Pirahã Exceptionality: A Reassessment

@article{Nevins2009PirahEA,
  title={Pirah{\~a} Exceptionality: A Reassessment},
  author={Andrew David Cilene Nevins and Andrew David Cilene Pesetsky and Andrew David Cilene Rodrigues},
  journal={Language},
  year={2009},
  volume={85},
  pages={355 - 404}
}
Everett (2005) has claimed that the grammar of Pirahã is exceptional in displaying 'inexplicable gaps', that these gaps follow from a cultural principle restricting communication to 'immediate experience', and that this principle has 'severe' consequences for work on universal grammar. We argue against each of these claims. Relying on the available documentation and descriptions of the language, especially the rich material in Everett 1986, 1987b, we argue that many of the exceptional… Expand
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