Using Sydney H. Gould's formalization of kin terminologies

Abstract

Parts of the formalism recently developed by Sydney H. Gould (Gould, 2000) are used to explore three interrelated problems relating to kinship terminologies. (1) What insights into the role of kinship in a modern society may be gained from a comparison of terminological variants in use within that society. (2) How we are to understand the relationship between skewed and unskewed variants of a terminology such as Fanti. (3) What may be some of the practical formal and cognitive constraints that affect possible transitions from one terminological type to another. Gould's algebraic definitions of the different system types is utilized – as is the graphic device, called a ‘kingraph’, which he developed to render the structure of the different types clear and to enable the easy tracing out of the terminological categories to which different relatives belong.