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Geis L, d’Errico F, Jordan FM, Brenet M, Queffelec A. Multiproxy analysis of Upper Palaeolithic lustrous gravels supports their anthropogenic use. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0291552. [PMID: 37910580 PMCID: PMC10619837 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291552] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Accepted: 09/01/2023] [Indexed: 11/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Upper Palaeolithic sites in southwestern France attributed to the Upper Gravettian and the Solutrean yielded sub spherical gravels with a highly shiny appearance that have intrigued researchers since the 1930s. In this work, we analyze specimens from five sites, including the recently excavated Solutrean site of Landry, to establish whether their presence in archaeological layers and peculiar aspect are due to natural processes or human agency. We study the spatial distribution of gravels at Landry and submit archaeological gravels from the five sites, natural formations, Landry sediment sieving, and polishing experiments with a rotary tumbling machine to morphometric, colorimetric, microscopic, and textural analyses. Our results indicate the lustrous gravels found at the five sites result from deliberate selection and suggest their shiny appearance is the consequence of human agency, possibly resulting from prolonged contact with a soft material such as animal skin. Ethnographic accounts indicate that these gravels may have been used for magico-religious ritual purposes (charms, sorcery, divination etc.), in games, as elements of musical instruments, and as items serving other social and personal purposes. We argue that these objects reflect a cultural innovation emerged during the Gravettian and continued into the Solutrean.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lila Geis
- CNRS, UMR5199, Pacea, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac, France
| | - Francesco d’Errico
- CNRS, UMR5199, Pacea, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac, France
- Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Fiona M. Jordan
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, England
| | - Michel Brenet
- CNRS, UMR5199, Pacea, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac, France
- Inrap Nouvelle-Aquitaine Outre-mer, Pôle mixte de Recherches Archéologiques, Campagne, France
| | - Alain Queffelec
- CNRS, UMR5199, Pacea, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac, France
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2
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Passmore S, Barth W, Greenhill SJ, Quinn K, Sheard C, Argyriou P, Birchall J, Bowern C, Calladine J, Deb A, Diederen A, Metsäranta NP, Araujo LH, Schembri R, Hickey-Hall J, Honkola T, Mitchell A, Poole L, Rácz PM, Roberts SG, Ross RM, Thomas-Colquhoun E, Evans N, Jordan FM. Kinbank: A global database of kinship terminology. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0283218. [PMID: 37224178 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2022] [Accepted: 03/03/2023] [Indexed: 05/26/2023] Open
Abstract
For a single species, human kinship organization is both remarkably diverse and strikingly organized. Kinship terminology is the structured vocabulary used to classify, refer to, and address relatives and family. Diversity in kinship terminology has been analyzed by anthropologists for over 150 years, although recurrent patterning across cultures remains incompletely explained. Despite the wealth of kinship data in the anthropological record, comparative studies of kinship terminology are hindered by data accessibility. Here we present Kinbank, a new database of 210,903 kinterms from a global sample of 1,229 spoken languages. Using open-access and transparent data provenance, Kinbank offers an extensible resource for kinship terminology, enabling researchers to explore the rich diversity of human family organization and to test longstanding hypotheses about the origins and drivers of recurrent patterns. We illustrate our contribution with two examples. We demonstrate strong gender bias in the phonological structure of parent terms across 1,022 languages, and we show that there is no evidence for a coevolutionary relationship between cross-cousin marriage and bifurcate-merging terminology in Bantu languages. Analysing kinship data is notoriously challenging; Kinbank aims to eliminate data accessibility issues from that challenge and provide a platform to build an interdisciplinary understanding of kinship.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sam Passmore
- Evolution of Cultural Diversity Initiative (ECDI), Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio University, Fujisawa, Japan
| | - Wolfgang Barth
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (CoEDL), Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Simon J Greenhill
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Kyla Quinn
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (CoEDL), Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Catherine Sheard
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Paraskevi Argyriou
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Joshua Birchall
- Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Pará, Brazil
- Department of Linguistics, The University of New Mexico, New Mexico, United States of America
| | - Claire Bowern
- Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Jasmine Calladine
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Angarika Deb
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University, Vienna, Austria
| | - Anouk Diederen
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Niklas P Metsäranta
- Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian, and Scandinavian Studies, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Rhiannon Schembri
- Research School of Biology, Ecology, and Evolution, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Jo Hickey-Hall
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Terhi Honkola
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian, and Scandinavian Studies, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Alice Mitchell
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- Institute for African Studies, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Lucy Poole
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Péter M Rácz
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- Cognitive Science Department, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Sean G Roberts
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- School of English, Communications and Philosophy, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
| | - Robert M Ross
- School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Ewan Thomas-Colquhoun
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Nicholas Evans
- Evolution of Cultural Diversity Initiative (ECDI), Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language (CoEDL), Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Fiona M Jordan
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
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3
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Teixidor-Toneu I, Kool A, Greenhill SJ, Kjesrud K, Sandstedt JJ, Manzanilla V, Jordan FM. Correction to 'Historical, archaeological and linguistic evidence test the phylogenetic inference of Viking-Age plant use'. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20220158. [PMID: 35491608 PMCID: PMC9058547 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0158] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
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4
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Sheard C, Bowern C, Dockum R, Jordan FM. Erratum: Pama-Nyungan grandparent systems change with grandchildren, but not cross-cousin terms or social norms. Evol Hum Sci 2021; 3:e43. [PMID: 37588560 PMCID: PMC10427266 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2021.43] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2020.31.].
