Selkup - Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. Reckoning of kinship was patrilineal. Within the father's clan, marriages were completely forbidden; within the mother's clan, the prohibition extended, as a rule, to three generations. Among the Narym Selkup, there was a circular chain within the framework of a tri-clan union ( gary ): a member of clan A took his wife from clan B, a member of clan B from C, and a member of C from A. The clans of the Southern Selkup were the Woodgrouse, Grouse Beak, Raven, Kite, Swan, Crane Beak, and Bear, whereas those of the Northern were the Woodgrouse, Crane, Eagle, and Nutcracker. In the north, there was clan exogamy; a gradual formation of a binary exogamic system has come about with the resulting division of the society into two halves— kossyt'tamdyr (people of the Nutcracker) and limbyl'tamdyr (people of the Eagle).

Kinship Terminology. The term il'ça designates the fathers and older brothers of one's parents. The corresponding age class on the female side was called imylia. The younger brothers of the father and older brothers of Ego were defined by the term tymnia. A single concept— tytyira —was extended to the younger brothers of the mother and the sons of her older brothers. The younger sister of the father, older and younger sister of Ego, as well as younger sisters of the mother and the daughter of the mother's older brother, were called nynyia. The son of the mother's younger brother and the daughter of the mother's younger sister were also distinguished by special terms. The youngest representatives of the female line—the daughters of the mother's younger sister, daughters of the husband's younger sister, and daughters of the wife's younger sister—were all designated ketsan.