Ethnotaxonomy of birds by the inhabitants of Pedra Branca Village, Santa Teresinha municipality, Bahia state, Brazil

Abstract

BackgroundStudies on popular names of birds help to understand the relationship between human beings and birds and it also contributes to the field of ornithology.MethodsThis study aims to register the ethnotaxonomy of birds in the village of Pedra Branca, Santa Teresinha municipality, Bahia State, Brazil, by cataloguing and identifying their popular names, besides understanding the ethnoclassification system of local bird species. The ethno-ornithological data were obtained by means of semi-structured open interviews, and projective tests.ResultsWe interviewed 48 residents and, in order to identify species, we chose five informants with a more detailed knowledge on local avifauna. We registered 139 common names, distributed into 108 ethnospecies and 33 synonyms, referring to 117 species. Nomenclatural criteria more frequently used were vocalization and coloring patterns. Following Berlin’s principles of ethnobiological classification, three hierarchical levels were registered: life form, generic and specific, with three types of correspondence between Linnaean and folk classification systems. The bird life form (“pássaro” in Portuguese) was associated only to wild species.ConclusionsThe ethno-ornithological research in Pedra Branca Village has contributed with new information on popular nomenclature of birds and their etymology, showing that folk knowledge on birds is conveyed within the community.

From Folk Taxonomy to Species Confirmation of Acorus (Acoraceae): Evidences Based on Phylogenetic and Metabolomic Analyses

“…Yet unlike scientific taxonomy, folk taxonomy is poorly recorded. With the acceleration of urbanization and economic development around the world, fewer dialects are used, leading to a decline in the use of folk taxonomy and its eventual extinction (Galvagne Loss et al, 2014;Poncet et al, 2015;Phaka et al, 2019).…”

Ecología de las aves de acuerdo a los habitantes del poblado de Pedra Branca, Santa Teresinha (Bahía, noreste de Brasil)

“…La investigación de los nombres populares de las aves de una determinada localidad permite el registro de nuevas especies, la descripción de comportamientos (incluso hasta los desco-nocidos), la localización de especies amenazadas y la generación de alternativas de conservación, además de la comprensión de las relaciones entre humanos y aves, volviendo explícito para la sociedad el valor intrínseco de la diversidad cultural (Farias y Alves 2007b. Los resultados de este estudio acerca de la etimología de los nombres locales de las aves refuerza la importancia de la ecología en la clasificación etnobiológica, ya que los pobladores utilizan la vocalización, los comportamientos de alimentación y reproducción, y hasta los ambientes donde viven estos animales para organizarlos y clasificarlos (Jensen 1985, Almeida et al 2006, Santos y Costa-Neto 2007, Farias 2009, Gomes et al 2010, Valério et al 2014, Vázquez et al 2014, Pires-Santos et al 2015.…”

“…para la identificación de especies, utilizándose recursos visuales (a través del archivo fotográfico personal y el sitio WikiAves) y auditivos (vocalizaciones del banco de datos de Wiki-Aves). Los nombres comunes reportados corresponden a los que se utilizan localmente (Galvagne-Loss et al 2014).…”

Warblish: Verbal Mimicry of Birdsong

“…Hunn and Brown (2011:319) even define linguistic ethnobiology as ''study of the naming of plants and animals.'' It is standard for the descriptive component of an ethno-ornithological article to be structured as a list of bird names, with a translation for each name or speculation on its origin, and usually notes on cultural significance (Anonby 2006;Cooke 1884;Diamond and Bishop 1999;Forth 1996;Hunn 1991;Hunn and Thornton 2010;Loss et al 2014). The distribution of binomials versus simplex terms, the presence or absence of generic names, and the mapping from indigenous to Linnaean names are of central interest.…”