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5
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Abstract
Cultural transmission biases such as prestige are thought to have been a primary driver in shaping the dynamics of human cultural evolution. However, few empirical studies have measured the importance of prestige relative to other effects, such as content biases present within the information being transmitted. Here, we report the findings of an experimental transmission study designed to compare the simultaneous effects of a model using a high- or low-prestige regional accent with the presence of narrative content containing social, survival, emotional, moral, rational, or counterintuitive information in the form of a creation story. Results from multimodel inference reveal that prestige is a significant factor in determining the salience and recall of information, but that several content biases, specifically social, survival, negative emotional, and biological counterintuitive information, are significantly more influential. Further, we find evidence that reliance on prestige cues may serve as a conditional learning strategy when no content cues are available. Our results demonstrate that content biases serve a vital and underappreciated role in cultural transmission and cultural evolution. Social media summary: Storyteller and tale are both key to memorability, but some content is more important than the storyteller's prestige.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard E.W. Berl
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO80523-1480, USA
| | - Alarna N. Samarasinghe
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Seán G. Roberts
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- School of English, Communication and Philosophy, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
| | - Fiona M. Jordan
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Michael C. Gavin
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO80523-1480, USA
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
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6
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Haynie HJ, Kavanagh PH, Jordan FM, Ember CR, Gray RD, Greenhill SJ, Kirby KR, Kushnick G, Low BS, Tuff T, Vilela B, Botero CA, Gavin MC. Pathways to social inequality. Evol Hum Sci 2021; 3:e35. [PMID: 37588531 PMCID: PMC10427274 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2021.32] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Social inequality is ubiquitous in contemporary human societies, and has deleterious social and ecological impacts. However, the factors that shape the emergence and maintenance of inequality remain widely debated. Here we conduct a global analysis of pathways to inequality by comparing 408 non-industrial societies in the anthropological record (described largely between 1860 and 1960) that vary in degree of inequality. We apply structural equation modelling to open-access environmental and ethnographic data and explore two alternative models varying in the links among factors proposed by prior literature, including environmental conditions, resource intensification, wealth transmission, population size and a well-documented form of inequality: social class hierarchies. We found support for a model in which the probability of social class hierarchies is associated directly with increases in population size, the propensity to use intensive agriculture and domesticated large mammals, unigeniture inheritance of real property and hereditary political succession. We suggest that influence of environmental variables on inequality is mediated by measures of resource intensification, which, in turn, may influence inequality directly or indirectly via effects on wealth transmission variables. Overall, we conclude that in our analysis a complex network of effects are associated with social class hierarchies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah J. Haynie
- Department of Linguistics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Patrick H. Kavanagh
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Fiona M. Jordan
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Carol R Ember
- Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for The Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for The Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Kathryn R. Kirby
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for The Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Geoff Kushnick
- School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Bobbi S. Low
- School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Ty Tuff
- Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Bruno Vilela
- Institute of Biology, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil
| | - Carlos A. Botero
- Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Michael C. Gavin
- Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for The Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
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7
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Teixidor-Toneu I, Kool A, Greenhill SJ, Kjesrud K, Sandstedt JJ, Manzanilla V, Jordan FM. Historical, archaeological and linguistic evidence test the phylogenetic inference of Viking-Age plant use. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200086. [PMID: 33993763 PMCID: PMC8126462 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
In this paper, past plant knowledge serves as a case study to highlight the promise and challenges of interdisciplinary data collection and interpretation in cultural evolution. Plants are central to human life and yet, apart from the role of major crops, people-plant relations have been marginal to the study of culture. Archaeological, linguistic, and historical evidence are often limited when it comes to studying the past role of plants. This is the case in the Nordic countries, where extensive collections of various plant use records are absent until the 1700s. Here, we test if relatively recent ethnobotanical data can be used to trace back ancient plant knowledge in the Nordic countries. Phylogenetic inferences of ancestral states are evaluated against historical, linguistic, and archaeobotanical evidence. The exercise allows us to discuss the opportunities and shortcomings of using phylogenetic comparative methods to study past botanical knowledge. We propose a 'triangulation method' that not only combines multiple lines of evidence, but also quantitative and qualitative approaches. This article is part of the theme issue 'Foundations of cultural evolution'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Teixidor-Toneu
- Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Sars' Gate 1, 0562 Oslo, Norway
- Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Darwinweg 2, 2333CR Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Anneleen Kool
- Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Sars' Gate 1, 0562 Oslo, Norway
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Australian National University College of Arts and Social Sciences, ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max-Planck-Institut fur Menschheitsgeschichte, 07745 Jena, Thüringen, Germany
| | - Karoline Kjesrud
- Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, St Olavs Gate 29, 0130 Oslo, Norway
| | - Jade J. Sandstedt
- Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Sars' Gate 1, 0562 Oslo, Norway
| | - Vincent Manzanilla
- Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Sars' Gate 1, 0562 Oslo, Norway
- BaseClear, Sylviusweg 74, 2333BE Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Fiona M. Jordan
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UU, UK
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8
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Abstract
Abstract
Human kinship systems play a central role in social organization, as anthropologists have long demonstrated. Much less is known about how cultural schemas of relatedness are transmitted across generations. How do children learn kinship concepts? To what extent is learning affected by known cross-cultural variation in how humans classify kin? This review draws on research in developmental psychology, linguistics, and anthropology to present our current understanding of the social and cognitive foundations of kinship categorization. Amid growing interest in kinship in the cognitive sciences, the paper aims to stimulate new research on the ontogeny of kinship categorization, a rich domain for studying the nexus of language, culture, and cognition. We introduce an interdisciplinary research toolkit to help streamline future research in this area.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Mitchell
- Institute for African Studies, University of Cologne Cologne Germany
| | - Fiona M. Jordan
- Department of Anthropology & Archaeology, University of Bristol Bristol UK
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9
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Sheard C, Bowern C, Dockum R, Jordan FM. Pama-Nyungan grandparent systems change with grandchildren, but not cross-cousin terms or social norms. Evol Hum Sci 2020; 2:e30. [PMID: 35663513 PMCID: PMC7612801 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2020.31] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Kinship is a fundamental and universal aspect of the structure of human society. The kinship category of 'grandparents' is socially salient, due to grandparents' investment in the care of the grandchildren as well as to older generations' control of wealth and cultural knowledge, but the evolutionary dynamics of grandparent terms has yet to be studied in a phylogenetically explicit context. Here, we present the first phylogenetic comparative study of grandparent terms by investigating 134 languages in Pama-Nyungan, an Australian family of hunter-gatherer languages. We infer that proto-Pama-Nyungan had, with high certainty, four separate terms for grandparents. This state then shifted into either a two-term system that distinguishes the genders of the grandparents or a three-term system that merges the 'parallel' grandparents, which could then transition into a different three-term system that merges the 'cross' grandparents. We find no support for the co-evolution of these systems with either community marriage organisation or post-marital residence. We find some evidence for the correlation of grandparent and grandchild terms, but no support for the correlation of grandparent and cross-cousin terms, suggesting that grandparents and grandchildren potentially form a single lexical category but that the entire kinship system does not necessarily change synchronously.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine Sheard
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, BristolBS8 1TQ, UK
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, BristolBS8 1UU, UK
| | - Claire Bowern
- Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven. CT06520, USA
| | - Rikker Dockum
- Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven. CT06520, USA
| | - Fiona M. Jordan
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, BristolBS8 1UU, UK
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10
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Rácz P, Passmore S, Sheard C, Jordan FM. Usage frequency and lexical class determine the evolution of kinship terms in Indo-European. R Soc Open Sci 2019; 6:191385. [PMID: 31824734 PMCID: PMC6837234 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.191385] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2019] [Accepted: 09/23/2019] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Languages do not replace their vocabularies at an even rate: words endure longer if they are used more frequently. This effect, which has parallels in evolutionary biology, has been demonstrated for the core vocabulary, a set of common, unrelated meanings. The extent to which it replicates in closed lexical classes remains to be seen, and may indicate how general this effect is in language change. Here, we use phylogenetic comparative methods to investigate the history of 10 kinship categories, a type of closed lexical class of content words, across 47 Indo-European languages. We find that their rate of replacement is correlated with their usage frequency, and this relationship is stronger than in the case of the core vocabulary, even though the envelope of variation is comparable across the two cases. We also find that the residual variation in the rate of replacement of kinship terms is related to genealogical distance of referent to kin. We argue that this relationship is the result of social changes and corresponding shifts in the entire semantic class of kinship terms, shifts typically not present in the core vocabulary. Thus, an understanding of the scope and limits of social change is needed to understand changes in kinship systems, and broader context is necessary to model cultural evolution in particular and the process of system change in general.
