[lojban] Re: Piraha and SWH

[Philip Newton <philip.newton@gmail.com>]

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 21:25:31 -0400, Pierre Abbat <phma@phma.hn.org> wrote:
> I just looked up Pirahã and found this: "Uma criança pode ou não continuar a
> viver com seus pais depois dos três anos de idade. A maioria das aldeias
> grandes tem uma subcultura de crianças, de três a catorze anos, que moram
> juntas e cuidam umas das outras." Since the Pirahã don't count, how does
> anyone know how old they are?
> http://www.sil.org/americas/brasil/LANGPAGE/PortPHPg.htm

I imagine they go by the level of maturity of the child rather than
strictly its chronological age (e.g. something like "can speak in
simple sentences" to "has entered puberty", or the like). Or possibly
by physical size, which can perhaps be estimated qualitatively.

Cheers,
-- 
Philip Newton <philip.newton@gmail.com>