From a.rosta@v21.me.uk Sat Aug 21 04:04:32 2004
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Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2004 11:29:42 +0100
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From: "And Rosta" <a.rosta@v21.me.uk>
Subject: Re: [lojban] Re: Piraha and SWH
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zefram:
> Pierre Abbat wrote:
> >Hm. Is there any way the Pirahã (that word keeps making me think
> >Piranha)
>
> Apparently it's pronounced {pida'AN}.

I would Lojbanize as {PIraxan} or {piraxAN}, since I think the <r>
is a tap, i.e. an allophone of Lojban /r/, and [x], an allophone
of /x/, is closer to [h] than is /T/, an allophone of /'/.

> Something else that occurred to me.  Several aspects of their culture and
> cognition remind me of the depiction of Homo erectus in Stephen Baxter's
> novel "Evolution".  The impermanence of everything; discarding tools after
> a couple of uses; failure to acquire new skills (dugout canoe making)
> comparable in complexity to existing skills; inability to stick to a
> planned task (house building); inconsideration of anything not actually
> present (the planes and model building).  Might this be a remnant of
> pre-human culture?

Not a remnant, surely, given that these people live in Brazil. Perhaps
an atavistic throwback, at most.

--And.