Brazil

There is more than one way to perceive the world around us. Some people identify things by their shape and size. They categorize objects as being round or angular, long or short, big or small― attributes that can be measured. This is a geometrical perspective. The Palikur people of Brazil share this perspective, but they are also able to view objects and entities from an equally valid topological perspective. Palikur patterns of thought, culture, and art indicate that the people comprehend topological properties at a visceral level: they are deeply aware that all objects have an outside and an inside, which make a whole that is more than the sum of its parts. Their language categorizes each object according to its wholeness (overall integrity), boundary (overall surface), interior, extendedness and symmetry. Such topological properties cannot be described in metric terms; instead Palikur classifiers address boundaries and interiors in terms of being closed, partially open, or fully open. More than a perspective, topological ideas have produced in the people a mindset that influences every part of their lives. It is our hope that the new data in this paper will help linguists, cognitive scientists, and educators gain a practical understanding of both topological properties and linguistic relativity.