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Advancing our grasp of constrained variation in a crucial cognitive domain

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2010

Stephen C. Levinson
Stephen C. Levinson
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands PB 310 NL-6500 AH, The Netherlands. [email protected]://www.mpi.nl/people/levinson-stephen
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Abstract

Jones's system of constraints promises interesting insights into the typology of kin term systems. Three problems arise: (1) the conflation of categories with algorithms that assign them threatens to weaken the typological predictions; (2) OT-type constraints have little psychological plausibility; (3) the conflation of kin-term systems and kinship systems may underplay the “utility function” character of real kinship in action.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 33 , Issue 5 , October 2010 , pp. 391 - 392
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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