ABSTRACT
The term ‘cultural system’ is vague and debatable. In order not to spend too much time on it, let me define it loosely and provisionally as ‘a presumably structured ensemble of traits characterizing a cultural domain in a given society.’ The phrase can apply to a number of ensembles of very diverse sizes and characteristics, such as language, music, cuisine, folk medicine, and oral literature (which I discuss in the following chapters), as well as to social representations, folk knowledge, kinship, technology, etc.
