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The greatest difference in the two sets of figures is due to differences in the two sets of lists used.

These differences in turn result from the fact that my Yokuts vocabularies were built up of terms selected mainly to insure unambiguity of English meaning between illiterate informants and myself, within a compact and uniform territorial area, but that Hoijer's vocabulary is based on Swadesh's second glottochronological list which aims at eliminating all items which might be culturally or geographically determined.

Swadesh in short was trying to develop a basic list that was universal ; ;

I, one that was specifically adapted to the San Joaquin Valley.

The result is that I included 70 animal names, but Swadesh only 4 ; ;

and somewhat similarly for plants, 16 as against 4.

Swadesh, and therefore Hoijer, felt compelled to omit all terms denoting species or even genera ( ox, vulture, salmon, yellow pine, manzanita ) ; ;

their classes of animal and plant terms are restricted to generalizations or recurrent parts ( fish, bird, tree, grass, horn, tail, bark, root ).

The groups are therefore really non-comparable in content as well as in size.