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This conclusion is refuted by the existence of Australian Aboriginal groups with no number words who count perfectly well - http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/news-releases-archiv....

Even Everett Sr doesn't agree that the piraha can't count - http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001387.h...

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It's worth reading some of the papers where they discuss performance at counting tasks among the Pirahã. IIRC there were some people who seemed understood there was a difference in the quantity but struggled to quantify or articulate it; and there were other people who didn't struggle to articulate it at all, they just didn't bother with it or think it important.

"Number as a cognitive technology: Evidence from Pirahã language and cognition" http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010027708...

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