The goal of this paper is to relate formal analysis of kinship terminologies to a better understanding of who, culturally, are defined as our kin. Part 1 of the paper begins with a brief discussion as to why neither of the two claims – (1) kinship terminologies, which primarily have to do with social categories and (2) kinship terminologies, which are based on classification of genealogically specified relationships traced through genitor and genetrix – is adequate as a basis for a formal analysis of a kinship terminology. A substantive problem with rewrite rule formalism is identified next. In Part 2 this problem is resolved when a kinship terminology is viewed from the perspective of a structured, symbolic system in which there is both a symbol calculus and a set of rules of instantiation giving the symbols empirical content. The symbol structure is linked to individuals via culturally specified instantiation of symbols. It is suggested that one’s kin are determined through the symbol structure and its instantiation.
Atkins, J.R. (1974) ‘On the Fundamental Consanguineal Numbers and Their Structural Basis’, American Ethnologist1: 1–31.
2.
Austen, L. (1934) ‘Procreation among the Trobriand Islanders’, Oceania5: 112–113.
3.
Beattie, J. (1964) ‘Kinship and Social Anthropology’, Man, n.s.13: 475–476.
4.
Behrens, C. (1984) ‘Shipibo Ecology and Economy’. Dissertation: University of California, Los Angeles.
5.
Bourdieu, P. (1990) The Logic of Practice (R. Nice, trs.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
6.
Buchler, I. and H. Selby (1968) Kinship and Social Organization: An Introduction to Theory and Method. New York: The Macmillan Company.
7.
Chomsky, N. (1963) ‘Formal Properties of Grammars’, in R.D. Luce, R.R. Bush and E. Galanter (eds) Handbook of Mathematical Psychology, Vol. 2, pp. 323–341. New York: Addison Wesley.
8.
D'Andrade, R. (1970) ‘Structure and Syntax in the Semantic Analysis of Kinship Terminologies’, in P.L. Garvin (ed.) Cognition: A Multiple View, pp. 87–143. New York: Spartan Books.
9.
Fortes, M. (1969) Kinship and the Social Order. New York: Aldine Publishing Co.
10.
Goodale, J. (1994 /1971) Tiwi Wives. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
11.
Goodenough, W. (1970) Description and Comparison in Cultural Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
12.
Helmig, T. (1998) ‘The Concept of Kinship in Yap and the Discussion of the Concept of Kinship’, Journal of Anthropological Research53: 1–15.
13.
Hirschfeld, L.A. (1986) ‘Kinship and Cognition: Genealogy and the Meaning of Kinship Terms’, Current Anthropology27: 217–242.
14.
Kelly, R.C. (1974) Etoro Social Structure: A Study in Structural Contradiction. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
15.
Kronenfeld, D. (1980) ‘Particularistic or Universalistic Analyses of Fanti Kinterminology: The Alternative Goals of Terminological Analysis’, Man15: 151–169.
16.
Langness, L.L. (1964) ‘Some Problems in the Conceptualization of Highlands Social Structures’, American Anthropologist66: 162–182.
17.
Leach, E.R. (1958) ‘Concerning Trobriand Clans and the Kinship Category “Tabu” ’, in J. Goody (ed.) The Developmental Cycle in Domestic Groups, pp. 120–145. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
18.
Leach, E.R. (1966) ‘Virgin Birth’, Proceedings of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 39–49.
19.
Leaf, M. (1971) ‘The Punjabi Kinship Terminology as a Semantic System’, American Anthropologist73: 545–554.
20.
Lehman, F.K. and K. Witz (1974) ‘Prolegomena to a Formal Theory of Kinship’, in P. Ballonoff (ed.) Genealogical Mathematics, pp. 111–134. Paris: Mouton.
21.
Lounsbury, F. (1965) ‘Another View of the Trobriand Kinship Categories’, in E.A. Hammel (ed.) ‘Formal Semantic Analysis’, American Anthropologist, Special Publication 62(5), Part 2: 142–185.
