Coeur d'Alene exceptions to proposed universals of anatomical nomenclature
Gary B. Palmer, Lawrence G. Nicodemus · American Ethnologist · 1985
This paper tests proposed universals of anatomical nomenclature with data from Coeur d'Alene, an Interior Salish language. Coeur d'Alene terms present exceptions to the taxonomically derived universals proposed by Brown (1976) because their semantic and syntactic structures are more complex than those recognized by current lexicography. A large group of Coeur d'Alene terms for surface parts references a set of spatial relations which are best modeled with a partially ordered componential paradigm rather than a part‐whole taxonomy. Analysis of surface terms reveals a type not previously recognized in taxonomic studies: the composite specific lexeme. [semantics, componential analysis, lexicography, ethnoanatomy, Salish, North America]