The Pirahãs Essay

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In the article, “What happens when you can't count past four?”, by Brian Butterworth discusses the difference between the numerical system of tribal societies in the Amazon and the numerical systems our society. Butterworth also talks about the Whorf hypothesis, the theory that language shapes thought. Two Amazonian Indian tribes were studied and researchers found that the results supported the Whorfian view. Number vocabulary was important for categorizing the world numerically. One of the tribes they studied was the Pirahã. They only had words for one and two, and for few and many. The lack of a complex number vocabulary and the absence of numeral symbols made the task of placing the same number of objects in order on the table in a test difficult for the Piraha indians. Researchers found that the accuracy dropped after three objects. Another tribe they studied was the Mundurukú. They only have words for numbers up to five. Researchers discovered that when it came to exact subtraction, the Mundurukú had a very hard time. Studying the societies, researchers later realized that the Pirahã hunter-gatherer lifestyle, which rarely included trade, and the Munduruku had a very minimal need need for counting in their everyday lives. This article was very interesting to read because counting, a simple and menial task for us is quite different for the indigenous people. This article brought awareness to how different our societies are. I was aware of the difference in technology and beliefs, but I never thought of the number system. I found it very interesting to see how counting can be different between cultures like our own and the indigenous people. I also found it interesting to learn how the lifestyles influence different beliefs like the number system. For the Pirahã and Mundurukú, there was no need for a complex number system because they did not need to use

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