Towards an Evolutionary Biosemiotics: Semiotic Selection and Semiotic Co-option

In biosemiotics, living beings are not conceived of as the passive result of anonymous selection pressures acted upon through the course of evolution. Rather, organisms are considered active participants that influence, shape and re-shape other organisms, the surrounding environment, and eventually also their own constitutional and functional integrity. The traditional Darwinian division between natural and sexual selection seems insufficient to encompass the richness of these processes, particularly in light of recent knowledge on communicational processes in the realm of life. Here, we introduce the concepts of semiotic selection and semiotic co-option which in part represent a reinterpretation of classical biological terms and, at the same time, keep explanations sensitive to semiosic processes taking place in living nature. We introduce the term ‘semiotic selection’ to emphasize the fact that actions of different semiotic subjects (selectors) will produce qualitatively different selection pressures. Thereafter, ‘semiotic co-option’ explains how semiotic selection may shape appearance in animals through remodelling existing forms and relations. Considering the event of co-option followed by the process of semiotic selection enables us to describe the evolution of semantic organs.     

Nominal kinship cues facilitate altruism.

We investigated whether names in common promote altruistic behaviour, predicting that this would be especially so for relatively uncommon names, for surnames (which are better kinship cues than first names), and among women (who, although less willing than men to help strangers, according to prior research, are also the primary "kin keepers"). We solicited help from 2960 email addressees, with the request ostensibly coming from a same-sex person sharing both, either, or neither of the addressee''s first and last names. As anticipated, addressees were most likely to respond helpfully when senders shared both their names (12.3%) and least likely when they shared neither (2.0%), and this was especially true for relatively uncommon names. A shared surname was more effective than a shared first name only if it was relatively uncommon. Women were substantially more likely to reply than men. These results indicate that names elicit altruism because they function as salient cues of kinship.     

Language and Place-knowledge on Norfolk Island

Using the place-naming practices in the small settler society of Norfolk Island, the home of Anglo-Polynesian descendants of the Bounty mutineers, we advance a linguistic argument against Saussure's claims concerning the arbitrariness of signs. When extended to place names, Saussure's claims about language in general imply place names in themselves hold no significance for how people interact with places. In contrast, we use ethnographic examples to show that people of Norfolk Island interact with the significance of the names themselves. Arguments for an integrated approach to toponymy in which place names are considered alongside other relational (cultural, economic and historical) factors that influence their use and meaning are put forward. We propose ‘toponymic ethnography’ as a useful methodology for understanding the connectedness of toponyms to people, place, and social networks.     

Basic math in monkeys and college students

Adult humans possess a sophisticated repertoire of mathematical faculties. Many of these capacities are rooted in symbolic language and are therefore unlikely to be shared with nonhuman animals. However, a subset of these skills is shared with other animals, and this set is considered a cognitive vestige of our common evolutionary history. Current evidence indicates that humans and nonhuman animals share a core set of abilities for representing and comparing approximate numerosities nonverbally; however, it remains unclear whether nonhuman animals can perform approximate mental arithmetic. Here we show that monkeys can mentally add the numerical values of two sets of objects and choose a visual array that roughly corresponds to the arithmetic sum of these two sets. Furthermore, monkeys' performance during these calculations adheres to the same pattern as humans tested on the same nonverbal addition task. Our data demonstrate that nonverbal arithmetic is not unique to humans but is instead part of an evolutionarily primitive system for mathematical thinking shared by monkeys.     

Basic Math in Monkeys and College Students

Adult humans possess a sophisticated repertoire of mathematical faculties. Many of these capacities are rooted in symbolic language and are therefore unlikely to be shared with nonhuman animals. However, a subset of these skills is shared with other animals, and this set is considered a cognitive vestige of our common evolutionary history. Current evidence indicates that humans and nonhuman animals share a core set of abilities for representing and comparing approximate numerosities nonverbally; however, it remains unclear whether nonhuman animals can perform approximate mental arithmetic. Here we show that monkeys can mentally add the numerical values of two sets of objects and choose a visual array that roughly corresponds to the arithmetic sum of these two sets. Furthermore, monkeys' performance during these calculations adheres to the same pattern as humans tested on the same nonverbal addition task. Our data demonstrate that nonverbal arithmetic is not unique to humans but is instead part of an evolutionarily primitive system for mathematical thinking shared by monkeys.     

Anthropomorphism,primatomorphism, mammalomorphism: understanding cross-species comparisons

The charge that anthropomorphizing nonhuman animals is a fallacy is itself largely misguided and mythic. Anthropomorphism in the study of animal behavior is placed in its original, theological context. Having set the historical stage, I then discuss its relationship to a number of other, related issues: the role of anecdotal evidence, the taxonomy of related anthropomorphic claims, its relationship to the attribution of psychological states in general, and the nature of the charge of anthropomorphism as a categorical claim. I then argue that the categorical reading of anthropomorphism cannot work and that it misrepresents what is being claimed when one claims that traits are shared between humans and nonhumans. We should think of such claims not as anthropomorphic per se– because that implies the trait is intrinsically human and only derivatively nonhuman. Instead, traits shared with mammals are mammalomorphic, for example, or primatomorphic when shared by primates.     

