title: Polymorphism of palmar main line terminations as an indicator of relationships among Sardinian linguistic groups of males.
abstract: Palmar main line modal types were used to calculate distance coefficients between Sardinian linguistic groups of males. By using correlation matrix analyses of the coefficients, we then determined whether or not the dermatoglyphic traits could reliably identify the biological relationships on the basis of the linguistic backgrounds of these groups. With Sanghvi's (X2)1/2 and by using palmar main lines both singly and together, we calculated dermatoglyphic distance matrices. Mantel tests of matrix correspondence showed that, by using C and D lines singly or all palmar main lines together, statistical significance between dermatoglyphic and linguistic distances can be obtained, even when the effect of geography is removed; there is no statistically significant correspondence between geographic and dermatoglyphic distance matrices, even when the effect of language is removed. Considering the historical and linguistic background, the results obtained by means of the Mantel test procedure, and the present dermatoglyphic differences in Sardinian linguistic groups of males, we can hypothesize that these groups were already genetically differentiated before the Romance languages and their respective dialects developed.
authors.affiliation: Universitá degli Studi di Cagliari, Dipartimento di Biologia Sperimentale, Italy.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sanna
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Floris
mesh_terms: D003878:Dermatoglyphics; D005006:Ethnicity; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011153:Population; D044469:Racial Groups