1
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Twomey CR, Brainard DH, Plotkin JB. History constrains the evolution of efficient color naming, enabling historical inference. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2313603121. [PMID: 38416682 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2313603121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2023] [Accepted: 12/16/2023] [Indexed: 03/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Color naming in natural languages is not arbitrary: It reflects efficient partitions of perceptual color space [T. Regier, P. Kay, N. Khetarpal, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104, 1436-1441 (2007)] modulated by the relative needs to communicate about different colors [C. Twomey, G. Roberts, D. Brainard, J. Plotkin, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 118, e2109237118 (2021)]. These psychophysical and communicative constraints help explain why languages around the world have remarkably similar, but not identical, mappings of colors to color terms. Languages converge on a small set of efficient representations.But languages also evolve, and the number of terms in a color vocabulary may change over time. Here we show that history, i.e. the existence of an antecedent color vocabulary, acts as a nonadaptive constraint that biases the choice of efficient solution as a language transitions from a vocabulary of size [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] terms. Moreover, as efficient vocabularies evolve to include more terms they explore a smaller fraction of all possible efficient vocabularies compared to equally sized vocabularies constructed de novo. This path dependence of the cultural evolution of color naming presents an opportunity. Historical constraints can be used to reconstruct ancestral color vocabularies, allowing us to answer long-standing questions about the evolutionary sequences of color words, and enabling us to draw inferences from phylogenetic patterns of language change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin R Twomey
- Data Driven Discovery Initiative, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
| | - David H Brainard
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
| | - Joshua B Plotkin
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
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2
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Bell AV. Selection and adaptation in human migration. Evol Anthropol 2023; 32:308-324. [PMID: 37589279 DOI: 10.1002/evan.22003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2022] [Revised: 06/18/2023] [Accepted: 08/07/2023] [Indexed: 08/18/2023]
Abstract
This article reviews the ways migration shapes human biology. This includes the physiological and genetic, but also socio-cultural aspects such as organization, behavior, and culture. Across disciplines I highlight the multiple levels of cultural and genetic selection whereby individuals and groups adapt to pressures along a migration timeline: the origin, transit, and destination. Generally, the evidence suggests that selective pressures and adaptations occur at the individual, family, and community levels. Consequently, across levels there are negotiations, interactions, and feedbacks that shape migration outcomes and the trajectory of evolutionary change. The rise and persistence of migration-relevant adaptations emerges as a central question, including the maintenance of cumulative culture adaptations, the persistence of "cultures of migration," as well as the individual-level physiological and cognitive adaptations applied to successful transit and settlement in novel environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrian Viliami Bell
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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3
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Liu YC, Hunter-Anderson R, Cheronet O, Eakin J, Camacho F, Pietrusewsky M, Rohland N, Ioannidis A, Athens JS, Douglas MT, Ikehara-Quebral RM, Bernardos R, Culleton BJ, Mah M, Adamski N, Broomandkhoshbacht N, Callan K, Lawson AM, Mandl K, Michel M, Oppenheimer J, Stewardson K, Zalzala F, Kidd K, Kidd J, Schurr TG, Auckland K, Hill AVS, Mentzer AJ, Quinto-Cortés CD, Robson K, Kennett DJ, Patterson N, Bustamante CD, Moreno-Estrada A, Spriggs M, Vilar M, Lipson M, Pinhasi R, Reich D. Ancient DNA reveals five streams of migration into Micronesia and matrilocality in early Pacific seafarers. Science 2022; 377:72-79. [PMID: 35771911 PMCID: PMC9983687 DOI: 10.1126/science.abm6536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Micronesia began to be peopled earlier than other parts of Remote Oceania, but the origins of its inhabitants remain unclear. We generated genome-wide data from 164 ancient and 112 modern individuals. Analysis reveals five migratory streams into Micronesia. Three are East Asian related, one is Polynesian, and a fifth is a Papuan source related to mainland New Guineans that is different from the New Britain-related Papuan source for southwest Pacific populations but is similarly derived from male migrants ~2500 to 2000 years ago. People of the Mariana Archipelago may derive all of their precolonial ancestry from East Asian sources, making them the only Remote Oceanians without Papuan ancestry. Female-inherited mitochondrial DNA was highly differentiated across early Remote Oceanian communities but homogeneous within, implying matrilocal practices whereby women almost never raised their children in communities different from the ones in which they grew up.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yue-Chen Liu
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA,Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | | | - Olivia Cheronet
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1030, Austria
| | - Joanne Eakin
- Independent Researcher, Albuquerque, NM 87107, USA
| | - Frank Camacho
- Department of Biology, University of Guam, Mangilao 96923, Guam
| | - Michael Pietrusewsky
- Department of Anthropology, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
| | - Nadin Rohland
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA,Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Alexander Ioannidis
- Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.,Department of Biomedical Data Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - J. Stephen Athens
- International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., Honolulu, HI 96826, USA
| | | | | | - Rebecca Bernardos
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Brendan J. Culleton
- Institutes of Energy and the Environment, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Matthew Mah
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA,Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Nicole Adamski
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Nasreen Broomandkhoshbacht
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Kimberly Callan
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Ann Marie Lawson
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Kirsten Mandl
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1030, Austria
| | - Megan Michel
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Jonas Oppenheimer
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Kristin Stewardson
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Fatma Zalzala
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Kenneth Kidd
- Department of Genetics, Yale Medical School, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Judith Kidd
- Department of Genetics, Yale Medical School, New Haven, CT 06520, USA
| | - Theodore G. Schurr
- Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Kathryn Auckland
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Adrian V. S. Hill
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK,The Jenner Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7DQ, UK
| | - Alexander J. Mentzer
- Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7BN, UK,Big Data Institute, Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK
| | - Consuelo D. Quinto-Cortés
- National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity (LANGEBIO), Unit of Advanced Genomics, CINVESTAV, Irapuato 36821, Mexico
| | - Kathryn Robson
- MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DS, UK
| | - Douglas J. Kennett
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Nick Patterson
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA,Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Carlos D. Bustamante
- Department of Biomedical Data Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.,Center for Computational, Evolutionary and Human Genomics (CEHG), Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA,Current Address: Galatea Bio, Inc. 975 W 22nd St. Hialeah, FL 33010, USA
| | - Andrés Moreno-Estrada
- National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity (LANGEBIO), Unit of Advanced Genomics, CINVESTAV, Irapuato 36821, Mexico
| | - Matthew Spriggs
- School of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia,Vanuatu National Museum, Vanuatu Culture Centre, P.O. Box 184, Port Vila, Vanuatu
| | - Miguel Vilar
- Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
| | - Mark Lipson
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA,Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Ron Pinhasi
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1030, Austria,Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna 1030, Austria
| | - David Reich
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA,Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA,Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA,Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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4
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Semantics of European poetry is shaped by conservative forces: The relationship between poetic meter and meaning in accentual-syllabic verse. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0266556. [PMID: 35413059 PMCID: PMC9004753 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2021] [Accepted: 03/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent advances in cultural analytics and large-scale computational studies of art, literature and film often show that long-term change in the features of artistic works happens gradually. These findings suggest that conservative forces that shape creative domains might be underestimated. To this end, we provide the first large-scale formal evidence of the association between poetic meter and semantics in 18-19th century European literatures, using Czech, German and Russian collections with additional data from English poetry and early modern Dutch songs. Our study traces this association through a series of unsupervised classifications using the abstracted semantic features of poems that are inferred for individual texts with the aid of topic modeling. Topics alone enable recognition of the meters in each observed language, as may be seen from the same-meter samples clustering together (median Adjusted Rand Index between 0.48 and 1 across traditions). In addition, this study shows that the strength of the association between form and meaning tends to decrease over time. This may reflect a shift in aesthetic conventions between the 18th and 19th centuries as individual innovation was increasingly favored in literature. Despite this decline, it remains possible to recognize semantics of the meters from past or future, which suggests the continuity in meter-meaning relationships while also revealing the historical variability of conditions across languages. This paper argues that distinct metrical forms, which are often copied in a language over centuries, also maintain long-term semantic inertia in poetry. Our findings highlight the role of the formal features of cultural items in influencing the pace and shape of cultural evolution.
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5
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Dung Pham P, Luc Hoang T, Tra Le K, Thi Le P, Ngoc Nguyen N, Linh Tran H, Hung Nguyen M, Minh Tran D, Hoang H. The first data of allele frequencies for 23 autosomal STRs in the Ede ethnic group in Vietnam. Leg Med (Tokyo) 2022; 57:102072. [DOI: 10.1016/j.legalmed.2022.102072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2022] [Accepted: 04/13/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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6
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Tantular IS, Kawamoto F. Distribution of G6PD deficiency genotypes among Southeast Asian populations. Trop Med Health 2021; 49:97. [PMID: 34930507 PMCID: PMC8686385 DOI: 10.1186/s41182-021-00387-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2021] [Accepted: 12/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is a group of X-linked, hereditary genetic disorders caused by mutations in the G6PD gene and results in functional variants of about 400 biochemical and clinical phenotypes. Among them, more than 215 genotypes have been identified so far. In this review, specific features of the genotype distribution in different communities and countries are discussed based on multiple reports and our molecular epidemiological studies of Southeast Asian countries. Particularly, in Indonesia, the frequency distribution of G6PD deficiency variants was distinct between western and eastern Indonesian populations, suggesting two different gene flows during Indonesian expansions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Indah S Tantular
- Institute of Tropical Disease, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia.,Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia
| | - Fumihiko Kawamoto
- Institute of Tropical Disease, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia. .,Department of Environmental and Preventive Medicine, Oita University Faculty of Medicine, Yufu, Japan.
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7
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Wu B, Zhu W, Wang Y, Wang Q, Zhou L, Liu Z, Bi L, Barun M, Kreiswirth BN, Chen L, Chen S, Wang X, Wang W. Genetic composition and evolution of the prevalent Mycobacterium tuberculosis lineages 2 and 4 in the Chinese and Zhejiang Province populations. Cell Biosci 2021; 11:162. [PMID: 34419157 PMCID: PMC8379736 DOI: 10.1186/s13578-021-00673-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2020] [Accepted: 08/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background There are seven human-adaptation lineages of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Tuberculosis (TB) dissemination is strongly influenced by human movements and host genetics. The detailed lineage distribution evolution of Mtb in Zhejiang Province is unknown. We aim to determine how different sub-lineages are transmitted and distributed within China and Zhejiang Province. Methods We analysed whole-genome sequencing data for a worldwide collection of 1154 isolates and a provincial collection of 1296 isolates, constructed the best-scoring maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree. Bayesian evolutionary analysis was used to calculate the latest common ancestor of lineages 2 and 4. The antigenic diversity of human T cell epitopes was evaluated by calculating the pairwise dN/dS ratios. Results Of the Zhejiang isolates, 964 (74.38%) belonged to lineage 2 and 332 (25.62%) belonged to lineage 4. The distributions of the sub-lineages varied across the geographic regions of Zhejiang Province. L2.2 is the most ancient sub-lineage in Zhejiang, first appearing approximately 6897 years ago (95% highest posterior density interval (HDI): 6513–7298). L4.4 is the most modern sub-lineage, first appearing approximately 2217 years ago (95% HDI: 1864–2581). The dN/dS ratios showed that the epitope and non-epitope regions of lineage 2 strains were significantly (P < 0.001) more conserved than those of lineage 4. Conclusions An increase in the frequency of lineage 4 may reflect its successful transmission over the last 20 years. The recent common ancestors of the sub-lineages and their transmission routes are relevant to the entry of humans into China and Zhejiang Province. Diversity in T cell epitopes may prevent Mycobacterium tuberculosis from being recognized by the immune system. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13578-021-00673-7.
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Affiliation(s)
- Beibei Wu
- Zhejiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Institute of Tuberculosis Control, 3399 Binsheng Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou, 310051, Zhejiang, China
| | - Wenlong Zhu
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Fudan University, 138 Yi Xue Yuan Road, Shanghai, 200032, China
| | - Yue Wang
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Fudan University, 138 Yi Xue Yuan Road, Shanghai, 200032, China
| | - Qi Wang
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Fudan University, 138 Yi Xue Yuan Road, Shanghai, 200032, China
| | - Lin Zhou
- Zhejiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Institute of Tuberculosis Control, 3399 Binsheng Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou, 310051, Zhejiang, China
| | - Zhengwei Liu
- Zhejiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Institute of Tuberculosis Control, 3399 Binsheng Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou, 310051, Zhejiang, China
| | - Lijun Bi
- Key Laboratory of RNA Biology, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Mathema Barun
- Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, USA
| | - Barry N Kreiswirth
- Hackensack-Meridian Health Center for Discovery and Innovation, Nutley, NJ, 07110, USA
| | - Liang Chen
- Hackensack-Meridian Health Center for Discovery and Innovation, Nutley, NJ, 07110, USA
| | - Songhua Chen
- Zhejiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Institute of Tuberculosis Control, 3399 Binsheng Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou, 310051, Zhejiang, China
| | - Xiaomeng Wang
- Zhejiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Institute of Tuberculosis Control, 3399 Binsheng Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou, 310051, Zhejiang, China.
| | - Weibing Wang
- Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Fudan University, 138 Yi Xue Yuan Road, Shanghai, 200032, China. .,Department of Epidemiology, Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety of Ministry of Education, Fudan University, 138 Yi Xue Yuan Road, Shanghai, 200032, China.