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Affiliation(s)
- Péter Rácz
- Cognitive Development Center, Central European University, Budapest 1051, Hungary
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UU, UK
| | - Sam Passmore
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UU, UK
| | - Catherine Sheard
- School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9TJ, UK
- School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TQ, UK
| | - Fiona M. Jordan
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UU, UK
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11
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Rácz P, Passmore S, Jordan FM. Social Practice and Shared History, Not Social Scale, Structure Cross-Cultural Complexity in Kinship Systems. Top Cogn Sci 2019; 12:744-765. [PMID: 31165555 PMCID: PMC7318210 DOI: 10.1111/tops.12430] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2018] [Revised: 04/10/2019] [Accepted: 04/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Human populations display remarkable diversity in language and culture, but the variation is not without limit. At the population level, variation between societies may be structured by a range of macro‐evolutionary factors, including ecological and environmental resources, shared ancestry, spatial proximity, and covarying social practices. Kinship terminology systems are varying linguistic paradigms that denote familial social relationships of kin and non‐kin. Systems vary by the kinds of salient distinctions that are made (e.g., age, gender, generation) and the extent to which different kinds of kin are called by the same term. Here, we explore two kinds of explanations for an observed typology of kin terms for cousins. The first one derives the typology from a learning bottleneck linked to population size. This would lead to a correlation between community size and the type of kinship system. The second one derives it from a set of social practices, particularly marriage and transfer of resources that might shape kinship systems. Using a global ethnographic database of over a thousand societies, we show that marriage rules and shared linguistic affiliation have a significant influence on the type of kinship system found in a society. This remains true if we control for the effect of spatial proximity and cultural ancestry. By combining cognitive and historic approaches to this aspect of kinship, we suggest broader implications for the study of human social cognition in general. Kinship terminologies are basic cognitive semantic systems that all human societies use for organizing kin relations. Diversity in kinship systems and their categories is substantial, but constrained. Rácz, Passmore, and Jordan explore hypotheses about such constraints from learning theories and social pressures, testing the impact of a community‐size driven learning bottleneck against the social coordination demands of different kinds of marriage and resource systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Péter Rácz
- Cognitive Development Center, Central European University.,Evolution of Cross-Cultural Diversity Lab, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol
| | - Sam Passmore
- Evolution of Cross-Cultural Diversity Lab, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol
| | - Fiona M Jordan
- Evolution of Cross-Cultural Diversity Lab, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol
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12
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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] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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13
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Teixidor-Toneu I, Jordan FM, Hawkins JA. Comparative phylogenetic methods and the cultural evolution of medicinal plant use. Nat Plants 2018; 4:754-761. [PMID: 30202108 DOI: 10.1038/s41477-018-0226-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2018] [Revised: 07/05/2018] [Accepted: 07/20/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Human life depends on plant biodiversity and the ways in which plants are used are culturally determined. Whilst anthropologists have used phylogenetic comparative methods (PCMs) to gain an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the evolution of political, religious, social and material culture, plant use has been almost entirely neglected. Medicinal plants are of special interest because of their role in maintaining people's health across the world. PCMs in particular, and cultural evolutionary theory in general, provide a framework in which to study the diversity of medicinal plant applications cross-culturally, and to infer changes in plant use over time. These methods can be applied to single medicinal plants as well as the entire set of plants used by a culture for medicine, and they account for the non-independence of data when testing for floristic, cultural or other drivers of plant use. With cultural, biological and linguistic diversity under threat, gaining a deeper and broader understanding of the variation of medicinal plant use through time and space is pressing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Teixidor-Toneu
- University of Reading, School of Biological Sciences, Reading, Berkshire, UK
- Universitetet i Oslo, Naturhistorisk Museum, Oslo, Norway
| | - Fiona M Jordan
- University of Bristol, Department of Anthropology & Archaeology, Bristol, UK
| | - Julie A Hawkins
- University of Reading, School of Biological Sciences, Reading, Berkshire, UK.
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14
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Gavin MC, Kavanagh PH, Haynie HJ, Bowern C, Ember CR, Gray RD, Jordan FM, Kirby KR, Kushnick G, Low BS, Vilela B, Botero CA. The global geography of human subsistence. R Soc Open Sci 2018; 5:171897. [PMID: 30839689 PMCID: PMC6170550 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.171897] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2017] [Accepted: 09/03/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
How humans obtain food has dramatically reshaped ecosystems and altered both the trajectory of human history and the characteristics of human societies. Our species' subsistence varies widely, from predominantly foraging strategies, to plant-based agriculture and animal husbandry. The extent to which environmental, social and historical factors have driven such variation is currently unclear. Prior attempts to resolve long-standing debates on this topic have been hampered by an over-reliance on narrative arguments, small and geographically narrow samples, and by contradictory findings. Here we overcome these methodological limitations by applying multi-model inference tools developed in biogeography to a global dataset (818 societies). Although some have argued that unique conditions and events determine each society's particular subsistence strategy, we find strong support for a general global pattern in which a limited set of environmental, social and historical factors predicts an essential characteristic of all human groups: how we obtain our food.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael C. Gavin
- Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Patrick H. Kavanagh
- Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Hannah J. Haynie
- Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Claire Bowern
- Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Carol R. Ember
- Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Fiona M. Jordan
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Kathryn R. Kirby
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Geoff Kushnick
- School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Bobbi S. Low
- School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Bruno Vilela
- Department of Biology, Washington University, St Louis, MO, USA
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Kolipakam V, Jordan FM, Dunn M, Greenhill SJ, Bouckaert R, Gray RD, Verkerk A. A Bayesian phylogenetic study of the Dravidian language family. R Soc Open Sci 2018; 5:171504. [PMID: 29657761 PMCID: PMC5882685 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.171504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2017] [Accepted: 02/21/2018] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
