Photo: Xiabikabikabi (talk) / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Daniel Everett is a fascinating figure to me because his story crosses so many worlds. He went into the Amazon as a missionary to study the Pirahã people, and ended up having his own faith and some core ideas about language overturned by what he found. His claims about Pirahã grammar sparked one of the biggest debates in modern linguistics, putting him at odds with Chomskyan theory. Whether or not you agree with him, I admire that he let decades of fieldwork actually change his mind. He's now a cognitive sciences professor, and I find that arc, missionary to skeptic to scholar, genuinely compelling.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Daniel Everett
- Name (Japanese)
- ダニエル・エヴェレット
- Reading
- だにえる・えゔぇれっと
- Born
- July 26, 1951 (age 75)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Leo / Rabbit
- Origin
- Holtville, California, United States
- Occupation
- linguist / university teacher / writer / missionary / anthropologist
2. Background
- University
- University of Campinas
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Frequently asked questions
When was Daniel Everett born?
Born July 26, 1951 (age 75).
Where is Daniel Everett from?
Daniel Everett is from Holtville, California, United States.
What does Daniel Everett do?
Daniel Everett works as linguist, university teacher, writer, missionary, anthropologist.
Linguist — see all → · University teacher — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.