Daniel Everett
Encyclopedia
Daniel Leonard Everett is a U.S. author and academic best known for his study of the Amazon Basin
's Pirahã people
and their language
.
As of July 1, 2010 he serves as Dean of Arts and Sciences at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts
. Prior to Bentley University, Everett was Chair of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Illinois State University
in Normal, Illinois
. He has taught at the University of Manchester
and is former Chair of the Linguistics Department of the University of Pittsburgh
. He is married to Linda Ann Everett. He has three children from his first marriage of 35 years to Keren Graham
: Dr. Caleb Everett (Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Miami); Dr. Kristene Diggins (DrNP in Charlotte, North Carolina); and Ms. Shannon Russell (missionary with SIL International
in Porto Velho, Brazil).
He was married at age 18 to the daughter of these missionaries, Keren Graham
. He completed a diploma in Foreign Missions from the Moody Bible Institute
of Chicago in 1975. He and Keren subsequently enrolled in the Summer Institute of Linguistics (now SIL International
), which trains missionaries in field linguistics so that they can translate the Bible into all the world's languages.
Because Everett quickly demonstrated a gift for language, he was invited to study Pirahã, which previous SIL missionaries had failed to learn in 20 years of study. In 1977, after four months of jungle training and three semesters of courses in linguistic analysis, translation principles, and literacy development, the couple and their three children moved to Brazil
, where they studied Portuguese
for a year before moving to a Pirahã village at the mouth of the Maici River in the Lowland Amazonia
region.
in Brazil, under the auspices of which he could continue to study Pirahã. Everett focused on the theories of Noam Chomsky
. His Master's thesis, Aspectos da Fonologia do Pirahã, was written under the direction of Dr. Aryon Rodrigues, one of the leading experts on Amazonian languages. It was completed in 1980. His Ph.D. dissertation, A Lingua Pirahã e Teoria da Sintaxe, completed in 1983, was written under the direction of Dr. Charlotte Chamberlland Galves. This dissertation provided a detailed Chomskyan analysis of Pirahã.
On one of his research missions in 1993, he documented the previously undocumented Oro Win language
, one of the few languages that uses the rare voiceless dental bilabially trilled affricate (phonetically, [t̪͡ʙ̥]).
's ideas about universal grammar
, and the universality of recursion
in particular, are falsified by Pirahã. His 2005 article in Current Anthropology
, titled "Cultural Constraints on Grammar and Cognition in Pirahã," has caused a controversy in the field of linguistics. Though a supporter of Everett in the early part of Everett's career, Chomsky refuses to further discuss Everett's works and has called him a charlatan. The June 2009 issue of the Journal of the Linguistic Society of America, Language, contains a nearly 100 page debate between Everett and some of his principal critics.
Amazon Basin
The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela...
's Pirahã people
Pirahã people
The Pirahã people are an indigenous hunter-gatherer tribe of Amazon natives, a subgroup of the Mura, who mainly live on the banks of the Maici River in Brazil's Amazonas state, in the territory on Humaitá and Manicoré municipality....
and their language
Pirahã language
Pirahã is a language spoken by the Pirahã. The Pirahã are an indigenous people of Amazonas, Brazil, living along the Maici River, a tributary of the Amazon....
.
As of July 1, 2010 he serves as Dean of Arts and Sciences at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham, Massachusetts
Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, was an early center for the labor movement, and major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning,...
. Prior to Bentley University, Everett was Chair of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Illinois State University
Illinois State University
Illinois State University , founded in 1857, is the oldest public university in Illinois; it is located in the town of Normal. ISU is considered a "national university" that grants a variety of doctoral degrees and strongly emphasizes research; it is also recognized as one of the top ten largest...
in Normal, Illinois
Normal, Illinois
Normal is an incorporated town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. It had a population of 52,497 as of the 2010 census. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area...
. He has taught at the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...
and is former Chair of the Linguistics Department of the University of Pittsburgh
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
. He is married to Linda Ann Everett. He has three children from his first marriage of 35 years to Keren Graham
Keren Everett
Keren Madora Everett is an American-born linguist and Christian missionary.Keren Everett has spent many years in the Amazon studying the Pirahã tribe and their language. Her former husband Daniel Everett, whom she married in 1969, is better-known as an authority on the language, but he...
: Dr. Caleb Everett (Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Miami); Dr. Kristene Diggins (DrNP in Charlotte, North Carolina); and Ms. Shannon Russell (missionary with SIL International
SIL International
SIL International is a U.S.-based, worldwide, Christian non-profit organization, whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to expand linguistic knowledge, promote literacy, translate the Christian Bible into local languages,...
in Porto Velho, Brazil).
Early life
Everett was raised near the Mexican border. His father was an occasional cowboy, mechanic, and construction worker. His mother was a waitress at a local restaurant in Holtville. Everett played in rock bands from the time he was 11 years old until converting to Christianity at age 17, after meeting missionaries Al & Sue Graham in San Diego, California.He was married at age 18 to the daughter of these missionaries, Keren Graham
Keren Everett
Keren Madora Everett is an American-born linguist and Christian missionary.Keren Everett has spent many years in the Amazon studying the Pirahã tribe and their language. Her former husband Daniel Everett, whom she married in 1969, is better-known as an authority on the language, but he...
