Page transcription
striking similarity to the eyes of the untrained ethnographer.
Since manioc is rather uniform in its gross morphological
characteristics, such differentiation on the part of primitive
ethnobotanists will be of considerable interest to the
anthropologist interested in perception and classification of
the natural world.
The basic taxonomic structure of the Aguaruna plant world appears
to conform in many respects to plant taxonomies found in primitive societies
elsewhere in the world and provides further evidence on the nature of
pre-scientific systems of classification (Berlin, Breedlove and Raven 1966, 1968,
in preparation; Berlin n.d., 1969, 1970; Conklin 1954). There is, for example,
no single linguistic expression for 'plant' in general. On the other hand, at
least three major classes, referring to major life-forms, are recognized
linguistically-- númi 'tree', daék 'vine' and dápa 'herbaceous plant'. Again,
in conformity with primitive principles of classification of the plant world which
appear to be highly general, culturally significant and morphologically aberrant
plants are conceptually treated as separate botanical classes (cf. Berlin,
Breedlove and Raven 1968; Berlin, Breedlove, Laughlin and Raven in press).
Thus, all palms are given distinct names and are not included in the class
tree'. Likewise, ferns, epiphytes and other morphologically aberrant forms are
considered as unique, unaffiliated taxa. All cultivated plants, e.g., manioc,
yams, corn, peanuts, etc. are separate taxa regardless of morphological
characters which might place them in one of the three major classes.
Nomenclaturally, Aguaruna plant names follow strict linguistic
principles which have been suggested elsewhere to be universal (Berlin in
preparation, n.d., 1969). Thus, the vast majority of names are monomial
generic expressions and only a very restricted set of plant names are binomial
specifics. Binomial nomenclature appears to refer to cultivated plants such as
manioc, e.g., dáya máma, púmkum máma, úmiy máma, etc.; sweet potato,
e.g., káye idáuk, kukúyu idáuk, apáy idáuk, etc., or the like. This finding,