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8
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Alam O, Gutaker RM, Wu CC, Hicks KA, Bocinsky K, Castillo CC, Acabado S, Fuller D, d'Alpoim Guedes JA, Hsing YI, Purugganan MD. Genome analysis traces regional dispersal of rice in Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Mol Biol Evol 2021; 38:4832-4846. [PMID: 34240169 PMCID: PMC8557449 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msab209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The dispersal of rice (Oryza sativa) following domestication influenced massive social and cultural changes across South, East, and Southeast Asia. The history of dispersal across islands of Southeast Asia, and the role of Taiwan and the Austronesian expansion in this process remain largely unresolved. Here, we reconstructed the routes of dispersal of O. sativa ssp. japonica rice through Taiwan and the northern Philippines using whole-genome re-sequencing of indigenous rice landraces coupled with archaeological and paleoclimate data. Our results indicate that japonica rice found in the northern Philippines diverged from Indonesian landraces as early as 3500 BP. In contrast, rice cultivated by the indigenous peoples of the Taiwanese mountains has complex origins. It comprises two distinct populations, each best explained as a result of admixture between temperate japonica that presumably came from northeast Asia, and tropical japonica from the northern Philippines and mainland Southeast Asia respectively. We find that the temperate japonica component of these indigenous Taiwan populations diverged from northeast Asia subpopulations at about 2600 BP, while gene flow from the northern Philippines occurred before ∼1300 years BP. This coincides with a period of intensified trade established across the South China Sea. Finally, we find evidence for positive selection acting on distinct genomic regions in different rice subpopulations, indicating local adaptation associated with the spread of japonica rice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ornob Alam
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, NY 10003 USA
| | - Rafal M Gutaker
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, NY 10003 USA.,Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, Richmond, London, TW9 3AE UK
| | - Cheng-Chieh Wu
- Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei 115, Taiwan.,Institute of Plant Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
| | - Karen A Hicks
- Department of Biology, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio 43022 USA
| | | | | | - Stephen Acabado
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA USA
| | - Dorian Fuller
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom.,School of Cultural Heritage, North-West University, Xi'an, China
| | - Jade A d'Alpoim Guedes
- Department of Anthropology and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA
| | - Yue-Ie Hsing
- Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica, Nankang, Taipei 115, Taiwan
| | - Michael D Purugganan
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, New York University, New York, NY 10003 USA.,Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University, New York, NY 10028 USA
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9
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Evans CL, Greenhill SJ, Watts J, List JM, Botero CA, Gray RD, Kirby KR. The uses and abuses of tree thinking in cultural evolution. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200056. [PMID: 33993767 PMCID: PMC8126464 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Modern phylogenetic methods are increasingly being used to address questions about macro-level patterns in cultural evolution. These methods can illuminate the unobservable histories of cultural traits and identify the evolutionary drivers of trait change over time, but their application is not without pitfalls. Here, we outline the current scope of research in cultural tree thinking, highlighting a toolkit of best practices to navigate and avoid the pitfalls and 'abuses' associated with their application. We emphasize two principles that support the appropriate application of phylogenetic methodologies in cross-cultural research: researchers should (1) draw on multiple lines of evidence when deciding if and which types of phylogenetic methods and models are suitable for their cross-cultural data, and (2) carefully consider how different cultural traits might have different evolutionary histories across space and time. When used appropriately phylogenetic methods can provide powerful insights into the processes of evolutionary change that have shaped the broad patterns of human history. This article is part of the theme issue 'Foundations of cultural evolution'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cara L. Evans
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra 2700, Australia
| | - Joseph Watts
- Religion Programme, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand
- Centre for Research on Evolution, Belief and Behaviour, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand
| | - Johann-Mattis List
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Carlos A. Botero
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, MO 63130, USA
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Kathryn R. Kirby
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada M5S 3B2
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10
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Bentley RA, Moritz WR, Ruck DJ, O’Brien MJ. Evolution of initiation rites during the Austronesian dispersal. Sci Prog 2021; 104:368504211031364. [PMID: 34236926 PMCID: PMC10450758 DOI: 10.1177/00368504211031364] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
As adaptive systems, kinship and its accompanying rules have co-evolved with elements of complex societies, including wealth inheritance, subsistence, and power relations. Here we consider an aspect of kinship evolution in the Austronesian dispersal that began from about 5500 BP in Taiwan, reaching Melanesia about 3200 BP, and dispersing into Micronesia by 1500 BP. Previous, foundational work has used phylogenetic comparative methods and ethnolinguistic information to infer matrilocal residence in proto-Austronesian societies. Here we apply Bayesian phylogenetic analyses to a data set on Austronesian societies that combines existing data on marital residence systems with a new set of ethnographic data, introduced here, on initiation rites. Transition likelihoods between cultural-trait combinations were modeled on an ensemble of 1000 possible Austronesian language trees, using Reversible Jump Markov Chain Monte Carlo (RJ-MCMC) simulations. Compared against a baseline phylogenetic model of independent evolution, a phylogenetic model of correlated evolution between female and male initiation rites is substantially more likely (log Bayes factor: 17.9). This indicates, over the generations of Austronesian dispersal, initiation rites were culturally stable when both female and male rites were in the same state (both present or both absent), yet relatively unstable for female-only rites. The results indicate correlated phylogeographic evolution of cultural initiation rites in the prehistoric dispersal of Austronesian societies across the Pacific. Once acquired, male initiation rites were more resilient than female-only rites among Austronesian societies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Damian J Ruck
- Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
- Advai Ltd, London, UK
| | - Michael J O’Brien
- Office of the Provost, Texas A&M University–San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA
- Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
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11
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Abstract
Evidence is reviewed for widespread phonological and phonetic tendencies in contemporary languages. The evidence is based largely on the frequency of sound types in word lists and in phoneme inventories across the world's languages. The data reviewed point to likely tendencies in the languages of the Upper Palaeolithic. These tendencies include the reliance on specific nasal and voiceless stop consonants, the relative dispreference for posterior voiced consonants and the use of peripheral vowels. More tenuous hypotheses related to prehistoric languages are also reviewed. These include the propositions that such languages lacked labiodental consonants and relied more heavily on vowels, when contrasted to many contemporary languages. Such hypotheses suggest speech has adapted to subtle pressures that may in some cases vary across populations. This article is part of the theme issue 'Reconstructing prehistoric languages'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caleb Everett
- Department of Anthropology, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA
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12
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Neureiter N, Ranacher P, van Gijn R, Bickel B, Weibel R. Can Bayesian phylogeography reconstruct migrations and expansions in linguistic evolution? ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 8:201079. [PMID: 33614066 PMCID: PMC7890507 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.201079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2020] [Accepted: 12/11/2020] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Bayesian phylogeography has been used in historical linguistics to reconstruct homelands and expansions of language families, but the reliability of these reconstructions has remained unclear. We contribute to this discussion with a simulation study where we distinguish two types of spatial processes: migration, where populations or languages leave one place for another, and expansion, where populations or languages gradually expand their territory. We simulate migration and expansion in two scenarios with varying degrees of spatial directional trends and evaluate the performance of state-of-the-art phylogeographic methods. Our results show that these methods fail to reconstruct migrations, but work surprisingly well on expansions, even under severe directional trends. We demonstrate that migrations and expansions have typical phylogenetic and spatial patterns, which in the one case inhibit and in the other facilitate phylogeographic reconstruction. Furthermore, we propose descriptive statistics to identify whether a real sample of languages, their relationship and spatial distribution, better fits a migration or an expansion scenario. Bringing together the results of the simulation study and theoretical arguments, we make recommendations for assessing the adequacy of phylogeographic models to reconstruct the spatial evolution of languages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nico Neureiter
