Nomenclature popolari degli Sparidi in Salento. Folk-nomenclature of Sparidae in Salento

This research provides a contextual application to the emerging studies in folkbiology supported by the Dottorato Internazionale in Filosofia: Forme e storia dei saperi filosofici (Università del Salento / Sorbonne Université / Universität zu Köln). It was conducted within a doctoral project titled Among Cognitive Universals and Cultural Particulars: The Folkbiology of Osteichthyes in Salento and it draws primarily on the folkbiology framework, which Atran and Medin present, in their collection Folkbiology (MIT Press, 1999), as "an interdisciplinary perspective on people's everyday knowledge of the biological world" – specifically focused on the process of naming, classification and reasoning regarding living things. Although folkbiological studies reached Italian audiences through Cardona's 1985 handbook La foresta di piume: manuale di etnoscienza, they have not, to date, been the foundation for field research in Italy. We argue, however, that this cognitive perspective – which examines interactions among cognitive processes, culture, language, and perceptual data – offers a productive framework for anthropological research by facilitating a deeper and non-utilitarian analysis of cultural understanding. Within this framework, my research aims to document and analyze the folk nomenclature and classification of 90 fish species in Salento. Presenting a sample of these findings, this article focuses on the nomenclature of 22 species of Sparidae and outlines aspects of their categorial organization in the local maritime culture. The ethnographic approach adopted involved fieldwork across 8 coastal locations in Salento, all renowned for their rich maritime heritage. Data were collected through qualitative interviews, facilitated by a photographic inventory of each scientific species. This allowed for the reconstruction of folk nomenclature and classification based on the testimony of a sample of 14 fishermen, whose advanced age (average of 73), limited formal education, and extensive maritime experience make them authentic heirs of a traditional culture now in decline. The findings presented in the paper primarily include a collection of 48 vernacular fish names. Although some traces of folk-nomenclature have been documented for the Salento area by G. Rohlfs and C. Battisti, as well as in more recent publications, several names collected here are previously undocumented. Additionally, this approach allowed for a more precise correlation between vernacular names and scientific species. For each species, the popular names used within the eight study locations are presented, with particular attention to their semantic properties. Within folkbiology, it is not uncommon, in fact, that multiple names identify specimens of the same folk-species at different developmental stages or characterized by phenotypic variations due to habitat or gender. On the categorial level, the study documents instances of correspondence between folk and scientific species classifications. Some folk-species, however, represent an addition to scientific taxonomy: in these cases, specimens of a single scientific species are differentiated in two distinct folk class. Finally, the paper highlights a further form of non-isomorphism between these two classifications: the presence of folk-varietals, which denote intraspecific distinctions based on presumed biological discontinuities that are not considered by zoological taxonomy. Positioned at the intersection of anthropology and linguistic studies, my research holds interdisciplinary significance and contributes to folkbiology by providing field data on a relatively unexplored semantic domain within popular thought: the biodiversity of marine life.