1259: Discovering a Language from a Parrot May 21, 2018

All languages are from humans, but one was retrieved from a parrot.

Alexander von Humboldt, known for many things including his work with electricity also spent a great deal of time in South America, as well as documenting native groups from the Amazon. There was one tribe which was said to have been eaten by Caribs (cannibals) but there was a parrot that survived. Humboldt went with someone who spoke, Maipures, a similar language to the extinct Atures and learned around 40 words from the parrot. Along with the Maipures speaker, he was able to reconstruct a small amount of the language.

To see some hypothetical Word Facts, visit Patreon.com/wordfacts. Check out the latest Youtube video too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqYX2heE0T0