The Pirahã people of Brazil
Read The Pirahã people of Brazil and check the IELTS Reading answers. The Pirahã tribe live deep in Brazil's Amazon forest, and their language is hotly debated by linguists. Since 1977, the ethnologist Daniel Everett has spent a total of seven years living with the Pirahã and has committed his care…
Passage preview
The Pirahã tribe live deep in Brazil's Amazon forest, and their language is hotly debated by linguists. Since 1977, the ethnologist Daniel Everett has spent a total of seven years living with the Pirahã and has committed his career to studying their puzzling speech. Indeed, he was uncertain for so long about what he was actually hearing while living among the Pirahã that he waited nearly three decades before publishing his findings.
Vocabulary from this passage
10 words worth learning before you sit the test, each with the sentence it appears in.
- be at pains to verb phrase
To make a great effort to do something, usually to avoid being misunderstood.
In the passage:
"Everett is at pains to point out" (paragraph 6): the writer signals what Everett most wants readers to understand.
Synonyms: take care to, go out of one's way to
Opposites: be careless about
- brought new life to verb phrase
To make an old idea or thing popular, active or relevant again.
In the passage:
Q30 option says his theory "might be supported"; the passage says Everett's findings "have brought new life to" Whorf's theory (paragraph 4).
Synonyms: might be supported, revive
Opposites: kill off
- central tenet noun phrase
The most important belief or principle on which a system is based.
In the passage:
"the central tenet of the Pirahã culture is to live in the here and now" (paragraph 7): their key belief.
Synonyms: core principle, fundamental belief
- commit his career to verb phrase
To decide to spend all your working life on one purpose.
In the passage:
Q27 option says studying the language "is the focus of his work"; the passage says Everett "has committed his career to studying" it (paragraph 1).
Synonyms: the focus of his work, devote his career to
- curtail verb
To reduce or limit something, often before it has fully developed.
In the passage:
"Their very literal view of the world curtails abstract thought" (paragraph 7): their culture limits it.
Synonyms: restrict, cut short
Opposites: extend
- depart from verb phrase
To differ from what is usual, expected or officially agreed.
In the passage:
"the Pirahã language departs from what some academics have long maintained" (paragraph 3): it breaks accepted rules.
Synonyms: differ from, deviate from
Opposites: conform to
- negate verb
To make something useless or ineffective, or show that it is not true.
In the passage:
Q39 says Chomsky's ideas "would be wrong"; the passage says this "would negate Chomsky's theories" (paragraph 8).
Synonyms: would be wrong, invalidate
Opposites: confirm
- pertinent to adjective phrase
Directly related to the matter being discussed, so worth considering.
In the passage:
"most pertinent to Everett's work, there would not be subordinate clauses" (paragraph 8): the writer highlights the key link.
Synonyms: relevant to, applicable to
Opposites: irrelevant to
- rudimentary adjective
Very basic, simple or undeveloped, as at the earliest stage.
In the passage:
"features only the most rudimentary system of counting" (paragraph 5): a minimal, basic system.
Synonyms: basic, primitive
Opposites: sophisticated
- the logical way forward noun phrase
The most sensible next step to take in solving a problem.
In the passage:
"The logical way forward now would be to try to prove" (paragraph 9): the writer proposes the next research step.
Synonyms: the sensible next step, the obvious course
Answers with explanations
- 27. D
Check each option against the first paragraph only. **Committed his career to studying** their speech matches **the focus of his work**. The other options distort details: he has spent a **total of seven years** there, not lived there since 1977, and **he waited** nearly three decades to publish himself.
- 28. A
The paragraph's main point is that human language is **unique** because it lets people make **never-before-constructed thoughts** and be **infinitely imaginative**, which is **linguistically creative**. Bees, birds and whales are mentioned only as contrast, and whales **even sing with syntax**, so humans are not the only species with it.
- 29. D
The writer calls the language **unique for not employing subordinate clauses**, then gives an **example** in the eating sentence. So the reference **exemplifies an unusual feature**. Numbers come next as a separate feature (**Equally perplexing**); the two are listed, not compared.
- 30. B
Look for **Whorf**. His theory has been given **new life** by Everett's findings, which means the findings may **support** it, so **might be supported** is the match. Don't read **new life** literally: nobody finds a new life among the Pirahã.
- 31. D
Both languages have only **the most rudimentary system of counting**, yet the Warlpiri could count past three in **English**, while **not a single** Pirahã could count to 10 in Portuguese. The contrast shows how unusual the Pirahã are, so the Warlpiri **illustrate the uniqueness** of the Pirahã. Nobody suggests teaching them English.
- 32. B
**Is at pains to point out** that they are **not unintelligent** shows Everett wants to defend them, so he does not want people to **criticise their intelligence**. The isolation option fails because the next sentence says they **do not live in complete genetic isolation**. Students are only a comparison.
- 33. E
**A product of their** matches **is created by**. A people's **way of life, belief system and values** is what we call their **culture**, the box word that sums the list up.
- 34. A
Only place value on matches **central tenet**, and **the here and now** is the **present**. Past and future fit badly: the next sentences say the language cannot describe yesterday or last week.
- 35. F
**No ... to describe completed events** matches **no means to conjugate verbs in order to describe 'yesterday'**. Verb forms are part of **grammar**. Time sounds possible, but the text says the language lacks the verb forms, not the hours.
- 36. H
**The types of names they use reflect** matches **this is reflected in their ... choice of names**. **Standing out or being different** is not encouraged, so they do not celebrate **individuality**.
- 37. NO
The statement says Everett was **surprised** by the reaction. The writer says he **anticipated** the controversy and the reaction **came as expected**. Expecting something is the opposite of being surprised, so the answer is NO.
- 38. NOT GIVEN
The deciding words are **critical of Everett's research methodology**. The text says Chomsky's colleagues will **check his claims**, but it never says Chomsky himself has criticised Everett's methods. For YES the writer would need to report such criticism; for NO, to report praise.
- 39. YES
The writer says recursion is at the **heart** of Chomsky's universal grammar. If the Pirahã lack subordinate clauses, **recursion cannot explain** human language and this **would negate Chomsky's theories**. **Negate** means the same as **would be wrong**, so the answer is YES.
- 40. NO
The statement says the Pirahã will **benefit** from their **new-found status**. The writer's view is the reverse: **My concern is** that they will become **one more scientific oddity**, **exploited and analysed**. A worry about exploitation is not a benefit, so the answer is NO.