The Dravidian language family consists of about 80 varieties (Hammarström H. 2016 Glottolog 2.7) spoken by 220 million people across southern and central India and surrounding countries (Steever SB. 1998 In The Dravidian languages (ed. SB Steever), pp. 1-39: 1). Neither the geographical origin of the Dravidian language homeland nor its exact dispersal through time are known. The history of these languages is crucial for understanding prehistory in Eurasia, because despite their current restricted range, these languages played a significant role in influencing other language groups including Indo-Aryan (Indo-European) and Munda (Austroasiatic) speakers. Here, we report the results of a Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of cognate-coded lexical data, elicited first hand from native speakers, to investigate the subgrouping of the Dravidian language family, and provide dates for the major points of diversification. Our results indicate that the Dravidian language family is approximately 4500 years old, a finding that corresponds well with earlier linguistic and archaeological studies. The main branches of the Dravidian language family (North, Central, South I, South II) are recovered, although the placement of languages within these main branches diverges from previous classifications. We find considerable uncertainty with regard to the relationships between the main branches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vishnupriya Kolipakam
- Wildlife Institute of India, Post Box 18, Chandrabani, Dehradun 248001, India
- Evolutionary Processes in Language and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Fiona M. Jordan
- Evolutionary Processes in Language and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UU, UK
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Michael Dunn
- Evolutionary Processes in Language and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Linguistics and Philology, Uppsala University, Engelska parken, Thunbergsv. 3 H, 75126 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Simon J. Greenhill
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, Australian National University, Building 9, H.C. Coombs Bld, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia
| | - Remco Bouckaert
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
- Department of Computer Science, University of Auckland, 303/38 Princes Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
| | - Russell D. Gray
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Annemarie Verkerk
- Evolutionary Processes in Language and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Wundtlaan 1, 6525 XD Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
- Author for correspondence: Annemarie Verkerk e-mail:
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Kirby KR, Gray RD, Greenhill SJ, Jordan FM, Gomes-Ng S, Bibiko HJ, Blasi DE, Botero CA, Bowern C, Ember CR, Leehr D, Low BS, McCarter J, Divale W, Gavin MC. D-PLACE: A Global Database of Cultural, Linguistic and Environmental Diversity. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0158391. [PMID: 27391016 PMCID: PMC4938595 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2016] [Accepted: 05/09/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
From the foods we eat and the houses we construct, to our religious practices and political organization, to who we can marry and the types of games we teach our children, the diversity of cultural practices in the world is astounding. Yet, our ability to visualize and understand this diversity is limited by the ways it has been documented and shared: on a culture-by-culture basis, in locally-told stories or difficult-to-access repositories. In this paper we introduce D-PLACE, the Database of Places, Language, Culture, and Environment. This expandable and open-access database (accessible at https://d-place.org) brings together a dispersed corpus of information on the geography, language, culture, and environment of over 1400 human societies. We aim to enable researchers to investigate the extent to which patterns in cultural diversity are shaped by different forces, including shared history, demographics, migration/diffusion, cultural innovations, and environmental and ecological conditions. We detail how D-PLACE helps to overcome four common barriers to understanding these forces: i) location of relevant cultural data, (ii) linking data from distinct sources using diverse ethnonyms, (iii) variable time and place foci for data, and (iv) spatial and historical dependencies among cultural groups that present challenges for analysis. D-PLACE facilitates the visualisation of relationships among cultural groups and between people and their environments, with results downloadable as tables, on a map, or on a linguistic tree. We also describe how D-PLACE can be used for exploratory, predictive, and evolutionary analyses of cultural diversity by a range of users, from members of the worldwide public interested in contrasting their own cultural practices with those of other societies, to researchers using large-scale computational phylogenetic analyses to study cultural evolution. In summary, we hope that D-PLACE will enable new lines of investigation into the major drivers of cultural change and global patterns of cultural diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn R Kirby
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.,Department of Geography & Planning, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Russell D Gray
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.,ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Simon J Greenhill
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Fiona M Jordan
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | | | - Hans-Jörg Bibiko
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Damián E Blasi
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Department of Comparative Linguistics, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.,Psycholinguistics Laboratory, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Carlos A Botero
- Department of Biology, Washington University, Saint Louis, MO, United States of America
| | - Claire Bowern
- ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.,Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - Carol R Ember
- Human Relations Area Files, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - Dan Leehr
- Center for Genomic and Computational Biology, Duke University, Durham, United States of America
| | - Bobbi S Low
- University of Michigan School of Natural Resources & Environment, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America.,University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America
| | - Joe McCarter
- Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, United States of America
| | - William Divale
- York College, City University of New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Michael C Gavin
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.,Department of Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States of America
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Matthews LJ, Tehrani JJ, Jordan FM, Collard M, Nunn CL. Testing for divergent transmission histories among cultural characters: a study using Bayesian phylogenetic methods and Iranian tribal textile data. PLoS One 2011; 6:e14810. [PMID: 21559083 PMCID: PMC3084691 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0014810] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2010] [Accepted: 03/18/2011] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Archaeologists and anthropologists have long recognized that different cultural complexes may have distinct descent histories, but they have lacked analytical techniques capable of easily identifying such incongruence. Here, we show how bayesian phylogenetic analysis can be used to identify incongruent cultural histories. We employ the approach to investigate Iranian tribal textile traditions. METHODS We used bayes factor comparisons in a phylogenetic framework to test two models of cultural evolution: the hierarchically integrated system hypothesis and the multiple coherent units hypothesis. In the hierarchically integrated system hypothesis, a core tradition of characters evolves through descent with modification and characters peripheral to the core are exchanged among contemporaneous populations. In the multiple coherent units hypothesis, a core tradition does not exist. Rather, there are several cultural units consisting of sets of characters that have different histories of descent. RESULTS For the Iranian textiles, the bayesian phylogenetic analyses supported the multiple coherent units hypothesis over the hierarchically integrated system hypothesis. Our analyses suggest that pile-weave designs represent a distinct cultural unit that has a different phylogenetic history compared to other textile characters. CONCLUSIONS The results from the Iranian textiles are consistent with the available ethnographic evidence, which suggests that the commercial rug market has influenced pile-rug designs but not the techniques or designs incorporated in the other textiles produced by the tribes. We anticipate that bayesian phylogenetic tests for inferring cultural units will be of great value for researchers interested in studying the evolution of cultural traits including language, behavior, and material culture.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luke J Matthews
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America.
