Pemon - Kinship



Kin Groups and Descent. Descent in Pemon society is bilateral, and every person traces an Ego-focused kindred of relatives on both mother's and father's sides. An individual's kindred consists of relatives, including in-laws, up to the grandparental generation and downward to the grandchild generation; Pemon do not trace genealogies beyond their grandparents. There are no corporate groups outside of the household. A neighborhood is made up of groups of siblings linked by marriage bonds, with some inmarrying outsiders from more distant settlements. Age categories (infant, child, adult, aged) are used at times, but most references to other Pemon are kinship references. Personal names in Pemon are taboo, though criollo names have been adopted, are used to some extent, and are not taboo.

Kinship Terminology. Traditional terms approximate the Iroquois type, with variation in the cousin terms. Criollo kin terms, especially that for brother-in-law, are sometimes used by bilingual Pemon.


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