Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Table of Contents - 2010 - Volume 33, Issue 05  

Open Peer Commentary

Exploring the conceptual and semantic structure of human kinship: An experimental investigation of Chinese kin terms

Chao Liua1a2, Yue Gea1, Xiaoqin Maia3 and Yue-Jia Luoa1

a1 State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China. geyue818@163.com Luoyj@bnu.edu.cn psychbrain.bnu.edu.cn/teachcms/luoyuejia.htm

a2 Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1109. liuchao@umich.edu www-personal.umich.edu/~liuchao/index.html

a3 Center for Human Growth and Development, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1109. maixq@umich.edu

Abstract

We designed an experiment to test the application of optimality theory (OT) in kinship terminology studies. Specifically, we examined the OT constraints within a set of behavioral data using Chinese kin terms. The results from this behavioral approach support and extend Jones' linguistic approach by identifying underlying cognitive mechanisms that can explain and predict behavioral responses in kinship identification.

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