Franz Boas Primary Source

The author (Pullum, G. K.) in this book has shown a very strong view on how other authors have interpreted other papers written before them related to the incorrect vocabulary of Eskimos. Pullum merely points out that the information that is collected from one author can be presented in a completely different way by another. This arose between Franz Boas and Benjamin Lee Whorf from Boas’ primary source. To clarify, a primary source is a piece of original material which involves original thinking and the sharing of new ideas. Whatever is wrote in this primary material is reliable and accurate at that time of publication. Boas wrote the source in 1911 which discussed that the English language had a variety of different roots relating to the word ‘water’ such as a lake, river and rain, and he suggested that Eskimos have distinct roots relating to phrases that the word ‘snow’ can be found in. …show more content…
Whorf was the one who was responsible for the incorrect piece of information collected from Boas’ article (Pullum: p161), and was also the one who started the chain of other authors causing the misinterpretation. To support this claim, Professor Laura Martin had read statistics as high as four hundred to represent the number of different words Eskimos have for snow, however the article of the would-be author she read the claim from did not have any references as to where he collected his information from, as admitted when questioned for a magazine. This is one of the major ways in which inaccurate information gets replicated in academia; through not referencing. It isn’t clear as to where the information has come from and once an audience reads this false information, it sticks in the general public’s mind (Pullum: