Eskimo kinship terminology, now also called Inuit kinship or the lineal system, is one of the six major kinship-terminology systems Lewis Henry Morgan classified in his 1871 Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family. It draws no distinction between patrilineal and matrilineal relatives, instead emphasizing kinship distance: the nuclear family, mother, father, brother, sister, is named directly and distinctly, while every other relative is grouped into a broad shared category, aunt, uncle, cousin, regardless of which parent's side they come from. Kindred is traced through both of Ego's parents, a bilateral pattern, but the terminology itself signals that the nuclear family's rights and responsibilities exceed those of any wider kin group. It is the most widely used kinship terminology in the modern Western world, including contemporary Europe and North America, and has also been documented among some food-foraging peoples such as the !Kung of southern Africa.
Facts
Descent RuleSourced to the subject's own accountAssumes bilateral, or cognatic, descent rather than a unilineal descent group: relatives on the mother's and father's sides receive identical, undifferentiated terms, aunt, uncle, cousin, while only the nuclear family, mother, father, brother, sister, is named with a distinct term. 1 Typical RegionSourced to the subject's own accountThe dominant kinship terminology of the modern Western world, including contemporary Europe and North America; also documented among some food-foraging peoples, including the !Kung of southern Africa. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Kindred is traced through both parents, a bilateral pattern, even though the nuclear family alone is named with distinct terms.
The terminology directly and distinctly names only the nuclear family, mother, father, brother, sister, matching the system's dominance in modern Western nuclear-family households.
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