| Also Known As: Piraha language,Múra-Pirahã
Description:
Pirahã (also spelled Pirahá, Pirahán; Portuguese: Pirarrã; Pirahã language: xapaitíiso) is a language spoken by the Pirahã — an indigenous people of Amazonas, Brazil, who live along the Maici river, a tributary of the Amazon.
Pirahã is believed to be the only surviving member of the Mura language family, all other members having become extinct in the last few centuries. It is therefore a language isolate, without any known connection to other living languages. It is estimated to have between 250 and 380 speakers. It is not thought to be in danger of extinction, as its use is vigorous and the Pirahã community is mostly monolingual.
The Pirahã language has a number of linguistic features that are claimed by some linguists to be unusual, though others have argued that they are found in other languages as well. The most significant source for information about the grammar of Pirahã is Daniel Everett, who has authored more than two dozen papers about the language.
Noteworthy features of Pirahã are alleged to include:
However, some of these claims are controversial.
The Pirahã language is one of the phonologically simplest languages known, claimed to have as few as ten phonemes (one..... full article at Wikipedia |