Daniel L. Everett

A Finite Grammar in a Non-finite Language?

In this talk I discuss the evidence that there is no recursion in Piraha syntax, even though there is clear evidence for recursion in Piraha discourse (parts of stories clearly depend on other parts of stories and are understood together as a single text). A syntax without recursion is arguably finite. And, unsurprisingly, it seems possible to exemplify sentences in Piraha that cannot be expanded. However, it is not possible to exemplify texts that cannot be expanded. I argue that recursion is a property of minds, perhaps only human minds, and that it is seen in reasoning and classification (e.g. the placement of species with a genus) across cultures. Therefore, recursion is in fact independent of language, whether the FLN or FLB, to use one unfortunate proposal. It is possible that recursion is a cognitive tool used for packing more information into single sentences and is used according to cultural values. Thus it is more likely to be found in exoteric rather than esoteric cultures, like Piraha.