- University Research Priority Program (URPP) Language and Space, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Author for correspondence: Nico Neureiter e-mail:
| | - Peter Ranacher
- University Research Priority Program (URPP) Language and Space, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Rik van Gijn
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Leiden University Centre for Linguistics, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Balthasar Bickel
- University Research Priority Program (URPP) Language and Space, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Robert Weibel
- University Research Priority Program (URPP) Language and Space, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution (ISLE), University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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OSADA NAOKI, KAWAI YOSUKE. Exploring models of human migration to the Japanese archipelago using genome-wide genetic data. ANTHROPOL SCI 2021. [DOI: 10.1537/ase.201215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- NAOKI OSADA
- Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, Sapporo
| | - YOSUKE KAWAI
- Genome Medical Science Project, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo
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14
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Abstract
All results in this paper are based upon a new dataset consisting in 60 Swadesh lists of 207 items, overall 12,420 terms collected during 2018-2019. Each list corresponds to a different variety of Malagasy, which is not simply identified by the name of the ethnicity but also by the precise location where the variety was collected. This is very important since some traditional ethnic groups are a heritage of historical events rather than representing communities with similar habits and dialects. This new dataset is by far the best available, both for dimension and completeness. The varieties are classified both by standard tools, as the trees generated by UPGMA and NJ which privilege genealogy by detecting vertical transmissions, and by a new method which privileges horizontal exchanges. The new method results in a two-dimensional chart of Madagascar which realistically reproduces geography despite being generated only by comparison of words. The landing date of the ancestors of Malagasy is determined about 650 CE. This result is obtained by a straightforward approach based on the comparison of the UPGMA Malagasy family tree with the analogous tree of Romance family of languages for which all dates are well historically attested. We also propose an improved definition of Diversity computed for every locus in Madagascar and not only in places where the dialects were collected. Moreover, Diversity becomes a locally determined quantity as it is usually in biology. Diversity differences point to the South-East coast as the location where the first colonizers landed or, at least, where Malagasy variants started their dispersion. Finally, we find that the dialect spoken by the Mikea, a hunter-gatherer people in the South-West of Madagascar, is not very different from the variants of their neighbours Vezo and Masikoro. Therefore, Mikea unlikely can be linked to eventual aboriginal populations living in Madagascar prior to the main colonization event in 650 CE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maurizio Serva
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Scienze dell’Informazione e Matematica, Università dell’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy
| | - Michele Pasquini
- Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Scienze dell’Informazione e Matematica, Università dell’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy
- * E-mail:
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15
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Deng Z, Hung HC, Carson MT, Oktaviana AA, Hakim B, Simanjuntak T. Validating earliest rice farming in the Indonesian Archipelago. Sci Rep 2020; 10:10984. [PMID: 32620777 PMCID: PMC7335082 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-67747-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2020] [Accepted: 05/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Preserved ancient botanical evidence in the form of rice phytoliths has confirmed that people farmed domesticated rice (Oryza sativa) in the interior of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, by at least 3,500 years ago. This discovery helps to resolve a mystery about one of the region's major events in natural and cultural history, by documenting when rice farming spread into Indonesia, ultimately from a source in mainland China. At the Minanga Sipakko site in Sulawesi, preserved leaf and husk phytoliths of rice show the diagnostic morphology of domesticated varieties, and the discarded husks indicate on-site processing of the crops. The phytoliths were contained within an undisturbed, subsurface archaeological layer of red-slipped pottery, a marker for an evidently sudden cultural change in the region that multiple radiocarbon results extend back to 3,500 years ago. The results from Minanga Sipakko allow factual evaluation of previously untested hypotheses about the timing, geographic pattern, and cultural context of the spread of rice farming into Indonesia, as well as the contribution of external immigrants in this process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhenhua Deng
- Center for the Study of Chinese Archaeology, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
- School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
| | - Hsiao-Chun Hung
- Department of Archaeology and Natural History, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2061, Australia.
| | - Mike T Carson
- Micronesian Area Research Center, University of Guam, Mangilao, Guam, 96913, USA
| | - Adhi Agus Oktaviana
- Center for Prehistoric and Austronesian Studies, and National Center for Archaeology, Jalan Raya Condet Pejaten 4, Jakarta, 12510, Indonesia
| | - Budianto Hakim
- Balai Arkeologi Makassar, Jl. Pajjaiang No.13, Sudiang Raya, Kota Makassar, Sulawesi Selatan, 90242, Indonesia
| | - Truman Simanjuntak
- Center for Prehistoric and Austronesian Studies, and National Center for Archaeology, Jalan Raya Condet Pejaten 4, Jakarta, 12510, Indonesia
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16
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Bradley S, Thébault KPY. Models on the move: Migration and imperialism. STUDIES IN HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 2019; 77:81-92. [PMID: 31701883 DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2017.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2016] [Revised: 05/04/2017] [Accepted: 11/30/2017] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
We introduce 'model migration' as a species of cross-disciplinary knowledge transfer whereby the representational function of a model is radically changed to allow application to a new disciplinary context. Controversies and confusions that often derive from this phenomenon will be illustrated in the context of econophysics and phylogeographic linguistics. Migration can be usefully contrasted with the concept of 'imperialism', which has been influentially discussed in the context of geographical economics. In particular, imperialism, unlike migration, relies upon extension of the original model via an expansion of the domain of phenomena it is taken to adequately describe. The success of imperialism thus requires expansion of the justificatory sanctioning of the original idealising assumptions to a new disciplinary context. Contrastingly, successful migration involves the radical representational re-interpretation of the original model, rather than its extension. Migration thus requires 're-sanctioning' of new 'counterpart idealisations' to allow application to an entirely different class of phenomena. Whereas legitimate scientific imperialism should be based on the pursuit of some form of ontological unification, no such requirement is needed to legitimate the practice of model migration. The distinction between migration and imperialism will thus be shown to have significant normative as well as descriptive value.
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Moravec JC, Atkinson Q, Bowern C, Greenhill SJ, Jordan FM, Ross RM, Gray R, Marsland S, Cox MP. Post-marital residence patterns show lineage-specific evolution. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.06.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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18
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Diachronic Atlas of Comparative Linguistics (DiACL)-A database for ancient language typology. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0205313. [PMID: 30307985 PMCID: PMC6181559 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0205313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2016] [Accepted: 09/17/2018] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Feature stability, time and tempo of change, and the role of genealogy versus areality in creating linguistic diversity are important issues in current computational research on linguistic typology. This paper presents a database initiative, DiACL Typology, which aims to provide a resource for addressing these questions with specific of the extended Indo-European language area of Eurasia, the region with the best documented linguistic history. The database is pre-prepared for statistical and phylogenetic analyses and contains both linguistic typological data from languages spanning over four millennia, and linguistic metadata concerning geographic location, time period, and reliability of sources. The typological data has been organized according to a hierarchical model of increasing granularity in order to create datasets that are complete and representative.
