Counting is one of the first things we teach our kids. I mean, every parent’s probably said, “You had better be in that bed by the time I count to three.” Followed by “One…two…two-and-a-half…” But counting might not be as universal as it seems. Because scientists from M.I.T. have found that a tribe living in the Amazon has no words for numbers.
計數(shù)是父母最先讓子女學(xué)會的事之一。比如說，可能每一個父母都曾經(jīng)下過這樣的最后通牒："在數(shù)到三之前，你最好乖乖的給我上床"。然后開始計數(shù)："1、2、2.5、……"不過計數(shù)卻并非像我們想象的那樣是人人都會的，麻省理工的科學(xué)家就發(fā)現(xiàn)亞馬孫一個部落的語言中就沒有表征數(shù)的詞。
Back in 2004, the M.I.T. team reported that the Piraha people seemed to have terms that described “one,” “two,” or “many.” This was based on asking tribe members to count objects, like sticks or nuts or AA batteries, as the researchers laid them out. This time, the scientists had the subjects count backward as they removed things. And they discovered that tribe members used the word previously thought to mean “two” for as many as five or six objects. And they used the word “one” for anything less than that. So the words don’t stand for numbers, so much as relative amounts. The findings appear in the online edition of the journal Cognition.
早在2004年，麻省理工的這個研究小組就報道說，亞馬孫Piraha人的語言似乎只能表達"1、2和許多"三個概念，而無法對超過2的數(shù)進行精準(zhǔn)表征。這一結(jié)論是讓Piraha人對木棍、堅果和電池等物品進行計數(shù)而得出的。最近的研究則讓他們憑借記憶說出曾經(jīng)見過的物品數(shù)量。結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)：Piraha人用原本以為指代"2"的這個單詞來表示多達5或6個數(shù)，而"1"則表示任何少于5的數(shù)。因此科學(xué)家推斷，這些單詞并不代表確切的數(shù)，而只具有相對量的意思。這些發(fā)現(xiàn)發(fā)表于《認識》雜志的在線版。
Although the Piraha people might not need numbers, think of what they’re missing. “A large number of trombones led the big parade, with an even larger number of cornets close at hand…”
雖然Piraha人可能不需要計數(shù)，但他們卻錯過了很多關(guān)于數(shù)的樂趣，比如那首膾炙人口的歌在他們口中可能就只能這樣唱了"游行隊伍的最前面是許多的長號，緊隨其后的是更多的短號"。
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