A Problem in Kinship Terminology

A PROBLEM IN KINSHIP TERMINOLOGY By E. W. GIFFORD· LESLIE A. WHITE, in his on A Problem D R minology,! settles the problem to paper own satisfaction in Kinship Ter­ his with the follow­ ing formulation concerning certain types of kinship systems (p. 569): The type which violates the generation principle is an outgrou:th of the type which does not, and is due to the influence of a fully mature, influential clan system. When the clan system is young and weak the kinship system will be of the Dakota-Iroquois type, regardless of the sex in which descent is reckoned. As the clan system develops, however, and comes to exert its influence more and more upon the soci.allife of the tribe, the Dakota-Iroquois terminology will be trans­ formed into the Crow type in a matrilineal society and into the Omaha type in a patrilineal society. The exceptions to this dictum as to the process of evolution in these kinship types are explained in part by Dr White by the additional factor of diffusion (p. 570). The systems of terminology which 'override the generation principle' do so because the clan predominates over the family as the agency which determines how the relative shall be designated at those points where the generation principle is violated (p. 568). It is not clear to me whether Dr White means to embrace moiety also in his use of the word clan. He pro­ ceeds to ask the question: Why is it that in some tribes with clans the generation principle is violated while in other tribes with clans it is not? This is an oversimplification of the problem, for the converse of this ques­ tion should also be asked: Why is it that in some tribes without clans the generation principle is violated while in other tribes with clans it is not? No doubt the prompt answer to this second question will be: Diffusion. In such case the burden of proof lies with the answerer. Family and kinship system are universal to mankind and belong in that underlying stratum of social phenomena which Professor Kroeber has aptly called basic pattern. 2 Obviously, clans and moieties, with their limited distribution would fall under the caption of secondary pattern. Viewed in this light, Dr White's problem becomes part of a more general one, to wit: The manner and extent in which secondary patterns of social structure and basic patterns of social structure interact upon one another. That the • This Ms. was typed by personnel of Work Projects Administration Official Project No. 665-08-3-30, Unit A 15. I American Anthropologist, N.S., Vol. 41, pp. 566-573, 1939. 2 A. L. Kroeber, Basic and Secondary Patterns of Social Struct re (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 68,1938), pp. 299-309.