Northern Shoshone and Bannock - Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. The Shoshone and Bannock had bilateral descent without kindreds or other kin groups. The basic unit of the society was the bilateral family group, composed of four or five nuclear families that maintained relatively close and continuing association.

Kinship Terminology. The Shoshone and Bannock used a Hawaiian type of kinship terminology, with a fairly Consistent pattern of terminological merging of the mother's sister with the mother and the father's brother with the father. There was no distinction between cross and parallel cousins, all being addressed by brother and sister terms. The terminology was of the Dakota type on the first ascending generation, and grandparents and grandchildren addressed each other by the same terms, distinguished only by sex.