Wayãpi - Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. The Wayãpi term for people is yanewãku ("our people"), referring, according to the situation, to the nuclear family, the village's inhabitants, or all the members of the tribe. Kin within a village are named eletã lang ("those of my place"). These categories are opposed to ãm k ("the others").

The past existence of patrilineal clans named apä or imiäwänge ("those to whom we are linked") is supported by oral tradition, but, beyond a formal link to one of the seventeen ancestral groups, principally among the northern villages, no corporate descent groups remain. Descent is now bilateral, although some patrilineal patterns persist, (i.e., to determine the inheritance of leadership and to establish the ethnic identity of the offspring of intertribal marriages).

Kinship Terminology. Wayãpi kinship terminology is of the Dravidian type, drawing a clear distinction between kin and affines at the first ascending, one's own, and first descending generations. For the first ascending generation, they use single terms for father's father and father's brother, - lu , and for mother's mother and mother's sister, - i ; there are distinct terms for mother's brother, -elati, and father's sister, -yaye. For the generations of grandparents and grandchildren, no distinction is made between kin and affines. All terminology includes one set of terms for address and another for reference.