Cultural transmission of a sign language when deafness is caused by recessive alleles at two independent loci
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: Cultural transmission of a sign language when deafness is caused by recessive alleles at two independent loci
zbMATH Open document ID: 0793.92016
author: Marcus W. Feldman
author: Kenichi Aoki
published in: Theoretical Population Biology
publication date: 1994-07-07T00:00:00Z
review text: Two unlinked autosomal loci are assumed to affect the ability to hear in such a way that homozygosity for the recessive allele at either locus causes deafness. The five deaf genotypes are subject to the same negative selection due to a lower likelihood of marriage, but unmarried deaf persons remain socially active and participate in the cultural transmission of sign languages. Marriages are assortative for deafness or for hearing, and mutation occurs irreversible from the dominant to recessive allele at each locus at the same rate. At mutuation-selection balance, the fully polymorphic equilibrium is symmetrical. Based on this genetic model, we consider the relative importance of various forms of cultural transmission as they affect the persistence of sign languages. Horizontal tranmission is shown to be effective when deaf children are able to interact with many peers. It is necessary, however, that some form of cultural transmission occurs between generations. Thus, vertical transmission is a critical factor, despite the fact that parent- child transmission is often interrupted due to the recessive inheritance of deafness. In particular, the contribution of vertical transmission is enhanced by assortative mating for deafness.
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 92D99
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 91F99
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 91F20
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 92D15
zbMATH DE Number: 579262
zbMATH Keywords: horizontal transmission
zbMATH Keywords: unlinked autosomal loci
zbMATH Keywords: homozygosity
zbMATH Keywords: recessive allele
zbMATH Keywords: deafness
zbMATH Keywords: deaf genotypes
zbMATH Keywords: negative selection
zbMATH Keywords: lower likelihood of marriage
zbMATH Keywords: cultural transmission of sign languages
zbMATH Keywords: mutation
zbMATH Keywords: mutuation- selection balance
zbMATH Keywords: polymorphic equilibrium
zbMATH Keywords: persistence of sign languages
zbMATH Keywords: vertical transmission
zbMATH Keywords: assortative mating
Wikidata QID: Q47238674
MaRDI profile type: Publication
full work available at URL: tpbi.1994.1006
OpenAlex ID: W2013768255
DOI: 10.1006/TPBI.1994.1006
description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 579262