XVI International Botanical Congess

This paper seeks to seeks to describe the similarities and differences among Amazonian language families as concerns the classification and nomenclature of plants. Certain ethnotaxonomic patterns in the Tupi-Guarani family of languages, for example, such as unconscious dichotomy of domesticates vs. nondomesticates, may be intrinsic to the family, or may in fact be found in other language families. Some evidence suggests that this indeed is the case. If such patterns of classification and nomenclature are found in various Amazonian language families as well as in language families elsewhere, the issue is probably not so much a historical one that could be traced in principle to a founding culture and society. Rather, the issue probably would be more complex, having its origins in the foundations of agricultural society itself as well as in the psychological and cognitive effects that such a society may have brought into existence. This paper gives evidence both in favor and against such a view, and suggests possible avenues of future investigation.