The Weirdest Language Of All Time Is FINALLY Being Deciphered

Curiously, quipus were also used to coordinate the Pueblo Revolt, which kind of suggests this system must have existed throughout the Americas at some point.

Thank you for this interesting topic. In your example it sounds like the counting system could be to remember the counts… maybe with some of the rest being verbal? I could imagine many runners traveling hundreds of miles with tax records then delivering the knotted abacus out for an exact count. Numbers are well described… now we just need words.

captain picard has his own language?

i mean, bro, we are ALL indigenous if you think about it.

Nafusi: 300 000
Picard: 200 000
Sierra Totonac: 120 000
Tolowa: 1 000 (?)
Udmurt: 270 000
Uru: >1 000
Volow: 1
Wintu: 1
Yahgan: 0 as of 2022 (dormant)
Yarawi: 1

My language, michif (unsure which dialect, or if this is all dialects combined): 1 800

17:53 Or a mixed language forms, like michif! : D

4:34 i guess he was the champollion, my french

NOTE: Its 'very interesting' that the Incans developed Quipu, but didn't have a 'zero' placeholder/knot. Meanwhile the Olmec in northern S. America (Venezuela, Columbia etc), or more precisely their predecessors developed a long-count calendar (long scale way to track time/seasons/centuries) AND had a zero placeholder.

In FACT: it appears that the Olmec's predecessors were the 1st to use a zero placeholder; somewhere between 2000BC and 500AD-ish. Egypt would be next to create a zero symbol (I beleive wit the shell-shaped hieroglyph); China didn't have one, I don't believe Indus Valley Civil. had one, Greeks didn't have one.

MORE INTERESTING: Did Olmec's (or predecessors) have 'the wheel'? IF NOT, to develop complex mathematics and written language, but not have one of homo sapiens' "we did it 1st" "biggest inventions".

I first learnt about keepoos on Futurama.

My grandmother is from a small town in Dalarna in Sweden and she speaks a language called Dalecarlian which is the closest language to Old East Norse. She also knows how to read Dalarunes, a runic alphabet from Dalarna.❤ I have been trying to learn everything from her because of how many speakers pass away each year 😢

is…. is Klingon counted in those 6700 languages?

Quipu = looks "Incan". Khipu = looks Egyptian

It's Pa-PIE-rus.

I'm sorry, wait, hold up. How did you pronounce "papyrus"?

I use a touch system to add meaning to my handwritten notes. It is not a very advanced system so far, I only use it to add three kinds of information to my writing, of which only one kind is immediately meaningful to the reader.
#1 – did I have anything sticky for breakfast.
#2 – have I recently spilled what I have been drinking.
#3 – is my note paper on fire.
It is not much of a beginning but revolutionary change must start somewhere, and a humble beginning is as good as any.

I wonder if anyone has devised a way to add a layer of meaning based on smell? Paper impregnated with eg garlic could work as well as a cylinder seal or signet ring, I would imagine, or perhaps it could in some way express your nationality, your line of work, or your preferred cuisine? You could know you have a letter from your plumber as soon as you open your mail box – it would not even need to be printed on brown paper.

I love that Futuramas newest season covered this idea of the Quipu being a computer algorithm.

We can credit Spanish conquistadors and priests with the destruction of millennias' worth of historical data across the various civilizations and cultural groups they encountered in the Americas… hubris is mighty that way …

omg could this language make music? like a 3d harp? fascinating !

Boo AI thumbnail 👎👎👎👎

The Inca knew how much llamas were in a village and who had them, they also knew how much potato's were stored as well as corn, clothing etc..To say that the Inca empire didn't have a writing system is erroneous, you can't have accountability without describing what you're counting!

To be history it has to be recorded, by definition.

quipus and quipuqumayocs didn't just "die out". The spanish killed off the whole leadership of the inca empire in order to delete their culture and conquer the people. Quipuqumayocs were part of that. In fact, the leadership spoke a different language from quechua which was more like the universal language, and this language was lost. At least, this is what my guide said.

The mysteries of string theory

My grandpa is Mexican and didn’t teach any of his kids Spanish

Kids these days can't even read cursive… pre-internet English is going to be a challenge soon.