Amilateral: "Ambilateral is sometimes used in kinship studies to refer to non-unilineal systems in whic an individual may choose to align himself with either of his parental groups. R. Firth argues that "The admission to membershilp through descent from either males or females--or both conjoined--shows that the hapu is not a unilateral group of the strict type. It may be called in fact, an ambilateral group, since both parents are eligible for the purposes of kinship affiliation" (R. Firth, Economics of the New Zealand Maori, Wellington, N.Z.:R. E. Owen 1959, p.112)." GK:22.

Amitaclan: "A clan with patrilineal descent in which unmarried females reside with a paternal aunt and bring their husbands to the father's sister's home. It parallels the avuncuclan, but is only theoretical." ES:72, GPM:71. An example of inventing kinship concepts which describe no known group.

Amitalocal Residence: "The norm whereby wives take their husbands to the residence of the bride's father's sister. It parallels avunculocal residence, but is only theoretical." ES:72; GPM:71. Another example of a totally invented kinship concept that has never been found in any actual human society.

Amitate: "In the amitate a sister is superior to her brother in that the paternal aunt can dictate the matrimonial destinies of her brother's children." ES:72, GPM:71.

Apical Ancestor (Ancestress): The ancestor/ess from whom descent is traced (the "apex" of the triangle of descendants).

Asymmetrical Alliance: "In alliance theory, a marriage system involving indirect exchange. (Patrilateral alliance is considered by some theorists to be non-existent or impossible, so matrilateral alliance--marriage with MBD or a girl classed with her--is the form commonly referred to as asymmetrical.) (RK:147)" DT. Also called "asymmetrical cross-cousin marriage." ES:72.

Avoidance Relationships: "A pattern of complete avoidance of speech and physical contact between relatives. Murdock (1949:273) suggests that such a technique is an aspect of sex regulation in societies where sexual prohibitions are not strongly internalized in enculturation." ES:72

Avuncular: Pertaining to "uncle". In kinship contexts this almost invariably refers to male Ego's MB. Contra. "nepotic".

Avunculate: "denotes the institutionalization of authority by the mother's brother over the sister's son and the latter being made the heir and companion of the former." GK:47.

Avunculocal Residence: "Postmarital residence of a newlywed couple with husband's mother's brother. Some have argued that the terms "viri-avunculocal" or "avuncu-virilocal" are more precise." (RK:147)

Bifurcate Collateral Terminology: "A system which differentiates the uncles and aunts both from parents and from each other." ES:73.

Bifurcate Merging Terminology: "A system which groups the F and FB and the M and MZ; however, the MB and FZ are denoted by distinct terms." ES:73.

Bilateral (kinship): "Kinship traced to relatives through both father and mother. Syn. "consanguineal kinship". "(RK: 147)

"In kinship studies this term is used in several ways. (a) All kinship is said to be bilateral in the sense that, whatever the principle of descent, an individual has kinship ties to and through both parents. (b) Only some systems are said to be bilateral; these are the non-unilineal systems, in which kinship ties traced through both parents have, or may have, equal social weight. (c) In the context of cross-cousin marriage, bilateral is used a synonym for symmetrical; i.e., bilateral cross-cousin marriage is the marriage of either kin of cross-cousin." GK:57.

Bilocal Residence: "A norm which permits a married couple to live with or near the parents of either spouse; a factor such as relative wealth of the two families is likely to determine where the couple will reside." ES:73.

Blood Brother: "...a relation of alliance or consociation by which individuals not related by kinship acquire ties of pseudo-kinship, the rights and duties that compose the relationship being modeled on those of brotherhood." GK:58.

Bridewealth (or Brideprice): "Tangible items of value transferred from the groom or groom's group to the bride's group, the prestation serving to validate the marriage union. Cf. Brideservice, in which the groom contributes labor and/or services to the bride's group for validatory purposes." DT. Contra. "dowry".

Caste: "refers to: (a) the form of social organization found in India based on relgious beliefs in the supremacy of the Brahman, rigid ranking according to birth, and restrictions on occupation and marriage; (b) one of the Indian hereditary groups within this social system; (c) any hereditary and exclusive class elsewhere (usually pejoratively with connotations of discrimination or unfair privilege." GK:74.

