‘eagle’=‘bird’: a note on the structure and evolution of Shoshoni ethnoornithological nomenclature 1

Abstract

This paper provides an ethnozoological example of the processes described by Berlin for the evolution of ethnobotanical nomenclature. An unusual feature of Shoshoni ethnoornithology is the existence of named intermediate categories, which precede the life form label, of which they are the source; furthermore, they seem to derive from a process different from those postulated by Berlin. The conceptual distinction which the intermediate categories make and the intermediate life‐form polysemy are not unique to Shoshoni. These facts may require a reconsideration of the significance and temporal ordering of intermediate categories in Berlin's theory .