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19
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Jäger G. Global-scale phylogenetic linguistic inference from lexical resources. Sci Data 2018; 5:180189. [PMID: 30299438 PMCID: PMC6176785 DOI: 10.1038/sdata.2018.189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2018] [Accepted: 07/17/2018] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Automatic phylogenetic inference plays an increasingly important role in computational historical linguistics. Most pertinent work is currently based on expert cognate judgments. This limits the scope of this approach to a small number of well-studied language families. We used machine learning techniques to compile data suitable for phylogenetic inference from the ASJP database, a collection of almost 7,000 phonetically transcribed word lists over 40 concepts, covering two thirds of the extant world-wide linguistic diversity. First, we estimated Pointwise Mutual Information scores between sound classes using weighted sequence alignment and general-purpose optimization. From this we computed a dissimilarity matrix over all ASJP word lists. This matrix is suitable for distance-based phylogenetic inference. Second, we applied cognate clustering to the ASJP data, using supervised training of an SVM classifier on expert cognacy judgments. Third, we defined two types of binary characters, based on automatically inferred cognate classes and on sound-class occurrences. Several tests are reported demonstrating the suitability of these characters for character-based phylogenetic inference.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gerhard Jäger
- Tübingen University, Institute of Linguistics, Wilhelmstr. 19, 72074 Tübingen, Germany
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20
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Kobayashi Y, Wakano JY, Ohtsuki H. Genealogies and ages of cultural traits: An application of the theory of duality to the research on cultural evolution. Theor Popul Biol 2018; 123:18-27. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2018.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2018] [Revised: 04/23/2018] [Accepted: 04/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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21
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Mesoudi A. Pursuing Darwin's curious parallel: Prospects for a science of cultural evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017; 114:7853-7860. [PMID: 28739929 PMCID: PMC5544269 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1620741114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In the past few decades, scholars from several disciplines have pursued the curious parallel noted by Darwin between the genetic evolution of species and the cultural evolution of beliefs, skills, knowledge, languages, institutions, and other forms of socially transmitted information. Here, I review current progress in the pursuit of an evolutionary science of culture that is grounded in both biological and evolutionary theory, but also treats culture as more than a proximate mechanism that is directly controlled by genes. Both genetic and cultural evolution can be described as systems of inherited variation that change over time in response to processes such as selection, migration, and drift. Appropriate differences between genetic and cultural change are taken seriously, such as the possibility in the latter of nonrandomly guided variation or transformation, blending inheritance, and one-to-many transmission. The foundation of cultural evolution was laid in the late 20th century with population-genetic style models of cultural microevolution, and the use of phylogenetic methods to reconstruct cultural macroevolution. Since then, there have been major efforts to understand the sociocognitive mechanisms underlying cumulative cultural evolution, the consequences of demography on cultural evolution, the empirical validity of assumed social learning biases, the relative role of transformative and selective processes, and the use of quantitative phylogenetic and multilevel selection models to understand past and present dynamics of society-level change. I conclude by highlighting the interdisciplinary challenges of studying cultural evolution, including its relation to the traditional social sciences and humanities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex Mesoudi
- Human Biological and Cultural Evolution Group, Department of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, United Kingdom
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22
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Why are some languages confused for others? Investigating data from the Great Language Game. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0165934. [PMID: 28379970 PMCID: PMC5381764 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0165934] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2015] [Accepted: 10/20/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
In this paper we explore the results of a large-scale online game called ‘the Great Language Game’, in which people listen to an audio speech sample and make a forced-choice guess about the identity of the language from 2 or more alternatives. The data include 15 million guesses from 400 audio recordings of 78 languages. We investigate which languages are confused for which in the game, and if this correlates with the similarities that linguists identify between languages. This includes shared lexical items, similar sound inventories and established historical relationships. Our findings are, as expected, that players are more likely to confuse two languages that are objectively more similar. We also investigate factors that may affect players’ ability to accurately select the target language, such as how many people speak the language, how often the language is mentioned in written materials and the economic power of the target language community. We see that non-linguistic factors affect players’ ability to accurately identify the target. For example, languages with wider ‘global reach’ are more often identified correctly. This suggests that both linguistic and cultural knowledge influence the perception and recognition of languages and their similarity.
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23
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Tracking modern human population history from linguistic and cranial phenotype. Sci Rep 2016; 6:36645. [PMID: 27833101 PMCID: PMC5105118 DOI: 10.1038/srep36645] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2016] [Accepted: 10/19/2016] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Languages and genes arguably follow parallel evolutionary trajectories, descending from a common source and subsequently differentiating. However, although common ancestry is established within language families, it remains controversial whether language preserves a deep historical signal. To address this question, we evaluate the association between linguistic and geographic distances across 265 language families, as well as between linguistic, geographic, and cranial distances among eleven populations from Africa, Asia, and Australia. We take advantage of differential population history signals reflected by human cranial anatomy, where temporal bone shape reliably tracks deep population history and neutral genetic changes, while facial shape is more strongly associated with recent environmental effects. We show that linguistic distances are strongly geographically patterned, even within widely dispersed groups. However, they are correlated predominantly with facial, rather than temporal bone, morphology, suggesting that variation in vocabulary likely tracks relatively recent events and possibly population contact.
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24
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Using seafaring simulations and shortest-hop trajectories to model the prehistoric colonization of Remote Oceania. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2016; 113:12685-12690. [PMID: 27791145 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1612426113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The prehistoric colonization of islands in Remote Oceania that began ∼3400 B.P. represents what was arguably the most expansive and ambitious maritime dispersal of humans across any of the world's seas or oceans. Though archaeological evidence has provided a relatively clear picture of when many of the major island groups were colonized, there is still considerable debate as to where these settlers originated from and their strategies/trajectories used to reach habitable land that other datasets (genetic, linguistic) are also still trying to resolve. To address these issues, we have harnessed the power of high-resolution climatic and oceanographic datasets in multiple seafaring simulation platforms to examine major pulses of colonization in the region. Our analysis, which takes into consideration currents, land distribution, wind periodicity, the influence of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, and "shortest-hop" trajectories, demonstrate that (i) seasonal and semiannual climatic changes were highly influential in structuring ancient Pacific voyaging; (ii) western Micronesia was likely settled from somewhere around the Maluku (Molucca) Islands; (iii) Samoa was the most probable staging area for the colonization of East Polynesia; and (iv) although there are major differences in success rates depending on time of year and the occurrence of ENSO events, settlement of Hawai'i and New Zealand is possible from the Marquesas or Society Islands, the same being the case for settlement of Easter Island from Mangareva or the Marquesas.
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25
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Gontier N. Guest-Editorial Introduction: Converging Evolutionary Patterns in Life and Culture. Evol Biol 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/s11692-016-9389-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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26
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Guillon M, Mace R. A Phylogenetic Comparative Study of Bantu Kinship Terminology Finds Limited Support for Its Co-Evolution with Social Organisation. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0147920. [PMID: 27008364 PMCID: PMC4805278 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147920] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2015] [Accepted: 01/11/2016] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The classification of kin into structured groups is a diverse phenomenon which is ubiquitous in human culture. For populations which are organized into large agropastoral groupings of sedentary residence but not governed within the context of a centralised state, such as our study sample of 83 historical Bantu-speaking groups of sub-Saharan Africa, cultural kinship norms guide all aspects of everyday life and social organization. Such rules operate in part through the use of differing terminological referential systems of familial organization. Although the cross-cultural study of kinship terminology was foundational in Anthropology, few modern studies have made use of statistical advances to further our sparse understanding of the structuring and diversification of terminological systems of kinship over time. In this study we use Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods of phylogenetic comparison to investigate the evolution of Bantu kinship terminology and reconstruct the ancestral state and diversification of cousin terminology in this family of sub-Saharan ethnolinguistic groups. Using a phylogenetic tree of Bantu languages, we then test the prominent hypothesis that structured variation in systems of cousin terminology has co-evolved alongside adaptive change in patterns of descent organization, as well as rules of residence. We find limited support for this hypothesis, and argue that the shaping of systems of kinship terminology is a multifactorial process, concluding with possible avenues of future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Myrtille Guillon
- Human Evolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Ruth Mace
- Human Evolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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27
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Bender A, Beller S. The Power of 2: How an Apparently Irregular Numeration System Facilitates Mental Arithmetic. Cogn Sci 2016; 41:158-187. [DOI: 10.1111/cogs.12337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2014] [Revised: 04/21/2015] [Accepted: 10/06/2015] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Bender
- Department of Psychosocial Science; University of Bergen
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28
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Tracking Austronesian expansion into the Pacific via the paper mulberry plant. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2015; 112:13432-3. [PMID: 26499243 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1518576112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
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29
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Bender A, Schlimm D, Beller S. The Cognitive Advantages of Counting Specifically: A Representational Analysis of Verbal Numeration Systems in Oceanic Languages. Top Cogn Sci 2015; 7:552-69. [DOI: 10.1111/tops.12165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2013] [Revised: 10/14/2014] [Accepted: 12/09/2014] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Bender
- Department of Psychosocial Science; University of Bergen
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30
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Abstract
Computational phylogenetics is in the process of revolutionizing historical linguistics. Recent applications have shed new light on controversial issues, such as the location and time depth of language families and the dynamics of their spread. So far, these approaches have been limited to single-language families because they rely on a large body of expert cognacy judgments or grammatical classifications, which is currently unavailable for most language families. The present study pursues a different approach. Starting from raw phonetic transcription of core vocabulary items from very diverse languages, it applies weighted string alignment to track both phonetic and lexical change. Applied to a collection of ∼1,000 Eurasian languages and dialects, this method, combined with phylogenetic inference, leads to a classification in excellent agreement with established findings of historical linguistics. Furthermore, it provides strong statistical support for several putative macrofamilies contested in current historical linguistics. In particular, there is a solid signal for the Nostratic/Eurasiatic macrofamily.
