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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Concepts of plant taxonomy among the samburu (kenya): some preliminary observations |
Author: | Heine, B. |
Year: | 1985 |
Periodical: | Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere: Schriftenreihe des Kölner Instituts für Afrikanistik |
Issue: | 3 |
Pages: | 5-36 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Kenya |
Subjects: | Samburu taxonomy plants plant names |
Abstract: | This article is part of a research report on the traditional use of wild plants in northern Kenya. It discusses some Samburu notions of folk taxonomy which appear to contrast with some of the generalizations proposed so far on biotaxonomies in nonliterate societies. The Samburu, a pastoralist society in northern Kenya, speak a dialect of Maa. After some remarks on the grammatical structure of Maa in section 1, section 2 sketches an outline of folk classification; section 3 deals with taxonomic problems; section 4 is concerned with distinctions between plant categories; section 5 examines the relations between life form taxa; and section 6 explores the relationship between concept and linguistic expression. Bibliogr., notes, ref. |