Folk taxonomy

A Folk Taxonomy is a vernacular naming system, as opposed to a scientific naming system which is simply known as a Taxonomy or as a Scientific Taxonomy.

Folk Taxonomies are generated from social knowledge and are used in everyday speech. They are distinguished from scientific taxonomies that claim to be disembedded from social relations and thus objective and universal.

Anthropologists have observed that taxonomies are generally embedded in local cultural and social systems, and serve various social functions. Perhaps the most well-known and influential study of folk taxonomies is Emile Durkheim's The Elementary Forms of Religious Life.

Folk Taxonomies exist to allow popular identification of classes of objects, and apply to all areas of human activity.

All parts of the world have their own systems of naming local plants and animals. These naming systems are a vital aide to survival and include information such as the fruiting patterns of trees and the habits of large mammals. These localised naming systems are folk taxonomies.