The authors develop CantoCore, an expansion of Lomax's Cantometrics scheme, in order to code for additional candidate musical universals. No musical feature occurs with absolute universality, but several features occur with statistically significant frequency after controlling for historical relatedness, and an additional set of features were found to be universally related to each other. The authors highlight the role of these features in human coordination and cohesion, as well as their their utility to the fields of musical cognition and evolution.

A large-scale comparative study of folk songs around the world employing systematic measures (cantometrics). The aim was not just to describe variation but to test hypotheses about the relationships between song style and societal structures. Dance was also considered.

In asking whether or not there are meaningful universals in music, researchers compiled two catalogs – the Natural History of Song (NHS) Ethnography which contains ethnographic descriptions of song performances collected from eHRAF World Cultures, and the NHS Discography, which contains field recordings of performances of dance, healing, love, and lullaby. Using these two corpora, the study tests a variety of hypotheses about the universality and variability of both music behavior and music form. Specifically, whether there are meaningful universals in meaning and sound. The catalog of published sound recordings was analyzed by machine summaries, listener ratings, and manual transcriptions, which revealed that there were identifiable features of songs which could then predict their primary function cross-culturally. The results as a whole revealed that the existence of music is a cultural universal, and that the variation within music can be characterized by three factors assessing the formality, arousal, and religiosity of the song events. They also found that musical behavior varies more within societies than between them.

In asking whether or not there are meaningful universals in music, researchers compiled two catalogs – the Natural History of Song (NHS) Ethnography which contains ethnographic descriptions of song performances collected from eHRAF World Cultures, and the NHS Discography, which contains field recordings of performances of dance, healing, love, and lullaby. Using these two corpora, the study tests a variety of hypotheses about the universality and variability of both music behavior and music form. Specifically, whether there are meaningful universals in meaning and sound. The catalog of published sound recordings was analyzed by machine summaries, listener ratings, and manual transcriptions, which revealed that there were identifiable features of songs which could then predict their primary function cross-culturally. The results as a whole revealed that the existence of music is a cultural universal, and that the variation within music can be characterized by three factors assessing the formality, arousal, and religiosity of the song events. They also found that musical behavior varies more within societies than between them.

By analyzing patterns of between- and within-population musical variability among 16 Austronesian-speaking aboriginal groups, the researchers hope to evaluate degree of similarity to structures of human genetic diversity. As in the genetic domain, within-population variance is found to be much higher than between-population variance, leading the researchers to suggest that patterns of musical distance and divergence may serve as an indicator of cultural evolution.

This paper examines Murdock's (1949) definitions and data pertaining to the universal functions of the nuclear family. The author asserts that Murdocks definitions and data are faulty and finds that Murdock's claims regarding the universality of nuclear families are unsupported.

This paper examines Murdock's (1949) definitions and data pertaining to the universal functions of the nuclear family. The author asserts that Murdocks definitions and data are faulty and finds that Murdock's claims regarding the universality of nuclear families are unsupported.

This paper examines Murdock's (1949) definitions and data pertaining to the universal functions of the nuclear family. The author asserts that Murdocks definitions and data are faulty and finds that Murdock's claims regarding the universality of nuclear families are unsupported.

This paper examines Murdock's (1949) definitions and data pertaining to the universal functions of the nuclear family. The author asserts that Murdocks definitions and data are faulty and finds that Murdock's claims regarding the universality of nuclear families are unsupported.

In asking whether or not there are meaningful universals in music, researchers compiled two catalogs – the Natural History of Song (NHS) Ethnography which contains ethnographic descriptions of song performances collected from eHRAF World Cultures, and the NHS Discography, which contains field recordings of performances of dance, healing, love, and lullaby. Using these two corpora, the study tests a variety of hypotheses about the universality and variability of both music behavior and music form. Specifically, whether there are meaningful universals in meaning and sound. The catalog of published sound recordings was analyzed by machine summaries, listener ratings, and manual transcriptions, which revealed that there were identifiable features of songs which could then predict their primary function cross-culturally. The results as a whole revealed that the existence of music is a cultural universal, and that the variation within music can be characterized by three factors assessing the formality, arousal, and religiosity of the song events. They also found that musical behavior varies more within societies than between them.