Clan: A unilineal descent group or category whose members trace patrilineal descent (patriclan) or matrilineal descent (matriclan) from an apical ancestor/ess, but do not know the genealogical links that connect them to the apical ancestor/ess (RK:148). In the common British anthropological sense, a descent group, usually consisting of several lineages, between which shared descent from an ancestor (or ancestress) is assumed but cannot actually be demonstrated (NG-164; RF 49). Many American anthropologists, following Murdock (1949), regard a "clan" as the localized core of a dispersed unilineal descent group (i.e., a patri- or matri-sib) or non-unilineal descent group (i.e., a sept) (NG-204). An earlier, and now obsolete usage regarded the "clan" as a matrilineal descent group, as opposed to a patrilineal descent group, which was termed a "gens" (plur. gentes; adj. gentile) (NG-37). DT. "Clan was used originally in anthropology to refer to Teutonic and Scottish society...Different authors have used the term to refer to various types of descent group." GK:95

Classifactory System: A mode of kinship classification in which collateral kin are terminologically equated with lineal kin (e.g., FB = F, MZ = M, etc.) (RK: 148)

Cognate: A bilateral (consanguineal) kinsman or kinswoman.

Cognatic (Descent): Sense #1: A mode of descent reckoning where all descendants of an apical ancestor/ancestress through any combination of male or female links are included (preferred sense). Sense #2: Synonymous with "bilateral" or "consanguineal". Syn. "bilateral kinship". RK.

Collateral Kinsmen: "The siblings of lineal relatives (parents, grandparents) and their descendants.: RK:148. Contra. "Lineal Kinsmen"

Complementary Filiation: "The collection of rights, obligations, sentiments, etc. which are attached to the immediate line opposite that by which formal descent is reckoned. E.g., complementary filiation is matrilateral in a patrilineal society (RF-233; NG-87, 169)." DT. "In the work of Fortes, Goody and others the relationship between a person and his/her maternal uncle and his lineage (in a patrilineal descent system); or between person and his/her paternal aunt/uncle and their lineage (in a matrilineal descent system)." (RK:148). Contra. "Descent"

Compound Family: "Consists of three or more spouses and their children; it may be produced in monogamous societies by a second marriage giving rise to step-relationships." ES:74.

Consanguinity: Relationship by blood (i.e., presumed biological) ties. A consanguine is a relative by birth (i.e., a "blood" relative), as distinguished from in-laws ("affines") and steprelatives. (NG:12ff.; RF:33; RK:148). Contra. "affinity", affine(s)".

Corporate(ness): A property of formally constituted social groups which concerns their continuance beyond the life of any particular individual. That is, "the decease of individual members makes no difference to the collective existence of the aggregate body, and does not in any way affect its legal incidents, its faculties or liabilities" (NG:12). DT.

Corporate Group: "A social group whose members act as a legal individual in terms of collective rights to property, a common group name, collective responsibility, and so on." (RK:148)

Cross-cousins: The children of opposite-sexed siblings; similarly, the offspring of one's parents' opposite-sexed siblings. E.g., MBC or FZC. Contra. "parallel-cousins" (RF 185; NG-240). DT.

Cross-Cousin Marriage: "In alliance theory (especially in its early versions), a rule or practice of marriage between father's sister's child and mother's brother's child (a man's marriage with MBD is "matrilateral cross-cousin marriage"; a man's marriage with FZD is "patrilateral cross-cousin marriage")" RK:148.

Curvilinear Hypothesis: Proposed by Blumberg and Winch (1972), it "states that: (1) the independent family is the typical family type in small hunting and gathering societies and in large, industrialized societies; (2) the extended family is the typical family type in settled, agricultural societies. Thus, there is a curvilinear relationship between family type and societal complexity." LM:87. See Rae L. Blumberg and Robert F. Winch (1972) "Societal Complexity and Familial Complexity: Evidence for the Curvilinear Hypothesis" American Journal of Sociology 77:898-920.

Crow Terminology: " A mode of kinship classification usually but not always associated with matrilineal descent in which a line of father's matrilineal kin are terminologically equated across generations (mirror image of Omaha terminology)." RK:148

Deme (pronounced "deem"): "An endogamous local group in the absence of unilinear descent, especially when we are regarding it as a kin group rather than as a community." GPM:63 "A local group lacking unilineal descent." ES:75.

Denotative Kinship Term: "A kinship term which applies only to relatives in a single kinship category as defined by generation, sex, and genealogical connection.

Derivative Kinship Term: "A term that is a compound of an elementary kin term and another sound or phrase, e.g., "sister-in-law" or "stepson"." ES:75.

Descent: "A relationship defined by connection to an ancestor (or ancestress) through a culturally recognized sequence of parent-child links (from father to son to son's son= patrilineal descent, from mother to daughter to daughter's daughter = matrilineal descent" (RK:148). In other words descent is the tracing of relationships inter-generationally through real, putative, or fictive parent-child links. Various typologies of descent have been proposed.