e long before people realized how diverse languages could Рbe. Р Only recently did linguists begin the serious study of languages that were very different Рfrom their own. Two anthropologist-linguists, Franz Boas and Edward Sapir, were pioneers Рin describing many native languages of North and South America during the first half of the Рtwentieth century. 62) We are obliged to them because some of these languages have since Рvanished, as the peoples who spoke them died out or became assimilated and lost their native Рlanguages. Other linguists in the earlier part of this century, however, who were less eager to Рdeal with bizarre data from “exotic” language, were not always so grateful. 63) The newly Рdescribed languages were often so strikingly different from the well studied languages of
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