universals and rule options in kinship terminology: a synthesis of three formal approaches

Extension rules, relational analysis, and componential analysis are integrated into a new generative model of kinship terminology focusing on the universal aspects of kin‐term systems. Widely divergent consanguineal systems (Crow‐Omaha, Dravidian, Iroquois, and Eskimo) are shown to share a substanti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American Ethnologist
Main Author: WOOLFORD, ELLEN
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 1984
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/ae.1984.11.4.02a00090
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Summary:Extension rules, relational analysis, and componential analysis are integrated into a new generative model of kinship terminology focusing on the universal aspects of kin‐term systems. Widely divergent consanguineal systems (Crow‐Omaha, Dravidian, Iroquois, and Eskimo) are shown to share a substantial core of rules and to display virtually identical relationships between superordinate categories. Tax's rule of uniform reciprocals applies without exception at the proper level of abstraction. Primary differences between systems, such as cross! parallel phenomena, follow from the interaction of universal rules with a small number of rule options . [kinship terminology, universals, generative model, extension rules, relational analysis, componential analysis]