. He completed a diploma in Foreign Missions from the Moody Bible Institute
Moody Bible Institute
Moody Bible Institute is a Christian institution of higher education and related ministries that was founded by evangelist and businessman Dwight Lyman Moody in 1886. Since its founding, MBI's main campus has been located in the Near North Side of Chicago. MBI's primary ministries are education,...
of Chicago in 1975. He and Keren subsequently enrolled in the Summer Institute of Linguistics (now SIL International
SIL International
SIL International is a U.S.-based, worldwide, Christian non-profit organization, whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to expand linguistic knowledge, promote literacy, translate the Christian Bible into local languages,...
), which trains missionaries in field linguistics so that they can translate the Bible into all the world's languages.
Because Everett quickly demonstrated a gift for language, he was invited to study Pirahã, which previous SIL missionaries had failed to learn in 20 years of study. In 1977, after four months of jungle training and three semesters of courses in linguistic analysis, translation principles, and literacy development, the couple and their three children moved to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, where they studied Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
for a year before moving to a Pirahã village at the mouth of the Maici River in the Lowland Amazonia
Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest , also known in English as Amazonia or the Amazon Jungle, is a moist broadleaf forest that covers most of the Amazon Basin of South America...
region.
Education in linguistics
Everett had some initial success learning the language, but when SIL lost their contract with the Brazilian government, he enrolled in the fall of 1978 at the State University of CampinasUniversidade Estadual de Campinas
Universidade Estadual de Campinas is one of the three public universities of the Brazilian state of São Paulo, along both USP and UNESP....
in Brazil, under the auspices of which he could continue to study Pirahã. Everett focused on the theories of Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
. His Master's thesis, Aspectos da Fonologia do Pirahã, was written under the direction of Dr. Aryon Rodrigues, one of the leading experts on Amazonian languages. It was completed in 1980. His Ph.D. dissertation, A Lingua Pirahã e Teoria da Sintaxe, completed in 1983, was written under the direction of Dr. Charlotte Chamberlland Galves. This dissertation provided a detailed Chomskyan analysis of Pirahã.
On one of his research missions in 1993, he documented the previously undocumented Oro Win language
Oro Win language
Oro Win is a moribund Chapacuran language spoken along the upper stretches of the Pacaás Novos River in Brazil.Oro Win is one of only five languages known to make use of a voiceless dental bilabially trilled affricate, .- Literature :...
, one of the few languages that uses the rare voiceless dental bilabially trilled affricate (phonetically, [t̪͡ʙ̥]).
Universal Grammar
Everett eventually concluded that ChomskyNoam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
's ideas about universal grammar
Universal grammar
Universal grammar is a theory in linguistics that suggests that there are properties that all possible natural human languages have.Usually credited to Noam Chomsky, the theory suggests that some rules of grammar are hard-wired into the brain, and manifest themselves without being taught...
, and the universality of recursion
Recursion
Recursion is the process of repeating items in a self-similar way. For instance, when the surfaces of two mirrors are exactly parallel with each other the nested images that occur are a form of infinite recursion. The term has a variety of meanings specific to a variety of disciplines ranging from...
in particular, are falsified by Pirahã. His 2005 article in Current Anthropology
Current Anthropology
Current Anthropology is a peer-reviewed anthropology academic journal published by the University of Chicago Press and sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. Founded in 1959 by the anthropologist Sol Tax...
, titled "Cultural Constraints on Grammar and Cognition in Pirahã," has caused a controversy in the field of linguistics. Though a supporter of Everett in the early part of Everett's career, Chomsky refuses to further discuss Everett's works and has called him a charlatan. The June 2009 issue of the Journal of the Linguistic Society of America, Language, contains a nearly 100 page debate between Everett and some of his principal critics.
Don't Sleep There are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle
In November 2008, Everett's book on the culture and language of the Pirahã people, and what it was like to live among them, was published in the United Kingdom by Profile Books and in the United States by Pantheon Books. Blackwell's booksellers in the UK selected this as one of the best books of 2009 in the UK. National Public Radio selected it as one of the best books of 2009 in the US. Translations have appeared in German, French, and Korean and others are due to appear in 2010 in Thai, and Mandarin. Although the book has been discussed widely on the internet for the chapter that discusses his abandonment of religious faith, it is mainly about doing scientific field research and the discoveries that this has led to about the grammar and culture of the Pirahã people. Don't Sleep There are Snakes was runner-up for the 2008 Award for Adult Non-fiction from the Society of Midland Authors.Cognitive Fire: Language as a Cultural Tool
Everett's website describes his forthcoming book from Pantheon in the US and Profile in the UK. This book develops an alternative to the view that language is innate, whether as in Chomsky's Universal Grammar or Pinker's Language Instinct. It argues that language is, like the bow and arrow, a tool to solve a common human problem, the need to communicate efficiently and effectively.Religious beliefs
Influenced by the Pirahã's concept of truth, his belief in Christianity slowly diminished and he became an atheist. He says that he was having serious doubts by 1982, and had lost all faith by 1985. He would not tell anyone about his atheism until the late 90s; when he finally did, his marriage ended in divorce and two of his three children broke off all contact. However, by 2008 full contact and relations have been restored with his children, who now seem to accept his viewpoint on theism.External links
- Daniel Everett's homepage
- Recursion and human thought: why the Pirahã don't have numbers. A Talk With Daniel L. Everett (Edge.org)
- Daniel Everett on Endangered Languages, Long Now Foundation
- Article in University of Pittsburgh University Times
- Professor Everett as a child
- Daniel Everett's Machines Like Us interview
- Endangered Languages and Lost Knowledge discussion on preserving dying languages at The Long Now Foundation, March 2009
