Pirahã People: carpe-diem culture doesn’t allow for abstract thought or complicated connections to the past — limiting the language accordingly

The Pirahã people (pronounced [piɾaˈhã]) are an indigenous hunter-gatherer tribe of Amazon natives, who mainly live on the banks of the Maici River in Brazil’s Amazonas state, in the territory of Humaitá and Manicoré municipality. As of 2004, they number about 360, which is sharply reduced from the numbers recorded in previous decades, and the… Read More

Interaction Is Critical for the Evolution of the Language

ScienceDaily  — An international research group, including of the Department of Artificial Intelligence of the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid’s Facultad de Informatica, has concluded that collaboration and interaction are essential elements in the evolution of language. They also have shown that the most effective forms of communication can propagate in a community in a similar… Read More

Confusing words: Curious and Interesting

If someone is curious it means they are interested in learning about what is around them. For example: “Lynne was curious to find out how many people used the website.” If something is curious, it means it’s odd, strange or unusual. For example: “The results were very curious because a lot of Americans were using… Read More

Confusing words: Because, As, Since and For

Word Explanation Example because  The reason is very important in the sentence, so because comes in the sencond clause of the sentence. I read this book because I like it. as  The reason is already known. As we read, we learn. since  The reason is already known. (more formal than as) Since we were in… Read More

Help, sarcasm not understood!

Having spent the past twenty minutes waiting for someone at Leith police station to pick up a telephone I have decided to abandon the idea and try e-mailing you instead. Perhaps you would be so kind as to pass this message on to your colleagues in Leith by means of smoke signal, carrier pigeon or… Read More