Hawaiian kinship terminology, also called the generational system, is the simplest of the six major kinship-terminology systems Lewis Henry Morgan classified in his 1871 Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family. Relatives are distinguished only by generation and by gender: a person (Ego) calls every woman of the parents' generation, mother, aunts, and the wives of the men in that generation, 'Mother,' and every man of that generation 'Father,' while all siblings and same-generation cousins are called 'Brother' or 'Sister.' It is most common among Malayo-Polynesian-speaking cultures and is found in roughly a third of the world's documented societies, predominantly smaller-scale ones where nuclear families depend on wider kin for support; researchers have also found a correlation between the Hawaiian system and societies that prohibit cross-cousin marriage, since the terminology's own semantics already classify cross-cousins as siblings. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Descent RuleSourced to the subject's own accountNot a descent rule but a terminology and classification system: kin are sorted only by generation and gender, with no distinction drawn between lineal and collateral relatives, since a parent's own siblings are called by the same term as the parent; this is why the system correlates with societies lacking corporate unilineal descent groups. 1 Descent RuleSourced to the subject's own accountThe system is usually associated with ambilineal descent groups specifically, in which economic production and child-rearing are shared between the genders rather than assigned by a fixed unilineal descent rule. 1 Typical RegionSourced to the subject's own accountMost common among Malayo-Polynesian-speaking Pacific Island cultures; documented in roughly one-third of the world's societies, predominantly smaller-scale ones. 1 Descent Rule
Descent Rule (category)Sourced to the subject's own account Connections
In Rule Category
Entity-backed identity for the descent-rule category this kinship system already carries as an enum fact, resolved to a kinship-system entity by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The enum fact itself stays on the entity unchanged.
Studied By
Hawaiian kinship terminology, which merges all relatives of the same generation and sex under a single term, is one of the six classificatory systems Lewis Henry Morgan defined in his 1871 comparative survey.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Hawaiian Kinship
WikipediaKinship system section
A correlation was found between the Hawaiian system and the prohibition of cross-cousin marriage, as the incest taboo is reflected in the semantics.
- Overview
Usage section, ambilineal descent association sentence
This system is usually associated with ambilineal descent groups, where economic production and child-rearing are shared between the genders.
View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.