Hypotheses
- Political complexity of the society in which a language is spoken will be positively associated with the geographic range of that language (7340).Currie, Thomas E. - Political complexity predicts the spread of ethnolinguistic groups, 2009 - 6 Variables
The researchers utilize a GIS approach in order to examine the relationship between global linguistic distribution and various cultural and environmental factors. The resulting positive association between political complexity and both latitude and language range leads the researchers to propose that large, politically complex entities exert a homogenizing pressure on language. However, the causal link may also be in the other direction, with possession of common language facilitating the creation of more complex political institutions.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Geographic language area will be positively associated with net primary productivity among Australian and American foragers, but weakly or insignificantly associated with NPP among American agriculturalists (7).Currie, Thomas E. - The evolution of ethnolinguistic diversity, 2012 - 2 Variables
The authors test the relationship between ethnolinguistic area and various environmental variables in a cross-cultural sample of hunter-gatherer, pastoral, and agricultural subsistence groups in order to evaluate various hypotheses surrounding the geographic and ecological origins of cultural diversity. They propose that societies which adopted agriculture at the beginning of the Holocene were less directly affected by climate which, combined with the effect of increasing political and cultural complexity, allowed coordination and homogenization of ethnolinguistic groups over a broader swathe of territory.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - The net primary productivity of intensive agriculturalists land will be greater than that of pastoralists and horticulturalists.Porter, Claire C. - How marginal are forager habitats?, 2007 - 2 Variables
This article examines the quality of forager habitats to determine whether agriculturalists occupy the most productive areas while modern forager groups are relegated to poor habitats. Findings indicate that there are slight but insignificant differences in the net primary productivity of foragers’ land and agriculturalists’ land. Further analysis of types of agriculturalists suggest that horticulturalists live in the most productive habitats, followed by intensive agriculturalists and finally pastoralists.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Technological complexity is positively associated with risk of resource failure (1).Collard, Mark - Risk, mobility or population size?: Drivers of technological richness among ..., 2013 - 6 Variables
This paper builds off previous research into the effect of population size and resource risk on complexity of subsistence technology by investigating the relationship between these independent variables and total number of material items and techniques used by various western North American hunter-gatherer groups. This tally of total technological complexity is found to be insignificantly related to population size or residential mobility; however, there is a significant correlation in the expected direction between technological complexity and one measure of resource risk (mean annual temperature during driest month). Tying this finding to previous analyses of subsistence technologies, the authors theorize that environmental risk is a pervasive driver of technological ingenuity and cultural evolution.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - The net primary productivity of agriculturalists’ will be greater than that of foragers’ land.Porter, Claire C. - How marginal are forager habitats?, 2007 - 2 Variables
This article examines the quality of forager habitats to determine whether agriculturalists occupy the most productive areas while modern forager groups are relegated to poor habitats. Findings indicate that there are slight but insignificant differences in the net primary productivity of foragers’ land and agriculturalists’ land. Further analysis of types of agriculturalists suggest that horticulturalists live in the most productive habitats, followed by intensive agriculturalists and finally pastoralists.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Resource density is positively correlated with type of tenure system.Moritz, Mark - Comparative Study of Territoriality across Forager Societies, 2020 - 7 Variables
Researchers investigated the variation of land tenure systems across forager societies using the economic defensibility model. The study attempted to explain the variation in tenure systems across 30 hunter-gatherer societies. Using data on defense and sharing of resources among groups, and indicators of resource density, resource predictability, and competition for resources, the researchers were unable to explain the variation. This study highlights the vast range of diversity and complexity of foragers subsistence strategies, and proposes that it may be more telling to conceptualize tenure systems among hunter-gatherer societies as assemblages of multiple property regimes. While there was no overall evidence that environmental variables of resource density and predictability explain variation in tenure systems, researchers did find that increasing population density, and greater competition for resources leads to greater territoriality.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Direct fire boiling vessel fabric type will be associated with potential evapotransportation and net aboveground productivity (243).Nelson, Kit - Environment, cooking strategies and containers, 2010 - 3 Variables
This article examines cooking strategies and cooking containers cross-culturally. Focusing on stone boiling and direct fire cooking, the authors find that geographic location and climate (particularly temperature, rainfall, and evapotranspiration) will be associated with cooking strategy. Container fabric type was also examined, and was found to be associated with cooking strategy, climatic variables, and subsistence type.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - The percentage of gathering done by males will be positively associated with net primary productivity of plants (174).Marlowe, Frank W. - Hunting and gathering: the human sexual division of foraging labor, 2007 - 2 Variables
This article explores the sexual division of labor among foragers, focusing on resource availability and constraints on women’s foraging activities. The authors conclude that “there is a greater division of foraging labor in more seasonal habitats where less gathering is possible and more extractive, tool-based foraging is required” (191).
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Relative reliance on consonants vs. vowels in human languages cross-culturally will be associated with different environments (5).Maddieson, Ian - Human language diversity and the acoustic adaptation hypothesis, 2015 - 10 Variables
In the field of bioacoustics, the Acoustic Adaptation theory suggests that variation in vocalization across different species can be accounted for by the acoustic properties of different habitats. Here, the researchers test consonant- and vowel-heaviness in human languages against various environmental variables in order to examine the theory's potential application to our own species. The authors identify a significant negative correlation between consonant heaviness and temperature, precipitation, and tree cover, and some positive correlation with rugosity and elevation as their most important findings, while acknowledging the potentially influential roles of migration and demographic factors in producing this relationship.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author - Unpredictability in climatic variables, particularly rainfall, will influence primary productivity, presence of herbivores, and availability of food (238).Low, Bobbi S. - Human responses to environmental extremeness and uncertainty: a cross-cultur..., 1988 - 4 Variables
This article focuses on the effect of environmental extremes and unpredictability on human behavior and reproductive strategies. Significant correlations were found between environmental extremes and unpredictability and several variables, including mobility, subsistence mode, and degree of polygyny.
Related Hypotheses Cite More By Author