Isonymy and the genetic structure of Switzerland. II. Isolation by distance

Authors: Rodriguez-Larralde, A.¹; Scapoli, C.²; Beretta, M.²; Nesti, C.²; Mamolini, E.²; Barrai, I.²

Source: Annals of Human Biology, Volume 25, Number 6, Number 6/November-December 1998 , pp. 533-540(8)

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Abstract:

Isolation by distance in Switzerland was detected comparing the surname distributions between Cantons. The decay of isonymy with geographic distance between Cantons was consistent with Malecot's exponential decay of kinship. Lasker's distance was defined as the negative value of the logarithm of isonymy between localities, and it was found that it is linearly and significantly correlated with the log of geographic distance, both within and between languages. The peculiar geographic and linguistic structure of the Confederation, where mountain barriers exist at short distances separating different languages, might explain the rapid changes in surname similarity. It was predicted that the frequency of markers linked to the Y chromosome would show a similar association with distance in Switzerland.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03014469800006772

Affiliations: 1: Instituto Venezolano de Investigacciones Cientificas (IVIC), Caracas, Venezucla 2: University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

Publication date: 1998-11-01

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