One family: defining kinship in the neighbourhoods of Kumasi,Ghana

This article investigates how the concept that ‘people from one place are one family’ creates an a priori category of relatedness among otherwise unrelated neighbours in Kumasi, Ghana. A connection between spatial and kinship relations is indicated in the common saying, but unlike similar connections elaborated in other locales, residents often do not share activities such as cooking or cultivating prior to making claims to being ‘one family’. Through interviews and the resolution of a neighbourhood dispute, I show that the assumption that co‐residents are family can precede – and instantiate – the practices that indicate shared family. I argue that the equivalence between place and family is a fundamentally ethical equivalence that renders the actions of selves and others evaluable according to a common understanding of what is good for communities.     

Nonhumans and the Ideology of Purpose

ABSTRACT

Nonhuman animals are abused in many ways in farming but this arouses little disquiet in society where most people actively support the industry. A corpus of writing in a popular South African farming magazine was analyzed and found to contain, along with other discourses, one which may be described as a discourse of production. Within this discourse are “use terms” which portray nonhumans as having anthropocentric purposes or uses for their lives. This ideology of purpose or implicit use has significant implications for facilitating moral disengagement both in those working in the industry and those supporting it. These implied purposes may derive in part from an old but persistent ideology that the world is composed of greater and lesser beings with the “lesser beings” existing for the purposes and use of the “greater beings.” A scheme is proposed to show how these use terms may play a part in the facilitation of mass nonhuman abuse. Further investigation reveals that use terms are not confined to farming but are widespread and common in everyday speech. It is suggested that an awareness of such constructions and their ideological implications, combined with challenges in such areas as education and science, may contribute towards a re-examination by some people of their ideology concerning nonhumans, their supposed life purposes, and their condoned exploitation.     

From "Easy Phonetics" to the Syllabary: An Orthographic Division of Labor in Cherokee Language Education

Drawing on classroom participant-observation and interviews conducted among the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, this article describes the ways in which literacy practices in Cherokee language education perpetuate and teach local categories of knowledge, behavior, and persons. I describe the semiotic functioning of the native-developed Cherokee syllabary, as well as its place among four Cherokee orthographies. This work contributes to our understanding of the multiple functions and meanings of writing systems in use in language education and other cultural contexts, and demonstrates the importance of analyzing the full range of semiotic implications of any particular writing system.     

Measuring Nepotism through Shared Last Names: Are We Really Moving from Opinions to Facts?

Nepotistic practices are detrimental for academia. An analysis of shared last names among academics was recently proposed to measure the diffusion of nepotism, the results of which have had a huge resonance. This method was thus proposed to orient the decisions of policy makers concerning cuts and funding. Because of the social relevance of this issue, the validity of this method must be assessed. Thus, we compared results from an analysis of Italian and United Kingdom academic last names, and of Italian last and given names. The results strongly suggest that the analysis of shared last names is not a measure of nepotism, as it is largely affected by social capital, professional networking and demographic effects, whose contribution is difficult to assess. Thus, the analysis of shared last names is not useful for guiding research policy.     

内蒙古呼伦贝尔鄂温克族民间野菜资源调查

内蒙古呼伦贝尔市鄂温克族民间作蔬菜利用的野生植物共有23种.记录了植物的学名、汉名、食用部位、食用方法,分析讨论了鄂温克族民间利用野菜的特色和意义.     

Measuring nepotism through shared last names: the case of Italian Academia

Nepotistic practices are detrimental for academia. Here I show how disciplines with a high likelihood of nepotism can be detected using standard statistical techniques based on shared last names among professors. As an example, I analyze the set of all 61,340 Italian academics. I find that nepotism is prominent in Italy, with particular disciplinary sectors being detected as especially problematic. Out of 28 disciplines, 9 - accounting for more than half of Italian professors - display a significant paucity of last names. Moreover, in most disciplines a clear north-south trend emerges, with likelihood of nepotism increasing with latitude. Even accounting for the geographic clustering of last names, I find that for many disciplines the probability of name-sharing is boosted when professors work in the same institution or sub-discipline. Using these techniques policy makers can target cuts and funding in order to promote fair practices.     

Preserving Preuss’s Red Colobus (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Piliocolobus preussi</Emphasis>): an Ethnographic Analysis of Hunting,Conservation, and Changing Perceptions of Primates in Ikenge-Bakoko,Cameroon

The futures of nonhuman primate species and human communities in shared landscapes rely on our ability to engage with and understand the complex histories and multiscalar aspects of human–animal relationships. We use the Critically Endangered Preuss’s red colobus (Piliocolobus preussi) as a case study to examine the important ways in which histories of multiscalar human–primate interactions play out in the village of Ikenge-Bakoko, Korup National Park, Cameroon. We contextualize ethnographic and catchment data from adult men (N?=?32) and women (N?=?31) within long-term diurnal primate monitoring datasets to better understand the relationships among hunting practices, local perceptions of diurnal primates, populations of P. preussi, and conservation management. Our data indicate a disconnect between local cultural definitions of “hunter” and Western assumptions as to the makeup and nature of this and other categories. We show that such contradictions can have negative outcomes for conservationists seeking to turn the science of establishing accurate off-take rates of prey species into practical management solutions. Using a single village as a focal point, we highlight the importance of an ethnoprimatological approach to understanding the intricate entanglements among conservation histories, subsistence strategies, and human and nonhuman primate lives. The application of ethnoprimatology is critical for twenty-first century primatologists who must navigate conservation concerns while also acknowledging and valuing the experiences of the human communities living alongside the primates we study.     

