No abstract

Universality of the simple consonant-vowel (CV) syllable probably reflects its status as a prototype syllable facilitative of oral communication. Although CV is ubiquitous, it makes up only a minority of the syllabic corpus of some languages, whereas it is dominant in others. In an attempt to account for the differential frequency of CV across languages, a cross-cultural study was conducted (N = 53) to test the general hypothesis that CV would occur most often under conditions in which oral communicability was a desideratum. One prediction was based on the assumptions that (a) people in warm to moderate climates, as inhabitants of "outdoor" cultures, would on average engage in more distal communication than people in cold climates; and (b) such distal communication would create a need for optimal transmittal of messages, that is, high CV usage. The prediction was supported. A second prediction was based on the assumptions that (a) writing systems, which do not depend on

In a world sample (N = 60), the indigenous languages of tropical and subtropical climates in contrast to the languages spoken in temperate and cold zones manifested high levels of sonority. High sonority in phonetic segments, as found for example in vowels (versus consonants), increases the carrying power of speech sounds and, hence, audibility at a distance. We assume that in the course of daily activities, the speakers in warm/hot climates (a) are often outdoors due to equable ambient temperatures, (b) thereby frequently transmit messages distally, and (c) transmit such messages relatively intelligibly due to the acoustic and functional advantages of high sonority. Our conceptual model is similar to that of population biology, where there are well-known correlations between climate and somatic variables, and where it is assumed that communicative modalities and behaviors are selected or designed for success in specific habitats. We also take up possible alternative hypotheses and consider directions for future research.

The issue of the sociopsychological consequences of children's work is of practical importance (Greenberger 1983;Stephens 1979), and anthropologists have devoted a good deal of attention to the problem (). Only recently, however, have comparable cross-cultural efforts been made to try to identify the life conditions that elicit work from children (Nag, White, and Peet 1978; Minge-Kalman 1978;Weisner and Gallimore 1977). In this paper, by means of systematic observations of three-to nine-year-old children and their parents in four communities of varied cultural traditions, we take up both the recent question of the determinants of children's work and the more frequently posed question of the sociopsychological effects of that work.The theoretical approach, grounded in broadly cultural materialist terms, is based on the assumptions that (a) children will be expected to work where they are of economic value, and (b) the experience of working will have implications for their developing character. In looking for factors that might influence the level of the children's contribution to the total work effort in the home, we have based our initial analyses on the argument of A. V. Chayanov (1966) that productive labor varies inversely with a household's productive capacity. (As we shall see, additional factors also appear to influence the children's work level.) In looking for the sociopsychological correlates of children's work, we have assumed that an inclusive category system such as that used by the Whitings (1975) for social interaction would reveal differential behavioral dispositions for children who work frequently as opposed to those who work little.In all four of the sample societies, children are required to work at an early age. Even at three years, they are performing various chores about 10% of the time. This figure rises steadily until, by the age of nine, they are working during more than one-third of their nonschool time in the early mornings, in the afternoons, on weekends, and during vacations. As would be expected, the level of work differs somewhat from culture to culture. The highest mean contribution to the work force is made among Logoli children in Kenya, where five-and seven-year-olds work more than do children of these ages in the other cultures. In Belize, among the Garifuna, and in American Samoa, there is a more gradual rise at each age level, but by age nine, children have reached the frequency attained by nine-year-olds in Kenya. Among the Newars of Nepal, girls rise steadily in their work frequency while boys increase their contribution only slowly to the age of seven, then fall at nine to a frequency of 8%. which is actually below the overall four-culture average for three-year-old children. The average work time for all children in the sample is about 23%.For the purposes of this study, the operational definition of work has been broadened beyond Chayanov's (1966) definition of production labor to include all instrumental activities judged to contribute to the maintenance of the househo...

This study examined how societal changes associated with modernization are related to cognitive development. Data were from 4 cultural communities that represented a broad range of traditional and modern elements: the Garifuna (Belize), Logoli (Kenya), Newars (Nepal), and Samoans (American Samoa). Naturalistic observations and the performances of 3-, 5-, 7-, and 9-year-old children (N = 192) on 7 cognitive measures were examined. Results replicated age-related improvement on all measures. Contributions of modernity were evident in children's play behaviors and cognitive performances, especially in skills related to schooling. Modernization and schooling independently predicted differences on most of the measures. Results are discussed in relation to the Flynn effect, the worldwide increase in cognitive scores across generations, and the ways in which societal modernization may contribute to cognitive development.