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31
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Abstract
Phylogenetic models, originally developed to demonstrate evolutionary biology, have been applied to a wide range of cultural data including natural language lexicons, manuscripts, folktales, material cultures, and religions. A fundamental question regarding the application of phylogenetic inference is whether trees are an appropriate approximation of cultural evolutionary history. Their validity in cultural applications has been scrutinized, particularly with respect to the lexicons of dialects in contact. Phylogenetic models organize evolutionary data into a series of branching events through time. However, branching events are typically not included in dialectological studies to interpret the distributions of lexical terms. Instead, dialectologists have offered spatial interpretations to represent lexical data. For example, new lexical items that emerge in a politico-cultural center are likely to spread to peripheries, but not vice versa. To explore the question of the tree model’s validity, we present a simple simulation model in which dialects form a spatial network and share lexical items through contact rather than through common ancestors. We input several network topologies to the model to generate synthetic data. We then analyze the synthesized data using conventional phylogenetic techniques. We found that a group of dialects can be considered tree-like even if it has not evolved in a temporally tree-like manner but has a temporally invariant, spatially tree-like structure. In addition, the simulation experiments appear to reproduce unnatural results observed in reconstructed trees for real data. These results motivate further investigation into the spatial structure of the evolutionary history of dialect lexicons as well as other cultural characteristics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yugo Murawaki
- Department of Advanced Information Technology, Graduate School of Information Science and Electrical Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
- * E-mail:
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32
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Fortunato L, Holden C, Mace R. From bridewealth to dowry? : A bayesian estimation of ancestral states of marriage transfers in Indo-European groups. HUMAN NATURE-AN INTERDISCIPLINARY BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2015; 17:355-76. [PMID: 26181607 DOI: 10.1007/s12110-006-1000-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2005] [Revised: 12/08/2005] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Significant amounts of wealth have been exchanged as part of marriage settlements throughout history. Although various models have been proposed for interpreting these practices, their development over time has not been investigated systematically. In this paper we use a Bayesian MCMC phylogenetic comparative approach to reconstruct the evolution of two forms of wealth transfers at marriage, dowry and bridewealth, for 51 Indo-European cultural groups. Results indicate that dowry is more likely to have been the ancestral practice, and that a minimum of four changes to bridewealth is necessary to explain the observed distribution of the two states across the cultural groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Fortunato
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, WC1H OBW, London, UK.
| | - Clare Holden
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, WC1H OBW, London, UK
| | - Ruth Mace
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, WC1H OBW, London, UK
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35
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Gray RD, Greenhill SJ, Ross RM. The Pleasures and Perils of Darwinizing Culture (with Phylogenies). ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2015. [DOI: 10.1162/biot.2007.2.4.360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 122] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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36
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Li C, Barnes E, Newton PN, Fu Y, Vongsouvath M, Klenerman P, Okamoto H, Abe K, Pybus OG, Lu L. An expanded taxonomy of hepatitis C virus genotype 6: Characterization of 22 new full-length viral genomes. Virology 2015; 476:355-363. [PMID: 25589238 PMCID: PMC4376965 DOI: 10.1016/j.virol.2014.12.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2014] [Revised: 12/06/2014] [Accepted: 12/16/2014] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
We characterized the full-length genomes of 22 hepatitis C virus genotype 6 (HCV-6) isolates: 10 from Vietnam (classified into subtypes 6e, 6h, 6p, 6r, 6s, and 6u), one from China (confirmed as a new subtype 6xd), and 11 from the Lao PDR (representing a new subtype 6xe plus eight novel variants). With these 22 new genomes, HCV-6 now has a diverse and extended taxonomic structure, comprised of 28 assigned subtypes (denoted 6a-6xe) and 27 unassigned lineages, all of which have been represented by full-length genomes. Our phylogenetic analyses also included many partially-sequenced novel variants of HCV-6 from Lao PDR. This revealed that Lao HCV isolates are genetically very diverse and are phylogenetically distributed in multiple lineages within genotype 6. Our results suggest that HCV-6 has been maintained in Laos, a landlocked country, since the common ancestor of genotype 6 and indicates historical dispersal of HCV-6 across Southeast Asia. We characterized 22 full-length genomes of HCV-6. They confirmed two new subtypes 6xd and 6xe plus eight novel variants. We also reanalyzed many partially-sequenced novel HCV-6 variants from Lao PDR. They are phylogenetically distributed across the whole of genotype 6. They indicate historical dispersal of HCV-6 across Southeast Asia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chunhua Li
- The Viral Oncology Center, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA
| | - Eleanor Barnes
- The Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, University of Oxford, South Parks Road and Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, OX1 3SY, UK
| | - Paul N Newton
- Lao-Oxford-Mahosot Hospital-Wellcome Trust Research Unit, Microbiology Laboratory, Mahosot Hospital, Vientiane, Lao Democratic People's Republic; Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Churchill Hospital, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7FZ, UK
| | - Yongshui Fu
- Guangzhou Blood Center, Guangzhou 510095, China
| | - Manivanh Vongsouvath
- Lao-Oxford-Mahosot Hospital-Wellcome Trust Research Unit, Microbiology Laboratory, Mahosot Hospital, Vientiane, Lao Democratic People's Republic
| | - Paul Klenerman
- The Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, University of Oxford, South Parks Road and Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, OX1 3SY, UK
| | - Hiroaki Okamoto
- Division of Virology, Department of Infection and Immunity, Jichi Medical University School of Medicine, 3311-1 Yakushiji, Shimotsuke-shi Tochigi 329-0498, Japan
| | - Kenji Abe
- Department of Pathology, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan
| | - Oliver G Pybus
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, OX1 3PS, UK
| | - Ling Lu
- The Viral Oncology Center, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA.