达翰尔族、鄂温克族、鄂伦春族13项形态学研究

本文报道了内蒙古呼伦贝尔盟达翰尔族485例、鄂温克族322例、鄂伦春族100例的13项形态特征的调查结果。X^2检验结果显示,鄂温克族与鄂伦春族之间形态特征相差较远,而鄂温克族与达翰尔族之间比较相象。多数形态特征无性别差异;少数有性别差异的形态特征在3个民族中表现不一;没有一项形态特征在3个民族中均表现出有显著性别差异。13项形态特征绝大多数具族间差异。     

Greater goods: ethics,energy, and other-than-human speech

Renewable energy projects are ethically laudable for their cleansing intentions, but they also produce effects upon other-than-human beings in their orbit. Taking the case of Mexico's Isthmus of Tehuantepec, which is home to the densest concentration of on-shore wind parks anywhere in the world, and following Foucault's reading of the speech form ‘parrhesia’, this essay argues that the bodies of affected nonhuman beings, particularly those whose existence is actively balanced against a ‘greater good’ for humanity, enact a form of other-than-human speech, first in their threatened status and, secondly, through environmental management regimes that seek to synchronize human and nonhuman lives in settings of both local and global ecological failures.     

Designing new microsatellite markers for linkage and population genetic analyses in rhesus macaques and other nonhuman primates

Identification of polymorphic microsatellite loci in nonhuman primates is useful for various biomedical and evolutionary studies of these species. Prior methods for identifying microsatellites in nonhuman primates are inefficient. We describe a new strategy for marker development that uses the available whole genome sequence for rhesus macaques. Fifty-four novel rhesus-derived microsatellites were genotyped in large pedigrees of rhesus monkeys. Linkage analysis was used to place 51 of these loci into the existing rhesus linkage map. In addition, we find that microsatellites identified this way are polymorphic in other Old World monkeys such as baboons. This approach to marker development is more efficient than previous methods and produces polymorphisms with known locations in the rhesus genome assembly. Finally, we propose a nomenclature system that can be used for rhesus-derived microsatellites genotyped in any species or for novel loci derived from the genome sequence of any nonhuman primate.     

A sensory approach for multispecies anthropology

This special issue suggests that the need to examine the entangled lives of species, selves and other beings through a multisensory perspective is crucial and timely. Developing on a sensory analysis, one that emerges through what Anna Tsing refers to as the ‘arts of noticing’ (2015), this introductory paper explores how both nonhuman and human lives are intertwined, and how their close examination can guide anthropologists in their ability to capture the subtleties of more‐than‐human engagement, connection and relatedness. Through articles within this issue from Australian anthropology and beyond, we ask how becoming‐with more‐than‐humans helps us to construct a post‐humanist analysis in the combination of sensory anthropology and multispecies anthropology. Through a combination of these two fields, the paper suggests, anthropology can take up the opportunity to think about animals as subjects, through our ability to communicate beyond language and to engage in a more meaningful way through interspecies knowledge‐making.     

Molecular characterization of nodule worm in a community of Bornean primates

Strongyles are commonly reported parasites in studies of primate parasite biodiversity. Among them, nodule worm species are often overlooked as a serious concern despite having been observed to cause serious disease in nonhuman primates and humans. In this study, we investigated whether strongyles found in Bornean primates are the nodule worm Oesophagostomum spp., and to what extent these parasites are shared among members of the community. To test this, we propose two hypotheses that use the parasite genetic structure to infer transmission processes within the community. In the first scenario, the absence of parasite genetic substructuring would reflect high levels of parasite transmission among primate hosts, as primates’ home ranges overlap in the study area. In the second scenario, the presence of parasite substructuring would suggest cryptic diversity within the parasite genus and the existence of phylogenetic barriers to cross‐species transmission. By using molecular markers, we identify strongyles infecting this primate community as O. aculeatum, the only species of nodule worm currently known to infect Asian nonhuman primates. Furthermore, the little to no genetic substructuring supports a scenario with no phylogenetic barriers to transmission and where host movements across the landscape would enable gene flow between host populations. This work shows that the parasite's high adaptability could act as a buffer against local parasite extinctions. Surveys targeting human populations living in close proximity to nonhuman primates could help clarify whether this species of nodule worm presents the zoonotic potential found in the other two species infecting African nonhuman primates.