The Grammar of Happiness
2012•52m•8.0•Released
Documentary
The Grammar Of Happiness follows the story of Daniel Everett among the extraordinary 'nonconvertible' Amazonian Pirah tribe, a group of indigenous hunter- gatherers whose culture and outlook on life has taken the world of linguistics by storm. As a young ambitious missionary three decades ago, Dan, a red-bearded towering American, decamped to the Amazon rain forest to save indigenous souls. His assignment was to translate the book of Mark into the tongue of the Pirah, a people whose puzzling speech seemed unrelated to any other on Earth. What he learned during his time with the Pirah led him to question the very foundations of his own deep beliefs. As a 'born again' atheist, Dan divorced his devout Christian wife and became estranged from his children. Having lost faith and family, his new life is dominated by the desire to leave behind his legacy. Everett's most controversial claim is that the Pirah language lacks 'recursion' - the ability to build an infinite number of sentences.
Director
Randall Wood
Writer
Randall Wood, Michael O'Neill
Studio
Essential Media and Entertainment
Cast
Daniel Everett
himself
Production
Company
Essential Media and Entertainment
Producer
Chris Thorburn
Producer
Michael O'Neill
Recommended
7
Come See Me in the Good Light
2025
6.5
A Toxic Love Story
2026
7
Marvel's Behind the Mask
2021
6.5
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
2019
8
My Mom Jayne
2025
6.6
Harmontown
2014
6.4
Ex Libris: The New York Public Library
2017
7.4
For the Love of Spock
2016
6.7
Gilbert
2017
6.6
The September Issue
2009
6.4
Fuck
2006
7.5
Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski
2018
7.6
To Kill a Tiger
2023
6.8
Looking for Richard
1996
6.1
Orgasm Inc: The Story of OneTaste
2022
6
Memories of a Murderer: The Nilsen Tapes
2021
8.5
No Half Measures: Creating the Final Season of Breaking Bad
2013
7.8
National Geographic: Journey to the Edge of the Universe
2008
7
Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin
2003
6.5
Downloaded
2013
Similar Movies
5.6
Do I Sound Gay?
2015
9
The Unanswered Question I : Musical Phonology
1976
At a Traffic Light
2024
je suis folles
2026
6.9
Project Nim
2011
10
Noam Chomsky: Knowledge and Power
2015
10
We Will Speak
2023
9
The Unanswered Question II : Musical Syntax
1976
9
The Unanswered Question III : Musical Semantics
1976
9
The Unanswered Question IV : The Delights and Dangers of Ambiguity
1976
8.5
The Unanswered Question V : The Twentieth Century Crisis
1976
9
The Unanswered Question VI : The Poetry of Earth
1976
6.9
Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?
2013
To Save a Language
2020
Anton Habovštiak - Oravským chodníčkom...
1995
8
American Tongues
1987
What if we forgot about our nuclear waste?
2024
8
Yeah You Rite!
1985
CodeSwitching
2019
Marc Okrand on Klingon
2002