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Everett, D. L. (2009). Don’t sleep, there are snakes: Life and language in the Amazonian jungle.
New York: Random House, Inc.
Reviewed by Heather Hamilton, MA Candidate Linguistics, Gallaudet University.
OVERVIEW
Don’t Sleep There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle is an account of a
Christian missionary’s experiences and personal journey living among an Amazonian tribe, the
Pirahãs, to learn and document their language with the goal of translating the New Testament.
His research and documentation of the Pirahã language provides evidence against many
linguistic approaches, including Chomsky’s Theory of Grammar, the predominant modern
approach to linguistics. The author stresses the importance of studying a language within the
context of its culture rather than attempting to separate language from culture. A summary of the
book follows in which I highlight themes that occur in the book, focusing particularly on Part
Two: LANGUAGE, as that section includes more discussion on linguistics and the Pirahã
language.
SUMMARY
The first section of the book, Some Notes on the Pirahã Language as Used in this Book, provides
the phonemes of the Pirahãs’ language and an explanation of their pronunciation. The preface
that follows provides insight to the contents of the book, emphasizing that the entirety of the
book and the lessons the author learned were based on his own experiences. He acknowledges
that others in the same situation may have gained different insights. The prologue introduces the
idea that cultures provide a lens through which all people perceive the world around them.
Part One: LIFE ultimately describes life among the Pirahã as well as Everett’s experiences
living and working there with his family. He explains that his goal, at least initially, was to learn
the language for missionary purposes. During his time there, he learned many important lessons.
For example, in Chapter 4 Sometimes You Make Mistakes, the author explains how many
Brazilians were racist towards the Pirahãs. In this chapter, Everett comes to the realization that
he, too, wrongly felt that he was somewhat of an authority figure to the Pirahãs, an important
lesson in ethics for those doing language fieldwork. A large section, chapters five through eight,
of Part One: LIFE explains anthropological features, including discussion of the material
culture, rituals, kinship system, and social norms of the Pirahãs. Finally, during Everett’s journey
getting the Pirahãs’ land officially recognized, Everett was exposed to non-pidgin versions of
Pirahãs’ language as well as different dialects of the language.
In Part Two: LANGUAGE, the author explains what is unique about the Pirahãs’ language and
how these unique characteristics impact the field of linguistics. He also emphasizes that language
cannot be understood apart from its culture. In chapter 11, Changing Channels with Pirahã
Sounds, Everett explains that the Pirahã language is tonal. Free variation occurs with consonants
because there is no variation in the tones of words. Chapter 12 Pirahã Words explains words in
Pirahã and the features that make them unique, which leads to the claim that Chomsky’s Theory
of Grammar is not compatible with his findings from the Pirahã language. This chapter segues
into chapter 13 How Much Grammar Do People Need? where Everett explores the idea that
grammar may not be as important to language as linguists thought it was and provides possible
alternative approaches.
