"Amondawa tribe lacks abstract idea of time, study says"

[charlou]

Found this posted on another forum ...

An Amazonian tribe has no abstract concept of time, say researchers.

The Amondawa lacks the linguistic structures that relate time and space - as in our idea of, for example, "working through the night".

The study, in Language and Cognition, shows that while the Amondawa recognise events occuring in time, it does not exist as a separate concept.

The idea is a controversial one, and further study will bear out if it is also true among other Amazon languages.

The Amondawa were first contacted by the outside world in 1986, and now researchers from the University of Portsmouth and the Federal University of Rondonia in Brazil have begun to analyse the idea of time as it appears in Amondawa language.

"We're really not saying these are a 'people without time' or 'outside time'," said Chris Sinha, a professor of psychology of language at the University of Portsmouth.

"Amondawa people, like any other people, can talk about events and sequences of events," he told BBC News.

"What we don't find is a notion of time as being independent of the events which are occuring; they don't have a notion of time which is something the events occur in."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13452711

There's a draft version of the paper here:

http://www.port.ac.uk/departments/acade ... 294,en.pdf


Interesting stuff.

[charlou]

From the study abstract:

It is widely assumed that there is a natural, prelinguistic conceptual domain of time

Is the "widely assumed" part true? Who is being referred to there? Is it widely assumed among their colleagues? Scientists, generally? Philosophers? Everyone?

[Gonzo]

Neat study but lacking the linguistical capabilities to relate a conceptual idea and lacking the conceptual idea itself are two different things.

[charlou]

From the study abstract:

It is widely assumed that there is a natural, prelinguistic conceptual domain of time

Is the "widely assumed" part true? Who is being referred to there? Is it widely assumed among their colleagues? Scientists, generally? Philosophers? Everyone?

Reading further, came to this in relation to the above:

Note, importantly, that we do not thereby challenge the hypothesized universality of the cognitive foundations of linguistic space-time mapping; indeed, we shall present some evidence in support of such cognitive universalism.

[Atheist-Lite]

The cognitive concept of linear time derives from masturbation. Do they or don't they masturbate?

[Azathoth]

From the study abstract:

It is widely assumed that there is a natural, prelinguistic conceptual domain of time

Is the "widely assumed" part true? Who is being referred to there? Is it widely assumed among their colleagues? Scientists, generally? Philosophers? Everyone?

Chomsky says so but he is a fucking idiot

[Ronja]

From the study abstract:

It is widely assumed that there is a natural, prelinguistic conceptual domain of time

Is the "widely assumed" part true? Who is being referred to there? Is it widely assumed among their colleagues? Scientists, generally? Philosophers? Everyone?

Chomsky says so but he is a fucking idiot

I wouldn't quite call Chomsky an idiot, but he is rigid and dogmatic about a few too many things, IMO.

[laklak]

Poor, deluded savages. We need to send in our missionaries and civil servants to teach them to wear clothes, introduce smallpox and measles, and Save Their Souls for God Almighty. It's the Christian thing to do.

[mistermack]

What we don't find is a notion of time as being independent of the events which are occuring; they don't have a notion of time which is something the events occur in

I'm not sure that I disagree with them.
From a physics point of view, I would argue that elapsed time IS a succession of events, and those events have a fundamental CHARACTERISTIC which we call time. So time IS all about events, and without events, there is no time.

[Svartalf]

The cognitive concept of linear time derives from masturbation. Do they or don't they masturbate?

Can you remind on whose research that concept is based? Masturbation actually creates the conception of an eternally repeating cycle of masturbation, pointless stuff, and masturbation again
[Svartalf, Utopian journal of chronosexual studies, in between wanks]

[Svartalf]

From the study abstract:

It is widely assumed that there is a natural, prelinguistic conceptual domain of time

Is the "widely assumed" part true? Who is being referred to there? Is it widely assumed among their colleagues? Scientists, generally? Philosophers? Everyone?

Chomsky says so but he is a fucking idiot

I wouldn't quite call Chomsky an idiot, but he is rigid and dogmatic about a few too many things, IMO.

[Ironclad]

They would appreciate time better if they if had to get a British train or bus to work. That'll learn 'em good.

[Svartalf]

Yeah, because british transports run so well on time since thatcher put order to the situation.

[Robert_S]

Neat study but lacking the linguistical capabilities to relate a conceptual idea and lacking the conceptual idea itself are two different things.

Rubbish!

If we had conceptual ideas for things that we have no words for, then we'd spend a lot of time wondering what the word for something is, coining new words, hyphenating words together and misusing known words.