I said there was good evidence of people in the Americas before Clovis. What I said is that there no evidence at all that it was Polynesian/modern East Asian people.

A lack of evidence is not lack of proof, but it seems pretty far-fetched that modern East Asians settled in southern Chile at a time when they weren't even (yet) the dominant group in East Asia, as they were still in the paleolithic (i.e. stone age) and just beginning to cultivate crops and domesticate animals.

What's more likely is that pre-Clovis sites are evidence of some other distinct group of hunter/gatherers before the main Siberian waves. Were these people also Siberian? Proto-gooks? Negritos or Abos? We'll never know, but the genetic evidence that does exist points to them being a unique now-extinct population. There is the Solutrean hypothesis about ice-pack navigation from Europe by stone age hunters, but I find this even more far-fetched than WE WUZ NIHON, and there is not a shred of concrete evidence.

>>1795498
And just going back, you did not say 'Polynesian' in the post I replied to, but there was a convo about 'Asian-Polynesian' languages (>>1788375 >>1788294). Obviously I don't know which anon you are.

>>1789499
Maybe being greedy isn't "human nature."

>>1792692
hey op, do they have acne and other skin problems?

>>1795538
>Did you not read my post?
Well I quoted it, unless you think I picked a phrase at random.

>>1795544
I really don't know much about Pacific linguistics or any related subject. All I'm saying is that there's definitely evidence for at least one source of the peopling of the Americas being ancient peoples coming from the Pacific far before the supposed Bering migrations.

I'd also like to add that there's not actually a whole lot of evidence for this proposed "glacial gap" that would've allowed People from Beringia to enter America proper within the suggested timeframe. Plus, oldest Clovis sites are in the Texas and the southern Midwest, and there are proto-Clovis sites in Virginia, which leads some credence to an East Coast model. But you are correct in that the Solutrean hypothesis has no concrete evidence besides muh sealskin boats.

>>1794637
worth it

>>1795591
>there's definitely evidence for at least one source of the peopling of the Americas being ancient peoples coming from the Pacific far before the supposed Bering migrations
We both agree on that then. Evidence points to them being more related to Melanesians/Abos, or earlier waves of paleo-Siberians. However, anyone calling them Polynesian or implying modern Chinese/Japs/Koreans or whatever is just WE WUZ'ing.

Of course, language is only one marker of presence/migration. It's entirely possible for a population not to speak it's 'own' ancestral language. Turks are still largely local Anatolian in origin, yet speak a central Asian language. The Irish largely speak a Germanic language. Millions of native Americans in central America speak Spanish as a daily first language. You get my point. Nonetheless, genetic evidence suggests even south American natives are mostly comprised of descent from the Beringia groups (with decreased genetic diversity the further south you go). There are other minor admixtures in some populations, yes, but the evidence seems to be the Beringia waves ca. 15k-10k ybp were by far the most successful at spreading themselves.

>I'd also like to add that there's not actually a whole lot of evidence for this proposed "glacial gap"
Dude, you're not reading. That is literally what I just said in my own posts.

>>1789517
So basically ethnic/racial tribalism and identification of those genetically similar to them is a confirmed biological reality and social constructivist Marxists who want to imply racism/kin selection is somehow a great capitalist plot are btfo'd?

>>1789412
It's a rain forest -- pretty much everything shat anywhere is going to be ultimately washed into the river systems. I doubt they're shitting in their wells or whatever, though

Interesting shit, thanks for the thread.

>>1795776
Looking into it too deeply there, /pol/fag. Don't ascribe your worldview onto other people over one anecdote.

>>1796028
Margaret Mead did less lad. This anecdote is more or less universal. Tribalism is innate, and not socially constructed - unless favoring your children over other children is somehow socially constructed as well. BASED INDIOS

I don't know how anarcho primitivists of the leftist type want to implement that kind of living standard by banding together a bunch of entirely unrelated people and expect them not to commit crime, be violent, etc. This Indios all know they are one people, related to one another, and thus live in relative idyllic peace.

>>1796073
Yea nah cunt, you're still looking way too deeply into it and making laughably leading conclusions based, still, on one anecdote.

Presumably OP is a Japanese-Brazilian. Slanted eyes and straight black hair looks a little more familiar than the mulatto or curly-haired standard Brazilian, or the black afro loggers they might meet.

Reminder that it is natural to women to kill their babies, once they think they are bound to be sick. In fact, women build a whole story about the shitty fate of the brat only to feel good about their killing.
There is nothing wrong with killing babies too.

OP here,

Concerning my belief that amazonian people descend from asian-polynesians, I'd like to say it's just one of those conjectures a person may hold because it seems plausible, but that's it, I got no evidence of it. Native Brazilian languages have a lot of things in common with asian languages, and not so many things in common with other native american languages, this is still a mystery. Some people want to run DNA tests on the Pirahã to check if they have any relation with asians, but our government strictly forbids collecting blood from indigenous people (government doesn't care much if you murder them though).

