otherwise uses for his own children, and, conversely, a person applies to his father's sister's son a term he otherwise uses for his father. Thus, in the following diagram, C will apply to D and e the terms which are in general use for a son and daughter, while D and e will apply to C the term they otherwise use for their father.
DIAGRAM 2.
| B=a | A=b | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| C | D | e | |||||||||||||||||||||||
In most forms of the classificatory system members of different generations are denoted in wholly different ways and belong to different classes,[1] but here we have a case in which persons of the same generation as the speaker are classed with those of an older or a younger generation.
I will first ask you to consider to what kind of psychological similarity such a practice can be due. What kind of psychological similarity can there be between one special kind of cousin and the father, and between another special kind of cousin and a son or daughter? If the puzzle as put in this form does not seem capable of a satisfactory answer, let us turn to see if the Banks Islanders practise any social custom to which this peculiar terminology can have been due. In the story of
- ↑ I leave out of account here those cases in which members of different generations are denoted by a reciprocal term.
