Now Reading: Amondawa tribe’s language has no words for weeks, months or years
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Amondawa tribe’s language has no words for weeks, months or years
Amondawa tribe’s language has no words for weeks, months or years
A study by the University of Portsmouth has found that the Amondawa tribe in the Brazilian Amazon has no concept of numerical time. Their language does not use words for weeks, months…
The Story in Brief
A study by the University of Portsmouth has found that the Amondawa tribe in the Brazilian Amazon has no concept of numerical time. Their language does not use words for weeks, months or years. Instead, the Amondawa organise their lives around natural events, environmental changes and the stages of a person's life. The Times of India reports that linguists say the distinction is significant because in clock-based cultures, people often talk about time as a tangible thing that can be lost, saved or spent. The Amondawa language appears to lack that framework entirely.
The Indian Opinion
Some may romanticise the Amondawa as living 'outside time', but that misses the point. All humans experience change. The Amondawa simply do not reify time as a countable resource. The real lesson is how deeply language and thought shape each other. Watch: if the Amondawa adopt Portuguese, will their children still describe time through events, or will the calendar take over?
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
