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Table 1 Qualitative variables

From: Studying Cultural Evolution at the Tips: Human Cross-cultural Ecology

N

Total

Language family

Language group

24

NA

Language isolates; No known relatedness

Ainu, Andamanese, Palikur, Basque, Pawnee, Atroari, Ona, Chukci, Pomo, Iroquois, Japanese, Korean, Tzeltal, Masaai, Zapotec, Yagua, Inca, Stoney, Thai, Tukano, Saami, Warao

18

1,489

Niger–Congo

Akamba, Ashanti, Azande, Banyoro, Bemba, Berom, Bete, Dan, Dogon, Fanti, Fulah, Ganda, Koro, Kulango, Luba, Serer, Tiv, Wolof, Yasgua, Yoruba

2

47

Na-Dene

Tlingit, W. Apache

3

62

Uto-Aztecan

Aztec, Hopi, Tarahumara

2

38

Algonquian

Blackfoot, E. Ojibwa, Ojibwa

3

22

Chibchan

Cuna, Kogi, Talamanca

8

372

Afro-Asiatic

Amhara, Babylonian, Egyptian, Hausa, Hebrew, Somali

12

1,239

Malayo-Polynesian

Api, Caroline Islanders, Chuuk, E. Toradja, Hawaiian, Houailou, Iban, Kodi, Malagasy, Malekula, Tikopia, S. Toradja, Trobriand Islanders

2

32

Macro-Ge

Karaja, Xavante

2

372

Austro-Asiatic

Khasi, Khmer, Santal

3

33

Penutian

Klamath, Lake Yokuts, Tsimshsian, Yokuts

7

443

Indo-European

Bengali, Croat, Greek, Kurdish, Maldivian, Roman, Serb

2

70

Tupi

Guarani, Munduruku

2

11

Eskimo-Aleut

Copper Inuit, Inupiaq

3

365

Sino-Tibetan

Chepang, Chinese, Tibetan

2

552

Trans-New Guinea

Kapauku, Kewa

2

65

Altaic

Turkish, Mongolian

N

Language family size

  

30

Thousands of members

  

11

Five or less members (language isolate)

  

32

Between five and a hundred members

  

24

Hundreds of members

  

0

Missing data

  

N

Religious influence

  

24

None

  

55

Babylonian Zoroastrian, Judeo-Christian or Muslim

  

11

Buddhist or Hindu

  

7

Missing data

  

N

Method of counting or tallying

  

5

Total tool using, including words and stylized inscriptions

  

31

Some non-tool object use—body parts, pebbles, sticks

  

61

Missing Data

  

N

Recorded preference, ritual or otherwise, for even or odd numbers

  

32

Even

  

29

Odd

  

36

Missing data

  

N

Degree of Monotheism (adapted from “high gods” Gray 1999)

  

30

Absent or not reported

  

16

Not active in human affairs

  

7

Active in human affairs but not supportive of human morality

  

20

Supportive of human morality

  

24

Missing data

  

N

Grammatical system

  

22

OV

  

30

VO

  

45

Missing data

  

N

Gender of dominant deities or mythical heroes

  

27

Absence of female deity/hero

  

29

Presence of female deity/hero

  

41

Missing data

  

N

Predominant calendar type

  

64

Strictly astronomical or otherwise empirical (e.g. lunar)

  

8

Arithmetic (e.g. intercalated, solar)

  

25

Missing data

  

N

Primary indigenous writing system

  

56

Alphabet (symbols—letters—depict sounds)

  

21

Syllabary or syllabic alphabet (symbols depict syllables)

  

6

Systematic logograms/ideograms (symbols depict words)

  

14

Missing data

  

N

Written system of communication

  

53

No use of indigenous alphabet or syllabary—borrowed

  

44

Invented an alphabet or syllabary (independently or through stimulus diffusion)

  

0

Missing data

  

N

Dominant mode of subsistence

  

26

Hunting/gathering

  

7

Pastoralism

  

61

Agriculture

  

3

Missing data

  

N

“Intensity of Agriculture” (from Gray 1999)

  

14

No agriculture

  

2

Casual agriculture, incidental to other subsistence modes

  

32

Extensive or shifting agriculture, long fallow, and new fields cleared annually

  

5

Horticulture, vegetal gardens or groves of fruit trees

  

17

Intensive agriculture, using fertilization, crop rotation, or other techniques to shorten or eliminate fallow period

  

16

Intensive irrigated agriculture

  

11

Missing data

  

N

Dominant pattern of descent

  

33

Patrilineal

  

14

Matrilineal

  

43

Ambi/duo/bilateral or mixed

  

7

Missing data

  

N

“Transfer of Residence at Marriage: After First Years” (from Gray 1999)

  

58

Wife to husband’s group

  

12

Couple to either group or neolocal

  

20

Husband to wife’s group

  

7

Missing data

  

N

“Domestic Organization” (from Gray 1999)

  

11

Independent nuclear family, monogamous

  

13

Independent nuclear family, occasional polygyny

  

2

Independent polyandrous families

  

2

Polygynous: unusual co-wives pattern

  

8

Polygynous: usual co-wives pattern

  

8

Minimal (stem) extended families

  

45

Small or large extended families

  

0

Missing data

  

N

“Largest Cognatic Kin Group” (from Gray 1999

  

23

Bilateral descent

  

15

Kindreds: ego-oriented bilateral kin groups

  

1

Ambilineal descent: lacking true ramages

  

3

Ramages: ancestor oriented ambilineal groups

  

49

Unilineal descent groups

  

6

Missing data

  

N

“Kin Terms for Cousins” (from Gray 1999)

  

26

Hawaiian-type

  

14

Iroquois-type

  

17

Eskimo-type

  

5

Omaha-type

  

8

Descriptive-type

  

7

Crow-type

  

3

Mixed

  

17

Missing data

  

N

“Community Marriage Organization” (from Gray 1999

  

14

Demes, not segregated into clan barrios

  

13

Segmented communities without local exogamy

  

36

Agamous communities

  

8

Exogamous communities, not clans

  

2

Segmented communities, localized clans, local exogamy

  

11

Clan communities, or clan barrios

  

13

Missing data