22.
Malinowski, B. (1913) The Family among the Australian Aborigines. London: University of London Press.
23.
Malinowski, B. (1932) The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia, 3rd edition. London: Routledge and Sons.
24.
Marshall, L. (1976) The!Kung of Nyae Nyae. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
25.
Maxwell, J. (1996) ‘Kin Terminology of an Inuit Community’, in R.J. DeMallie and A. Ortiz (eds) North American Indian Anthropology: Essays on Society and Culture, pp. 25–48. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
26.
McDougal, C. (1964) ‘Juang Categories and Joking Relationships’, Southwestern Journal of Anthropology20: 207–230.
27.
Needham, R. (1962) ‘Genealogy and Category in Wikmumkan Society’, Ethnology1: 223–264.
28.
Needham, R. (1971) ‘Introduction’, in R. Needham (ed.) Rethinking Kinship and Marriage, pp. xiii-cxvii. London: Tavistock.
29.
Parkin, R. (1996) ‘Genealogy and Category: An Operational View’, L’Homme139: 87–108.
30.
Powell, H.S. (1956) ‘An Analysis of Present Day Social Structure in the Trobriand Islands’. Dissertation: University of London.
31.
Read, D. (1984) ‘An Algebraic Account of the American Kinship Terminology’, Current Anthropology25: 417–440.
32.
Read, D. (1990) ‘The Utility of Mathematical Constructs in Building Archaeological Theory’, in A. Voorrips (ed.) Mathematics and Information Science in Archaeology: A Flexible Framework, pp. 29–60. Bonn: Helos.
33.
Read, D. (2000) ‘Formal Analysis of Kinship Terminologies and its Relationship to what Constitutes Kinship (Full Text)’, Mathematical Anthropology and Cultural Theory 1. http://www.sbbay.com
34.
Read, D. (2001) ‘What is Kinship?’, in R. Feinberg and M. Ottenheimer (eds) The Cultural Analysis of Kinship: The Legacy of David Schneider and Its Implications for Anthropological Relativism. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
35.
Read, D. (n.d.) The Kinship Algebra Expert System Software Program. Manuscript.
36.
Read, D. and C. Behrens (1990) ‘KAES: An Expert System for the Algebraic Analysis of Kinship Terminologies’, Journal of Quantitative Anthropology2: 353–393.
37.
Rivers, W.H.R. (1924) Social Organization. London: W.J. Perry.
38.
Scheffler, H.W. (1978) Australian Kin Classification. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
39.
Scheffler, H.W and F. Lounsbury (1971) A Study in Structural Semantics: The Siriono Kinship System. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
40.
Schneider, D. (1980) American Kinship: A Cultural Account. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
41.
Schneider, D. (1984) A Critique of the Study of Kinship. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
42.
Singarimbun, M. (1975) Kinship, Descent, and Alliance among the Karo Batak. Berkeley: University of California Press.
43.
Southwold, M. (1971) ‘Meanings of Kinship’, in R. Needham (ed.) Rethinking Kinship and Marriage, pp. 35–56. London: Tavistock Publications.
44.
Strathern, A. (1972) One Father, One Blood. London: Tavistock Publications.
45.
Strathern, A. (1973) ‘Kinship, Descent and Locality: Some New Guinea Examples’, in J. Goody (ed.) The Character of Kinship, pp. 21–34. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
46.
Strathern, M. (1992) ‘Kinship Assisted’, in M. Strathern (ed.) Reproducing the Future: Essays on Anthropology, Kinship and the New Reproductive Technologies, pp. 14–30. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
47.
Strehlow, T.G.H. (1971) Song of Central Australia. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.
48.
Vatuk, S. (1969) ‘A Structural Analysis of the Hindi Kinship Terminology’, Contributions to Indian Sociology, n.s., 3: 94–115.
