Akha - Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. Descent is patrilineal. Each child is given a genealogical name, in which the last syllable of the father's name is typically taken as the first syllable and a second syllable is added. Called the Tibeto-Burman genealogical patronymic linkage system, this pattern is a mnemonic device that both memorializes the father and conjoins father and child. It is said that a man should know his patrilineal genealogy back some sixty generations to the named spirits who preceded the first man. Every Akha belongs to a named patrilineage ( a ^v jeu _v ; gu ). The exogamous unit is not the named lineage but the unnamed sublineage ( pa _v ). The minimal lineage or patrilineal family ( peh _v za _v ) consists of all those who participate in ancestor offerings together.

Kinship Terminology. Fundamental to the terminological system are distinctions between patrikin, wife givers, and wife takers. In everyday usage kin terms are used for address, sometimes followed by the name.