General Principles of Classification and Nomenclature in Folk Biology

Since about 1954, modern field research has been carried out by a number of ethnographers and biologists in an effort to understand more fully the nature of folk biological classification. Much of this work has been devoted to studies dealing with the naming and classification of plants and animals in non-Western societies. It has now become apparent that several important and far reaching generalizations can be formulated which promise to throw considerable light on prescientific man's understanding of his biological universe.