Kinship terminology

Kinship terminology is a society’s system of words and distinctions for classifying relatives through descent, marriage, and other relationships. Its categories can group relatives differently from genealogical descriptions.

Kinship: Social relationships formed through descent, marriage, adoption, or other culturally recognized ties. The broader system of relationships that kinship terms name and organize.
Eskimo kinship system: A kinship classification that distinguishes parents and siblings from a wider set of collateral relatives. Its separate terms for parents and siblings contrast with systems that group them with aunts, uncles, or cousins.
Descent group: A social group whose members trace their connection through a recognized line of ancestry. Membership can determine which relatives receive distinct names and obligations.
Lewis Henry Morgan: An American lawyer and anthropologist whose comparative study of kinship systems shaped nineteenth-century anthropology. His work established influential comparisons among systems of kinship terminology.
Forms of address: Words and expressions used to address people directly in speech or writing. A relative’s kin term may function as a form of address rather than a genealogical label.
Genealogy: The tracing and study of descent and family relationships across generations. Genealogical links provide one basis for distinguishing relatives in a terminology.
Hawaiian kinship system: A kinship classification that groups relatives by generation and sex, often using the same terms for parents and their same-generation siblings. It groups some relatives that the Eskimo pattern names separately.
Patrilineality: A system of descent in which group membership passes through the father’s line. Patrilineal organization can shape the distinctions made among paternal relatives.
Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family: Lewis Henry Morgan’s 1871 comparative study of kinship terms across societies. This book presented an extensive classification of kinship terminologies.
Joking relationship: A socially prescribed relationship in which particular people may tease or mock one another. Kin categories can specify who participates in sanctioned joking.

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