Folder: webmail-ic-2008-11-18/A-2005-03
From stolfi@ic.unicamp.br  Sun Mar 13 19:39:04 2005
Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 19:39:02 -0300
Message-Id: <200503132239.j2DMd2t8029072@localhost.localdomain>
From: Jorge Stolfi <stolfi@dcc.unicamp.br>
To: webteam@manchester.ac.uk
Cc: ipro@manchester.ac.uk
Subject: [MISC] Inaccuracies in web page


Please allow me to call your attention to some inaccuracies in the 
web page

  http://www.manchester.ac.uk/press/newsarchive/title,3978,en.htm
  
It says

  Professor Everett has spent the last twenty-seven years studying a
  group of tribespeople known as the Piraha. They live in a remote part
  of the Brazilian jungle, and have no words for numbers, beyond what
  loosely translate as, 'one', 'two', and 'many'. What makes them even
  more unique is the fact that their word for 'one' can also mean 'a
  few', while 'two' can refer to 'not many'.

  Professor Everett and his wife have lived with the Piraha for up to
  six years at a time, and are the only two people in the world who
  speak their language. Piraha is the only language known without
  numbers or counting of any kind.

Actually, according to Professor Everett's personal page and other
sources, he has been studying the Pirahã *over a period* of 27
years, but not continuously --- rather as several stays, each 
lasting several months, which *added up to* over six years.

--stolfi