Instructions: Watch the film The Grammar of Happiness on the Smithsonian website (URL below), and answer the questions below. The film lasts about 45 minutes, but you may need some extra time to pause the film and write down answers. The questions are in the order that the answers appear in the film. The total points possible on this assignment are 15, which will be added to your final exam grade.
URL: http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/site/sn/show.do?show=141519
Questions:
- In what four ways can the Piraha language be communicated? (1)
- What was Daniel Everett’s original reason for going to live with the Piraha? (1)
- How did he begin to learn Piraha when he shared no common language with the speakers?(1)
- What are three common language features that the Piraha language does not have?(1)
- Whose ideas did Everett’s first controversial paper challenge?(1)
- What is recursion? (2)
- What is Universal Grammar? (2)
- Which of Everett’s claims created the most controversy? (2)
- Why was Everett prevented from doing research with the Piraha? (1)
- Why were there no members of the linguistics department of the University of Brasilia present at Everett’s talk? (1)
- What were some of the changes to the Piraha village that the film crew encountered upon their return? (1)
- What were the results of the research on the Piraha language conducted by the two linguists from MIT? (1)