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Acerbi A, Mesoudi A. If we are all cultural Darwinians what's the fuss about? Clarifying recent disagreements in the field of cultural evolution. BIOLOGY & PHILOSOPHY 2015; 30:481-503. [PMID: 26085703 PMCID: PMC4461798 DOI: 10.1007/s10539-015-9490-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2014] [Accepted: 02/12/2015] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Cultural evolution studies are characterized by the notion that culture evolves accordingly to broadly Darwinian principles. Yet how far the analogy between cultural and genetic evolution should be pushed is open to debate. Here, we examine a recent disagreement that concerns the extent to which cultural transmission should be considered a preservative mechanism allowing selection among different variants, or a transformative process in which individuals recreate variants each time they are transmitted. The latter is associated with the notion of "cultural attraction". This issue has generated much misunderstanding and confusion. We first clarify the respective positions, noting that there is in fact no substantive incompatibility between cultural attraction and standard cultural evolution approaches, beyond a difference in focus. Whether cultural transmission should be considered a preservative or reconstructive process is ultimately an empirical question, and we examine how both preservative and reconstructive cultural transmission has been studied in recent experimental research in cultural evolution. Finally, we discuss how the relative importance of preservative and reconstructive processes may depend on the granularity of analysis and the domain being studied.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alberto Acerbi
- />Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8 1UU UK
- />Philosophy & Ethics, School of Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, Den Dolech 2, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| | - Alex Mesoudi
- />Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Dawson Building, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE UK
- />Human Biological and Cultural Evolution Group, Department of Biosciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 9FE UK
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Dou HY, Chen YY, Kou SC, Su IJ. Prevalence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain genotypes in Taiwan reveals a close link to ethnic and population migration. J Formos Med Assoc 2014; 114:484-8. [PMID: 25542769 DOI: 10.1016/j.jfma.2014.07.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2014] [Revised: 07/10/2014] [Accepted: 07/21/2014] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Taiwan is a relatively isolated island, serving as a mixing vessel for colonization by different waves of ethnic and migratory groups over the past 4 centuries. The potential transmission pattern of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in different ethnic and migratory populations remains to be elucidated. By using mycobacterial tandem repeat sequences as genetic markers, the prevalence of M. tuberculosis strains in Taiwan revealed a close link to the historical migration. Interestingly, the M. tuberculosis strain in the aborigines of Eastern and Central Taiwan had a dominance of the Haarlem (Dutch) strain while those in Southern Taiwan had a dominance of the East-African Indian (EAI) strain. The prevalence of different M. tuberculosis strains in specific ethnic populations suggests that M. tuberculosis transmission is limited and restricted to close contact. The prevalence of the Beijing modern strain in the young population causes a concern for M. tuberculosis control, because of high virulence and drug resistance. Furthermore, our data using molecular genotyping should provide valuable information on the historical study of the origin and migration of aborigines in Taiwan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Horng-Yunn Dou
- Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Number 35, Keyan Road, Zhunan Town, Miaoli County 350, Taiwan
| | - Yih-Yuan Chen
- Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Number 35, Keyan Road, Zhunan Town, Miaoli County 350, Taiwan
| | - Shu-Chen Kou
- Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Number 35, Keyan Road, Zhunan Town, Miaoli County 350, Taiwan
| | - Ih-Jen Su
- Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Number 35, Keyan Road, Zhunan Town, Miaoli County 350, Taiwan; Department of Pathology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan 704, Taiwan.
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39
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Pakendorf B. Coevolution of languages and genes. Curr Opin Genet Dev 2014; 29:39-44. [PMID: 25170984 DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2014.07.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2014] [Revised: 07/08/2014] [Accepted: 07/25/2014] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
The evolution of languages shares certain characteristics with that of genes, such as the predominantly vertical line of transmission and the retention of traces of past events such as contact. Thus, studies of language phylogenies and their correlations with genetic phylogenies can enrich our understanding of human prehistory, while insights gained from genetic studies of past population contact can help shed light on the processes underlying language contact and change. As demonstrated by recent research, these evolutionary processes are more complex than simple models of gene-language coevolution predict, with linguistic boundaries only occasionally functioning as barriers to gene flow. More frequently, admixture takes place irrespective of linguistic differences, but with a detectable impact of contact-induced changes in the languages concerned.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brigitte Pakendorf
- Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage, UMR5596, CNRS & Université Lyon Lumière 2, Lyon, France.
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40
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Dunn M. Evolutionary Linguistics by April McMahon and Robert McMahon. AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/aman.12136_17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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41
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Winter B. Spoken language achieves robustness and evolvability by exploiting degeneracy and neutrality. Bioessays 2014; 36:960-7. [DOI: 10.1002/bies.201400028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Bodo Winter
- Cognitive and Information Sciences; University of California; Merced CA USA
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42
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An Y, Wu T, Wang M, Lu L, Li C, Zhou Y, Fu Y, Chen G. Conservation in China of a novel group of HCV variants dating to six centuries ago. Virology 2014; 464-465:21-25. [PMID: 25043585 DOI: 10.1016/j.virol.2014.06.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2014] [Revised: 05/15/2014] [Accepted: 06/10/2014] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
UNLABELLED We characterized a novel group of HCV variants that are genetically related but distinct from each other belonging to genotype 6 (HCV-6). From 26 infected Austronesian-descended aborigines on Hainan Island, China, HCV sequences were determined followed by genetic analyses. Six nearly full-length genomes and 20 E1 sequences of HCV were obtained, which differ from each other and from all known HCV lineages by nucleotides above the intra-subtype level of 13%. Together with subtypes 6g and 6w, they constitute a phylogenetic group sharing a common ancestor dating from the end of the 12th century. CONCLUSION Our data indicate the maintenance of an isolated HCV-6 indigenous circulation on Hainan Island at least for six centuries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuling An
- Department of Liver Transplantation, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510630, China
| | - Tao Wu
- Department of Infectious Disease, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, China; Department of Infectious Disease, Hainan General Hospital, Haikou, Hainan 570311, China
| | - Min Wang
- Guangzhou Blood Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510095, China
| | - Ling Lu
- Department of Liver Transplantation, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510630, China; Center for Viral Oncology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA.
| | - Chunhua Li
- Center for Viral Oncology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA
| | - Yuanpin Zhou
- Department of Infectious Disease, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510515, China
| | - Yongshui Fu
- Guangzhou Blood Center, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510095, China
| | - Guihua Chen
- Department of Liver Transplantation, Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510630, China
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Zeng Z, Garcia-Bertrand R, Calderon S, Li L, Zhong M, Herrera RJ. Extreme genetic heterogeneity among the nine major tribal Taiwanese island populations detected with a new generation Y23 STR system. Forensic Sci Int Genet 2014; 12:100-6. [PMID: 24911980 DOI: 10.1016/j.fsigen.2014.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2014] [Revised: 04/30/2014] [Accepted: 05/03/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
The Taiwanese aborigines have been regarded as the source populations for the Austronesian expansion that populated Oceania to the east and Madagascar off Africa to the West. Although a number of genetic studies have been performed on some of these important tribes, the scope of the investigations has been limited, varying in the specific populations examined as well as the maker systems employed. This has made direct comparison among studies difficult. In an attempt to alleviate this lacuna, we investigate, for the first time, the genetic diversity of all nine major Taiwanese aboriginal tribes (Ami, Atayal, Bunun, Rukai, Paiwan, Saisat, Puyuma, Tsou and Yami) utilizing a new generation multiplex Y-STR system that allows for the genotyping of 23 loci from a single amplification reaction. This comprehensive approach examining 293 individuals from all nine main tribes with the same battery of forensic markers provides for the much-needed equivalent data essential for comparative analyses. Our results have uncovered that these nine major aboriginal populations exhibit limited intrapopulation genetic diversity and are highly heterogeneous from each other, possibly the result of endogamy, isolation, drift and/or unique ancestral populations. Specifically, genetic diversity, discrimination capacity, fraction of unique haplotypes and the most frequent haplotypes differ among the nine tribes, with the Tsou possessing the lowest values for the first three of these parameters. The phylogenetic analyses performed indicate that the genetic diversity among all nine tribes is greater than the diversity observed among the worldwide reference populations examined, indicating an extreme case of genetic heterogeneity among these tribes that have lived as close neighbors for thousands of years confined to the limited geographical area of an island.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhaoshu Zeng
- Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, China
| | - Ralph Garcia-Bertrand
- Department of Biological Sciences, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO, United States.
