home I back tired is feeling

This what would the Pirahã probably say in their language.. apparently they are nice Amazonian people who talk, hum, yell, sing and whistle to communicate but don't have numbers, colour words or comparatives. I knew those and other discovery-channel-like things about Pirahã people and language at the conference I just returned from. The American linguist who lived with them for 7 years had all sorts of nice stories about them, in addition to the linguistic stuff, but I guess one of the nicest is when they asked him "do Americans die?" since he looked old to them. Interestingly, the Pirahã have no concept of fiction but have the ability to lie and joke, and they would be disoriented if they don't know where the river is but can accept the idea of talking over the phone! Billy suggested that maybe they're not human :) Personally, I think I should go there on a linguistic mission to verify the data known about them, and maybe have a couple of pictures of an anaconda :)

Anyway, here I am again, just coming back, hopping on trains, dragging a bag, and returning to an empty flat in a deja vous kind of experience where you don't know exactly if you're happy or sad. The conference itself was very good. I got to attend presentations in many areas of linguistics and they all confirmed my 'liking' of pragmatics, my 'disliking' of syntax and my 'half-liking' of phonology. I also got to meet new people, and as a plus I got to hear some Egyptian Arabic at one presentation today and speak some Arabic with a Syrian PhD student. But I guess the best part was last night, when I was walking around the gardens, then lying down on the grass looking at the stars, and listening to music at 1 am for an hour. You know what, we never spend enough time looking at the stars.. aren't they amazing?

So, the question is: now what? Well, lots of things to do. The headlines: Get Back To Thesis Work and Do The Stupid Unpacking.

Right now, I am too physically and mentally worn out to do anything, even prepare dinner.

Mai