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20
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Mace R, Jordan FM. Macro-evolutionary studies of cultural diversity: a review of empirical studies of cultural transmission and cultural adaptation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2011; 366:402-11. [PMID: 21199844 PMCID: PMC3013475 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2010.0238] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
A growing body of theoretical and empirical research has examined cultural transmission and adaptive cultural behaviour at the individual, within-group level. However, relatively few studies have tried to examine proximate transmission or test ultimate adaptive hypotheses about behavioural or cultural diversity at a between-societies macro-level. In both the history of anthropology and in present-day work, a common approach to examining adaptive behaviour at the macro-level has been through correlating various cultural traits with features of ecology. We discuss some difficulties with simple ecological associations, and then review cultural phylogenetic studies that have attempted to go beyond correlations to understand the underlying cultural evolutionary processes. We conclude with an example of a phylogenetically controlled approach to understanding proximate transmission pathways in Austronesian cultural diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruth Mace
- Department of Anthropology, UCL , 14 Taviton Street, London WC1H 0BW, UK.
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21
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Abstract
Very little research has attempted to describe normal human variation in female genitalia, and no studies have compared the visual images that women might use in constructing their ideas of average and acceptable genital morphology to see if there are any systematic differences. The objective of the present work was to determine if visual depictions of the vulva differed according to their source so as to alert medical professionals and their patients to how these depictions might capture variation and thus influence perceptions of 'normality'. A comparative analysis was conducted by measuring (a) published visual materials from human anatomy textbooks in a university library, (b) feminist publications (print and online) depicting vulval morphology and (c) online pornography, focusing on the most visited and freely accessible sites in the UK. Post hoc tests showed that labial protuberance was significantly less (p<0.001, equivalent to approximately 7 mm) in images from online pornography compared to feminist publications. All five measures taken of vulval features were significantly correlated (p<0.001) in the online pornography sample, indicating a less varied range of differences in organ proportions than the other sources where not all measures were correlated. Women and health professionals should be aware that specific sources of imagery may depict different types of genital morphology and may not accurately reflect true variation in the population, and consultations for genital surgeries should include discussion about the actual and perceived range of variation in female genital morphology.
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Abstract
The nature of social life in human prehistory is elusive, yet knowing how kinship systems evolve is critical for understanding population history and cultural diversity. Post-marital residence rules specify sex-specific dispersal and kin association, influencing the pattern of genetic markers across populations. Cultural phylogenetics allows us to practise 'virtual archaeology' on these aspects of social life that leave no trace in the archaeological record. Here we show that early Austronesian societies practised matrilocal post-marital residence. Using a Markov-chain Monte Carlo comparative method implemented in a Bayesian phylogenetic framework, we estimated the type of residence at each ancestral node in a sample of Austronesian language trees spanning 135 Pacific societies. Matrilocal residence has been hypothesized for proto-Oceanic society (ca 3500 BP), but we find strong evidence that matrilocality was predominant in earlier Austronesian societies ca 5000-4500 BP, at the root of the language family and its early branches. Our results illuminate the divergent patterns of mtDNA and Y-chromosome markers seen in the Pacific. The analysis of present-day cross-cultural data in this way allows us to directly address cultural evolutionary and life-history processes in prehistory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fiona M Jordan
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton Street, London WC1H 0BW, UK.
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24
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Abstract
Languages, like molecules, document evolutionary history. Darwin observed that evolutionary change in languages greatly resembled the processes of biological evolution: inheritance from a common ancestor and convergent evolution operate in both. Despite many suggestions, few attempts have been made to apply the phylogenetic methods used in biology to linguistic data. Here we report a parsimony analysis of a large language data set. We use this analysis to test competing hypotheses--the "express-train" and the "entangled-bank" models--for the colonization of the Pacific by Austronesian-speaking peoples. The parsimony analysis of a matrix of 77 Austronesian languages with 5,185 lexical items produced a single most-parsimonious tree. The express-train model was converted into an ordered geographical character and mapped onto the language tree. We found that the topology of the language tree was highly compatible with the express-train model.