Also, my knowledge of japanese comes from self study and 6 semesters of japanese classes at college. I look extremely white and my grandparents are spanish/dutch immigrants. Whenever I go to the northern parts of Brazil people will believe I’m a gringo, it’s not uncommon for them to stare at me and try speaking english or with gestures, not uncommon for me to nearly shit my pants being afraid of getting murdered/robbed/kidnapped 24/7, but now I guess I’m more used to it.

Have you caught any diseases?

>>1796270
Luckily, not yet. I spray myself with massive ammounts of mosquito repellent so I'm still malaria-virgin.

I'd like to ask a question for the fellow canadian/american posters ITT:

My dream ever since I got into college is working with Inuit-Aleut languages of northern Canada, and I plan on getting my PhD on this subject, ideally at a Canadian or American university. However, I have no idea how to do that, so here's some practical questions:

1. Are grad schools paid in the US/Canada? Is it absurdly expansive?

2. Are there scholarships? How likely is a foreigner like me to get one?

3. How bureaucratic is the admission process? Are there exams? Are they hard?

This has been a very fascinating thread, Thank you
Could you share some more interesting anecdote(s)?

>>1795195
>When Everett took it in and treated it with medicine they then broke into his house when he was out and killed it, claiming that it was very sick and had to die.

He left an ill newborn baby unattended in the middle of the jungle?

Where and when did you study linguistics? I'm interested in getting into that field myself.

>>1795669
>However, anyone calling them Polynesian or implying modern Chinese/Japs/Koreans or whatever is just WE WUZ'ing
hol up so u be sayin we use to b natives an shiet

>Dude, you're not reading
When I made those posts, I'd been up for about 36 hours, I do remember at least typing was somewhat of a struggle. I was probably just skimming without meaning to, sorry about any frustration. I think we generally agree about basically everything.

>>1796336
>1
Depends

>2
Yes, not unlikely

>3
Depends, probably, depends

>>1796336
Inuit languages seem really cool.

The only barrier I have to studying them is that I literally cannot understand people speaking them. You could show me a word on paper and then play a recording of a speaker saying it, and I'd basically just have to trust you that they were even the same word.

I've had this issue somewhat with other New World languages a well, but none to nearly this degree. I basically had no idea about anything related to Pirahã before this thread and, just from looking stuff up, I already have a better grasp of how the language is meant to "sound" than I do most Inuit languages, and I've been looking at those for years.

Obviously I'm not formally educated in linguistics it's just an interest, so it's probably different for people with formal knowledge of this stuff, I just don't get the languages I guess.

>>1796336
Canadafag here.

>1. Are grad schools paid in the US/Canada? Is it absurdly expansive?
Canada is less expensive than the US, at least for a Bachelor or Master. With doctoral programs, it's kind of another issue because it's unheard of to enrol in one by just dropping cash on the table...

All (real) universities here are public (state and industry funded + income from tuition), so we don't have anything like a true Ivy League. If you're doing a PhD, in practice you're usually reimbursed any 'fees' by also teaching part-time in the department and from scholarships, grants, etc. so it shouldn't really cost you anything (not that you'll be rich, either). Housing and other life costs are up to you, but you should survive OK on doctoral student 'income'. I'd budget around $20k per year, minimum. Foreign students do pay more than citizens.

>2. Are there scholarships? How likely is a foreigner like me to get one?
Yes, but I don't know a lot about it being a citizen and not a linguist. You'll need to research that. There are scholarships ONLY for citizens, and there are some for foreign students studying here. If a university really likes you, they'll usually find a way to get you funded.

I'm not sure which unis you should look at, obviously you need to research it. Best unis are in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa. You might want to see what UBC has. Never hurts to email a prof and see what they can recommend.

>3. How bureaucratic is the admission process? Are there exams? Are they hard?
Universities are pretty bureaucratic wherever you go. In Canada, there are no entry exams. For a PhD, they'll probably want your transcripts, letters of recommendation (in English) from your Master thesis supervisors, a research proposal, and a CV (make sure it's in a Canadian/North American style!). You'll also need a language exam result (TOEFL or IELTS, most likely), obviously with a good score. From the sounds of it here, you should be OK.

>>1796484
Really? Inuktitut sounds rather clear and articulated to my ears, although I understand nothing... The phonology is reduced compared to English for example (15 consonants, only three vowels).

>>1796336
please comment on
>>1795337
>>1795337

thanks for this interesting thread anyway

>>1796484
>You could show me a word on paper and then play a recording of a speaker saying it, and I'd basically just have to trust you that they were even the same word.

Do yourself a favor: Never try to learn Tibetean.

>>1796910
FUCKING tones. But what would I use it for? I hate China and I am not a Buddhist or into esoteric bullshit.

>>1789642

>they sing all the time

how is their pitch and overall song structure? Like how long is their phrasing, and is there any polyphony or just a single melody? Do they sing beautifully or sound like a pack of howling dogs?

.. also bump for the most interesting "I'm a _____ ask me anything" thread I've seen in ages

OP will never return :(

>>1801493
F