Books by Daniel (Dean of Arts and Sciences at Bentley University) Everett

Although the author was a missionary, far from converting the Pirahas, they converted him. This title shows the slow, meticulous steps by which he gradually mastered their language and his gradual realisation that its unusual nature closely reflected its speakers' startlingly original perceptions of the world.

Fusing adventure, anthropology, linguistics and psychology, and drawing on Everett's pioneering research with the Amazonian Pirahas, this book argues that language is embedded within - and is inseparable from - its specific culture. It presents the controversial idea that language is not an innate component of the brain.