PIRAHA CULTURE AND GRAMMAR: A RESPONSE TO SOME CRITICISMS

This article responds to criticisms of the proposals of Everett 2005 by Nevins, Pesetsky, and Rodrigues (2009, this issue). It argues that their criticisms are unfounded and that Piraha grammar and culture are accurately described in Everett 2005. The article also offers more detailed argumentation for the hypothesis that culture can exert an architectonic effect on grammar. It concludes that Piraha falsifies the single prediction made by Hauser, Chomsky, and Fitch (2002) that recursion is the essential property of human language.