Gainj - Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. Kinship is reckoned bilaterally. There are no descent groups. The important kinship groups are the nuclear family, the kindred, and the kunyung.

Kinship Terminology. On the first ascending generation, terminology is bifurcate merging. Terminology for one's own generation is more difficult to classify. Parallel cousins and opposite-sex cross cousins are called by the same terms as opposite-sex siblings; however, same-sex cross cousins are called by different terms than same-sex siblings. The terminology can be called modified Hawaiian, consistent with the generational terminology in the first descending and second ascending generations, or modified Iroquois, consistent with the bifurcate-merging terminology of the first ascending generation.