Pirahã

English

Alternative forms

• Piraha
• Pirahá (uncommon)
• Pirahan (rare)

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpiːɹəhɑː/, /piːɹəˈhɑːn/

Noun

Pirahã pl (plural only)

1. An indigenous people of Brazil.

Translations

people

• Pirahã: híaitíihí, hiáitihí
• Portuguese: pirahã m pl, pirahãs m pl
• Russian: пираха (piraxa)

Proper noun

Pirahã

1. The language of this people, lacking any known relatives, containing few phonemes, and controversially said to possess neither true numbers nor the means of expressing history or employing recursive embedding.
   • 2005, Daniel Everett, “Cultural Constraints on Grammar and Cognition in Pirahã”, in Current Anthropology, section 46.4:

     The Pirahã language challenges simplistic application of Hockett's nearly universally accepted design features of human language by showing that some of these features (interchangeability, displacement, and productivity) may be culturally constrained.

Translations

language

• French: pirahã (fr) m
• Pirahã: apáitisí, xapaitíiso
• Portuguese: pirahã m
• Russian: пираха m (piraxa), пираханский (piraxanskij), пираа m (piraa)

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Pirahã terms

Anagrams

• raphia, Raphia, pariah, Pahari