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Affiliation(s)
- R D Gray
- Department of Psychology, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
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Abstract
The aim of the present study was to determine the ability of adolescents with a head injury to interpret and comprehend linguistic humour. Nine adolescents with head injury aged between 12 years 1 month and 15 years 4 months, and nine individually matched adolescents aged between 12 years 1 month and 16 years 1 month were administered a humour test, a standard language battery, the CELF-3, and the Self-Esteem Index. The test of humour abilities required each subject to recognize and select an explanation from a group of three, as to what made each item funny. Items were based on morphological, semantic and syntactic humour elements. Comparison at a group level demonstrated that adolescents with head injury performed significantly poorer in the interpretation and comprehension of linguistic humour than a group of individually matched peers. Contrary to expectations, a relationship between the level of self-esteem and humour comprehension did not exist. The findings of the present study suggest that further research into the effects of head injury on linguistic humour in adolescents is warranted, particularly from a case-by-case perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- K Docking
- Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
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26
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Abstract
The aim of the present study was to examine the linguistic humour abilities of a group of adolescents with head injury on a case-by-case basis. Nine adolescents with head injury aged between 12 years 1 month and 15 years 4 months, and nine individually matched adolescents aged between 12 years 1 month and 16 years 1 month were administered a humour test, a standard language battery, the CELF-3, and the Self-Esteem Index. The test of humour abilities required each subject to recognize and select an explanation from a group of three, as to what made each item funny. Items were based on morphological, semantic and syntactic humour elements. Examination of the individual profiles of each subject with head injury illustrated the existence of variability between subjects representing three language abilities in the presence of mild head injury; and impaired humour ability with concurrent language skills that are within normal limits. This third pattern supports previous studies, which have documented the occurrence of high-level language impairment while language abilities are intact. The present study emphasized the importance of investigating the abilities of individuals who have had a head injury in childhood, within a developmental framework. This perspective serves to highlight the context of contributing aspects that impact on future language development and recovery of injury, such as the time that the injury occurred in a child's development, in addition to injury severity and main trends: reduced humour abilities together with below average language skills; intact humour and the time that has elapsed post-injury.
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Affiliation(s)
- K Docking
- Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
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Abstract
High-level language functioning was assessed in a group of 11 children with severe closed head injury (CHI). Performance was examined on measures of figurative language, oral expression, inferencing, and interpretation of ambiguous sentences, and was compared with that of a control group matched for age, gender, and handedness. The children with CHI demonstrated inferior performance on the oral expression, ambiguous sentences, and figurative language tests; however, performance on the inferencing task appeared intact. These findings are discussed with respect to the underlying nature of the observed impairments. Both linguistic and cognitive factors are considered. It is concluded that a complex interaction of cognitive and linguistic impairments experienced by children with CHI may underlie the performance deficits identified in the current study.
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Affiliation(s)
- F M Jordan
- Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, University of Queensland, Australia
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Abstract
The language functioning of a group of children who had sustained a severe closed head injury (CHI) was evaluated. The subjects were administered a battery of language assessments including measures of syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Performance of the experimental group was compared with that of a control group matched for age and sex. Results indicated that all areas of language competence assessed (syntax, semantics, pragmatics) appeared to be compromised by the childhood CHI. The findings of this study are considered in light of the implications for the existence of different language components (syntax, semantics, pragmatics) as opposed to a unified concept of language. Also considered is the evidence of a specific linguistic impairment in the childhood CHI population as opposed to a more generalized cognitive decline expressed as an overall decrease in performance across all domains of language skill.
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Affiliation(s)
- F M Jordan
- Department of Psychology, University of Queensland, Australia
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29
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Abstract
The language functioning of a group of adults who had sustained a severe closed-head injury in childhood was evaluated. The subjects were administered a battery of language assessments including measures of syntax, semantics and pragmatics, as well as a measure of metalinguistic ability. Performance of the experimental group was compared with that of a control group matched for age, sex and educational level. Results indicated that all areas of language competence assessed (syntax, semantics, pragmatics) appeared to be compromised by the childhood closed-head injury.
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Affiliation(s)
- F M Jordan
- Department of Psychology, University of Queensland, Australia
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30
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Abstract
A case is presented of a child who, following unexpected rapid recovery of functional communication skills 9 months post-severe closed head injury, continued to progress in speech and language skills even 4 years post-injury. Although the child did not recover to premorbid levels of functioning, her recovery over such a protracted period proved quite remarkable. The case is considered in the light of recent findings on the recovery of linguistic skills subsequent to childhood closed head injury.
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Affiliation(s)
- F M Jordan
- Department of Psychology, University of Queensland, Australia
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Jordan FM, Worrall LE, Hickson LM, Dodd BJ. The evaluation of intervention programmes for communicatively impaired elderly people. Eur J Disord Commun 1993; 28:63-85. [PMID: 8400483 DOI: 10.3109/13682829309033143] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
A study is described which examined the efficacy of group intervention programmes using trained volunteers as agents of intervention with elderly nursing home residents with communication impairments. A series of intervention programmes, which consisted of six weekly sessions, was designed. Sessions were a combination of information giving, discussion and practical components where residents could practise newly acquired skills. Sessions covered a number of core components--the communication process, comprehension, expression and pragmatics, as well as information that was specific to the communication impairment. Volunteers were trained to administer the programme. Four groups of communicatively impaired elderly people were included in the study--a group of hearing-impaired residents, those with communication impairment subsequent to Parkinson's disease, those with communication impairment subsequent to cerebrovascular accident and those in varying stages of dementia. Results indicated that, although the residents studied responded very individually to the intervention strategies, with several subjects failing to demonstrate any gains in communicative competence from pre- to post-intervention, positive gains in communication skills and self-management of communicative impairment were observed for a number of subjects. Complicating factors such as general health and well-being are considered as uncontrollable variables in the measurement of performance in the elderly.
