Pirahã and its Implications for Grammar When Linguist Dan Everett was sent to the Amazon Jungle to live with the Pirahã people, his mission was to learn their language and convert them to Christianity. What he left with, many years later, were theories about grammar and language he never thought he would discover. His views about language changed drastically, from agreeing with former colleague at Illinois State University, Noam Chomsky, to rejecting those views wholeheartedly. He spent years formulating new hypotheses based on his study of the Pirahã people, and is a big proponent of language being culture-based, that is to say that how people speak has a lot to do with their culture. While living in the Amazon, Everett changed in many ways including, not only beliefs and ideals about grammar and language, but also in beliefs and ideals of religion. To understand how Everett was affected by the Pirahãs, we must first understand where he came from and what he believed prior to meeting them. Everett was born in Southern California and said in an interview with Radio New Zealand’s Kathryn Ryan that he did not consider himself or his family religious. When he was in high school, however, he met a woman who would soon become his wife who was extremely religious to the point that she eventually converted him to Christianity. He became such a genuine believer that he would preach his beliefs on the streets and ultimately became an ordained minister. What he believed when it came to language was based a lot on his work at Illinois State University where one of his famous colleagues was Noam Chomsky. This was all before there was any talk of him going to the Amazon for any type of mission. There were two reasons Everett went to the Amazon; he was being funded by some churches to promote Christianity to the Pirahã people, and he was also hired by the Summer