| | - Silvia Calderon
- Department of Dentistry, New York University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Li Li
- Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Zhengzhou Central Hospital, Zhengzhou University, China
| | - Mingxia Zhong
- Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, China
| | - Rene J Herrera
- Department of Biological Sciences, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO, United States
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44
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Chen YY, Chang JR, Huang WF, Kuo SC, Yeh JJ, Lee JJ, Jang CS, Sun JR, Chiueh TS, Su IJ, Dou HY. Molecular epidemiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in aboriginal peoples of Taiwan, 2006–2011. J Infect 2014; 68:332-7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jinf.2013.12.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2013] [Revised: 11/19/2013] [Accepted: 12/04/2013] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
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45
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Linguistic phylogenies support back-migration from Beringia to Asia. PLoS One 2014; 9:e91722. [PMID: 24621925 PMCID: PMC3951421 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091722] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2013] [Accepted: 02/15/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent arguments connecting Na-Dene languages of North America with Yeniseian languages of Siberia have been used to assert proof for the origin of Native Americans in central or western Asia. We apply phylogenetic methods to test support for this hypothesis against an alternative hypothesis that Yeniseian represents a back-migration to Asia from a Beringian ancestral population. We coded a linguistic dataset of typological features and used neighbor-joining network algorithms and Bayesian model comparison based on Bayes factors to test the fit between the data and the linguistic phylogenies modeling two dispersal hypotheses. Our results support that a Dene-Yeniseian connection more likely represents radiation out of Beringia with back-migration into central Asia than a migration from central or western Asia to North America.
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46
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Zeng Z, Rowold DJ, Garcia-Bertrand R, Calderon S, Regueiro M, Li L, Zhong M, Herrera RJ. Taiwanese aborigines: genetic heterogeneity and paternal contribution to Oceania. Gene 2014; 542:240-7. [PMID: 24613753 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2014.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2014] [Accepted: 03/04/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
In the present study, for the first time, 293 Taiwanese aboriginal males from all nine major tribes (Ami, Atayal, Bunun, Rukai, Paiwan, Saisat, Puyuma, Tsou, Yami) were genotyped with 17 YSTR loci in a attend to reveal migrational patterns connected with the Austronesian expansion. We investigate the paternal genetic relationships of these Taiwanese aborigines to 42 Asia-Pacific reference populations, geographically selected to reflect various locations within the Austronesian domain. The Tsou and Puyuma tribes exhibit the lowest (0.1851) and the highest (0.5453) average total genetic diversity, respectively. Further, the fraction of unique haplotypes is also relatively high in the Puyuma (86.7%) and low in Tsou (33.3%) suggesting different demographic histories. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) and analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed several notable findings: 1) the Taiwan indigenous populations are highly diverse. In fact, the level of inter-population heterogeneity displayed by the Taiwanese aboriginal populations is close to that exhibited among all 51 Asia-Pacific populations examined; 2) the asymmetrical contribution of the Taiwanese aborigines to the Oceanic groups. Ami, Bunun and Saisiyat tribes exhibit the strongest paternal links to the Solomon and Polynesian island communities, whereas most of the remaining Taiwanese aboriginal groups are more genetically distant to these Oceanic inhabitants; 3) the present YSTR analyses does not reveal a strong paternal affinity of the nine Taiwanese tribes to their continental Asian neighbors. Overall, our current findings suggest that, perhaps, only a few of the tribes were involved in the migration out of Taiwan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhaoshu Zeng
- Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, China
| | - Diane J Rowold
- Foundation for Applied Molecular Science (FfAME), Gainesville, FL 32601, USA
| | | | - Silvia Calderon
- Department of Dentistry, New York University, New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Li Li
- Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Zhengzhou Central Hospital, Zhengzhou University, China
| | - Mingxia Zhong
- Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, China
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47
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List JM, Nelson-Sathi S, Geisler H, Martin W. Networks of lexical borrowing and lateral gene transfer in language and genome evolution. Bioessays 2014; 36:141-50. [PMID: 24375688 PMCID: PMC3910147 DOI: 10.1002/bies.201300096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Like biological species, languages change over time. As noted by Darwin, there are many parallels between language evolution and biological evolution. Insights into these parallels have also undergone change in the past 150 years. Just like genes, words change over time, and language evolution can be likened to genome evolution accordingly, but what kind of evolution? There are fundamental differences between eukaryotic and prokaryotic evolution. In the former, natural variation entails the gradual accumulation of minor mutations in alleles. In the latter, lateral gene transfer is an integral mechanism of natural variation. The study of language evolution using biological methods has attracted much interest of late, most approaches focusing on language tree construction. These approaches may underestimate the important role that borrowing plays in language evolution. Network approaches that were originally designed to study lateral gene transfer may provide more realistic insights into the complexities of language evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johann-Mattis List
- Research Center Deutscher Sprachatlas, Philipps-University MarburgMarburg, Germany
| | - Shijulal Nelson-Sathi
- Institute of Molecular Evolution, Heinrich-Heine University DüsseldorfDüsseldorf, Germany
| | - Hans Geisler
- Institute of Romance Languages and Literature, Heinrich-Heine University DüsseldorfDüsseldorf, Germany
| | - William Martin
- Institute of Molecular Evolution, Heinrich-Heine University DüsseldorfDüsseldorf, Germany
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Abstract
AbstractIn this paper, I propose a roadmap for the integration of culture in developmental psychopathology. This integration is pressing because culture continues to be somewhat disconnected from theory, research, training, and interventions in developmental psychopathology, thus limiting our understanding of the epigenesis of mental health. I argue that in order to successfully integrate culture into developmental psychopathology, it is crucial to (a) study cultural development, (b) consider both individual-level and social-level cultural processes, (c) examine the interplay between culture and biology, and (d) promote improved and direct cultural assessment. I provide evidence in support of each of these guidelines, present alternative conceptual frameworks, and suggest new lines of research. Hopefully, that these directions will contribute to the emerging field of cultural development and psychopathology, which focuses on the elucidation of the cultural processes that initiate, maintain, or derail trajectories of normal and abnormal behavior.
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Abstract
When Leibniz demonstrated the advantages of the binary system for computations as early as 1703, he laid the foundation for computing machines. However, is a binary system also suitable for human cognition? One of two number systems traditionally used on Mangareva, a small island in French Polynesia, had three binary steps superposed onto a decimal structure. Here, we show how this system functions, how it facilitated arithmetic, and why it is unique. The Mangarevan invention of binary steps, centuries before their formal description by Leibniz, attests to the advancements possible in numeracy even in the absence of notation and thereby highlights the role of culture for the evolution of and diversity in numerical cognition.
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50
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Brown S, Savage PE, Ko AMS, Stoneking M, Ko YC, Loo JH, Trejaut JA. Correlations in the population structure of music, genes and language. Proc Biol Sci 2013; 281:20132072. [PMID: 24225453 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2013.2072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
We present, to our knowledge, the first quantitative evidence that music and genes may have coevolved by demonstrating significant correlations between traditional group-level folk songs and mitochondrial DNA variation among nine indigenous populations of Taiwan. These correlations were of comparable magnitude to those between language and genes for the same populations, although music and language were not significantly correlated with one another. An examination of population structure for genetics showed stronger parallels to music than to language. Overall, the results suggest that music might have a sufficient time-depth to retrace ancient population movements and, additionally, that it might be capturing different aspects of population history than language. Music may therefore have the potential to serve as a novel marker of human migrations to complement genes, language and other markers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven Brown
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, , 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada , L8S 4K1, Department of Musicology, Tokyo University of the Arts, , Tokyo, Japan, Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, , Leipzig, Germany, Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science, China Medical University, , Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China, Mackay Memorial Hospital, , New Taipei City, Taiwan, Republic of China
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