This Ancient Language Has the Only Grammar Based Entirely on the Human Body
This Ancient Language Has the Only Grammar Based Entirely on the Human Body

www.scientificamerican.com
This Ancient Language Has the Only Grammar Based Entirely on the Human Body

Interesting and sad story.
Wonderful article. Really good illustrations of how deeply imbricated in language structures our value systems and our ability to conceptualize are—the Whorfian hypothesis. Makes me wonder about the impact of Americans' disdain for languages other than English. Elsewhere in the world, it's not uncommon to know several languages fairly well, even if one has little formal education; here, it's a terrific oddity for even highly-educated people. American college students scream bloody murder if you tell them they have to take a language; some Americans are openly hostile to others speaking anything other than English among themselves.