Edward Norbeck

Lewis Henry Morgan and Japanese Terms of Relationship: Profit through Error

T HIS PAPER presents a discussion of Morgans interpretation of Japanese kin terms and offers suggestions concerning its relevance to several problems in the study of kinship: the classification and significance of terminological systems; differences in significance of terms of reference and terms of address; and determinants of patterns of kinship terminology. Since the time of publication of Morgans Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family, scholars of kinship have struggled with the problem of formulating a satisfactory classification of systems of kin terms. Morgans two major types, the classificatory and the descriptive, are distinguished from each other primarily upon the basis of whether or not they merge lineal with collateral kin terminologically (Morgan 1871:13, 142-144). This distinction, however, has been widely misunderstood, as Radcliffe-Brown (1941:7) and, more recently, Leslie A. White (1958) have pointed out. The classification offered by Lowie (1928:265-266; 1929:84-86; 1948:63) and, independently but identically, by Kirchhoff (1932:46-49) may also be seen to depend principally on the major criterion used by Morgan, although Lowie and Kirchhoff do not present their scheme in the same terms as Morgan. The third attempt at classification that stands out prominently in anthropological writings is based upon terms for cross-cousins. Formulated by Spier (1925) and revised by Murdock (1949:223-224), this classification seems to be the most