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Affiliation(s)
- F M Jordan
- Department of Speech and Hearing, University of Queensland, Australia
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Abstract
The language functioning of a group of 14 children who had sustained a mild closed head injury (CHI) at least 10 years previously was assessed. The subjects were administered a battery of language assessments including an overall language test, and specific language skills assessments. Performance of the head-injured group was compared with that of a group of non-neurologically impaired accident victims matched for age, sex and educational level. Overall language performance of the experimental group did not differ significantly from the controls.
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Affiliation(s)
- F M Jordan
- Department of Speech and Hearing, University of Queensland, Australia
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Abstract
The speech and language functioning of a group of 20 children (aged 8-17) who had sustained a closed head injury at least 12 months previously was assessed with the purpose of developing a comprehensive profile of the type and severity of the long-term speech/language disorders exhibited by this group. The same group of subjects was then re-evaluated 12 months after the initial testing to monitor progress of the closed head-injured group in relation to a group of non-neurologically impaired controls. The subjects were administered a battery of speech/language assessments including articulation/phonological assessment; oromotor assessment; overall language test; and specific language skills assessments. Initial and re-test performance of the head-injured group was compared to that of a group of non-neurologically impaired accident victims matched for age, sex and socioeconomic status. Comparison within the head-injured group of test and re-test performance was also carried out. Overall language performance scores of the head-injured group were found to be consistently significantly lower than achieved by the control group at both initial and re-test stages. Performance of the head-injured group had, however, improved significantly over the 12-month period.
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Affiliation(s)
- F M Jordan
- Department of Speech and Hearing, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia
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Abstract
A case is presented of a seven-year-old female who showed an unexpected recovery of functional communication skills following a prolonged period of traumatic mutism subsequent to a severe closed head injury. The patient initially presented as comatose. A period of mutism subsequent to the coma extended for ten months. Following this protracted period of mutism the child demonstrated rapid and unexpected recovery of functional communication skills, despite the persistence of higher level language deficits. The findings of a neurological assessment, neuroradiological assessment and battery of speech/language tests are described. The present case is discussed in light of the existing literature on recovery from paediatric head trauma.
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Affiliation(s)
- F M Jordan
- Department of Speech and Hearing, University of Queensland, Australia
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Abstract
The naming abilities of a group of 20 children (aged 8-16) who had sustained a closed head injury (CHI) at least 12 months previously were assessed with the purpose of examining the long-term effect of CHI on children's naming ability. Performance of the CHI group on the Boston Naming Test was compared to that of a group of non-neurologically impaired accident victims matched for age, sex and socioeconomic status. A detailed examination of the types of naming errors exhibited by the CHI children was also carried out. Boston Naming Test scores of the CHI group were found to be significantly lower than those achieved by the control group. The error pattern demonstrated by the CHI group, however, mimicked that of the control group.
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Affiliation(s)
- F M Jordan
- Department of Speech and Hearing, University of Queensland, Australia
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Kawahara NE, Jordan FM. Influencing prescribing behavior by adapting computerized order-entry pathways. Am J Hosp Pharm 1989; 46:1798-801. [PMID: 2801712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
A program is described in which informational text was inserted into a computerized drug order-entry pathway to alter prescribing patterns and contain costs. In April 1986 the pharmacy and therapeutics committee at a 700-bed teaching hospital recommended that cefonicid be used instead of cefuroxime to treat adult patients with community-acquired pneumonia in which infection with Haemophilus influenzae or gram-negative enteric rods was suspected; substantial cost savings were projected. A paragraph recommending cefonicid was inserted into the cefuroxime order-entry screen in November 1986. In February 1987 the screen was further modified to allow the physician to select the cefonicid alternative without returning to the drug index. A final change was made in November 1987 to allow the physician to select ampicillin or erythromycin directly from the cefuroxime screen as well. The cost and relative use of cefonicid and cefuroxime were examined in specific patients with pneumonia--those assigned to diagnosis-related group 89--for whom either drug was prescribed. From January 1986 to December 1987, the percentage of these patients who were prescribed cefuroxime decreased from 100% to 22%, while the percentage of patients receiving cefonicid increased from 0% to 78%. The average acquisition cost of the two antibiotics per patient decreased from $123 to $48. Although other variables may have affected prescribing patterns and this method of drug therapy intervention has some disadvantages, such as the need for physician cooperation, the concept warrants further attention. Adaptation of computerized order-entry pathways may increase the ability of pharmacy to influence prescribing behavior and control costs.
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Affiliation(s)
- N E Kawahara
- University of Illinois, Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy 60612
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Abstract
The speech and language functioning of a group of 20 children (aged 8-16) who had sustained a closed head injury at least 12 months previously were assessed with the purpose of developing a comprehensive profile of the type and severity of the long-term speech/language disorders exhibited by this group. The subjects were administered a battery of speech/language assessments including an articulation/phonological assessment; oromotor assessment; overall language test and specific language skills assessments. Performance of the head-injured group was compared to that of a group of non-neurologically impaired accident victims matched for age, sex and socioeconomic status. Overall language performance scores of the head-injured group were found to be significantly lower than achieved by the control group.
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Affiliation(s)
- F M Jordan
- Department of Speech and Hearing, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia
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Jordan FM. Concerning Numbers of Valid Signatures Needed for an Initiative Law. Cal West Med 1945; 63:153. [PMID: 18747137 PMCID: PMC1473601] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
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