Yankee Kinship Terminology: A Problem in Componential Analysis1

Shortest Kinship Description Problem∗

We consider a problem in descriptive kinship systems, namely finding the shortest sequence of terms that describes the kinship between a person and their relatives. The problem reduces to finding the minimum weight path in a labeled graph where the label of the path comes from a regular language. The running time of the algorithm is O(n3 + s), where n and s is the input size and the output size...

Computer Enumeration of Significant Implicational Universals of Kinship Terminology

The discovery of general patterns and their subsequent explanation is a familiar method in linguistics and other cross-cultural research. This paper addresses the computerized enumeration of significant cultural and linguistic patterns, specifically implicational universals. We dispute published suggestions that the mechanical generation of universals is inadvisable, by arguing that such claims...

The Shortest Kinship Description Problem∗

We consider a problem in descriptive kinship systems, namely finding the shortest sequence of terms that describes the kinship between a person and his/her relatives. The problem reduces to finding the minimum weight path in a labeled graph where the label of the path comes from a regular language. The running time of the algorithm is O(n3 + s), where n and s are the input size and the output s...

Sam Harvey Yankee Surgeon—Philosopher

1 Bidding Strategies in Internet Yankee Auctions

A bidding strategy commonly observed in Internet auctions, though not frequently in live auctions, is that of “jump-bidding,” or entering a bid larger than necessary to be a current high bidder. In this paper, we argue that the cost associated with entering on-line bids and the uncertainty concerning bidding competition -both of which distinguish Internet from live auctions -can explain this ph...