Piraha, the impossible task?

[Thursday1]

Hello all,
I remembered reading about this in the New Yorker several months ago, and didn’t find anything here on it.
newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/16/070416fa_fact_colapinto
It’s a long article, but well worth the read.

There is a group of people known as the Piraha. They have a language that wouldn’t even be classified as a language by some standards. It is so primitive it does not even have terms for words like “all,” “each,” “every,” “many,” “most,” or “few.” Which are supposed to be the building blocks of language.
As a result of this primitivism, they seem inconvertible. There is no way to describe Sin, Christ, Salvation, Heaven, Hell, or anything else that would be necessary.

So, my question here is “Do you think this is a case of invincible ignorance?”

Yours in Christ,
Thursday

 

[Leopard]

I would say no. Even if there are no words for these concepts in their language (correction: no words known to outsiders studying this language), this does not preclude them from knowing the fundamentals of Natural Law (do good, avoid evil), even though their understandings of just what constitutes good and evil may not be as complex as other cultures.

In any case, such present difficulties are temporary as these people will certainly learn new numerical and other concepts as contact with other cultures increases.

 

[Thursday1]

I would say no. Even if there are no words for these concepts in their language (correction: no words known to outsiders studying this language), this does not preclude them from knowing the fundamentals of Natural Law (do good, avoid evil), even though their understandings of just what constitutes good and evil may not be as complex as other cultures.

In any case, such present difficulties are temporary as these people will certainly learn new numerical and other concepts as contact with other cultures increases.

They have been in contact with other cultures since the 17th century, and nothing has changed since then.

The person who understands their language the best, not fluently, has been studying it for 40ish years. They asked him to help them understand outsider’s numbers and to give them a number system. He tried to teach them, but they gave up after months of fruitless work. Not one of them could count to ten, or even add 1+1. Part of it is they have no concept of recursion in their language, that is, they cannot embed a simple sentence inside another to create a complex language. (recursion is what was thought to separate animal communication from human communication.) They have no words for color, they must always give an example of something else of approximately the same color, but the example will vary every time.
They also have no concept of past or future. All that matters is now. When someone tried to explain Jesus to them, they simply asked “Do you know Jesus? [personally]” When the person answered no, he lived a long time ago, the conversation lost all meaning for the Piraha. They have no myths, no creation story, no history beyond living memory.
I do not doubt that they have the natural law written on their hearts, and can follow it, what I doubt is that they can ever be converted. They have no concept of God, or Religion. The closest they have is “spirits,” but even these are tangible (trees, ect.).

Yours in Christ,
Thursday

 

[joe5046]

A fascinating read.

What would seem fundamental is if these people had concepts of Good and Evil, even if on a purely instinctual level (as opposed to rational)