Adams] 



SHONTO: ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 



55 



a single dwelling. The remaining 25 percent of households involve 

 either plural marriages or very large numbers of children, or both. 

 In all such cases one or more additional dwellings, smaller and with- 

 out housekeeping facilities, will be found in close proximity to the 

 original. 



Shonto's 1955 population of 568 Navaho individuals included 279 

 adults and 289 minor children, residing in 100 households. Mean 

 household composition is therefore 2.79 adults and 2.89 children, or 

 5.68 total individuals. Frequency distribution of households by size 

 is shown in table 2. 



Table 2. — Frequency distribution of Shonto households according to number of 



members 



Mean: 5.68 Median: 5.50 Modes: 3, 8 



All Shonto households are comprised basically of nuclear families 

 or remnants thereof. Frequency distribution of households accord- 

 ing to family structure is indicated in table 3. 



Table 3 offers an essentially historical classification of Shonto 

 households. It does not, moreover, take into account minor extensions 

 by adoption which may occur within households (cf. Kluckhohn and 

 Leighton, 1946, p. 56 ; Roberts, 1951, p. 10) . Incidence of such exten- 

 sions at Shonto is shown in table 4. 



Table 5 offers a purely functional analysis of Shonto households, 

 incorporating the data from tables 3 and 4. 



Table 3. — Family structure of Bhonto households 



structural type 



Number of 

 households 



Single marriage: 



Simple nuclear family 



Nuclear family with stepchildren 



3-generation: nuclear with children of divorced or deceased daughter included 



Split: husband normally absent 



Remnant: husband deceased or divorced 



Remnant: wife deceased ""Illllllllllirilll"" 



Remnant: sole survivor 



Plural marriage: " " 



Husband, two wives (sisters) and children 



Husband, two wives (mother-daughter), children and stepchildren 



Remnant: one or more wives deceased, one survives 



Split: husband has two wives in separate households (one not in Shonto community) 

 No marriage: 



Woman and illegitimate children 



Total 



63 

 6 

 3 

 4 

 4 

 1 

 6 



6 

 2 

 6 

 1 



1 



100 



