Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 81 



contacts were numerous and continuous. The accompanying charts 

 summarize the important features of the Hidatsa kinship system. 

 Charts 1 and 2 illustrate by means of conventional diagrams the kin- 

 ship terms used by a male ego and by a female ego.^^ The system 

 can be conveniently described by an analysis of its terminological 

 structure, the behavior of reciprocals, and the life cycle of the indi- 

 vidual. For convenience in analysis, English terms will frequently 

 be employed, but these terms should be understood in reference to 

 native meanings which are determined by the applications and the 

 social behavior involved. 



The Hidatsa kinship system is of the "classificatory" type in that 

 collateral and lineal relatives are classed together. The father's 

 brothers are classed with the father, and the mother's sisters with the 

 mother, while separate terms are employed for the mother's brother 

 and the father's sister. Grandparents are distinguished according to 

 sex, and grandparent terms are extended to their siblings of the same 

 sex. The maternal grandmother's brother is an "older" or "younger 

 brother" {iuku or isuku, m.s.); the maternal grandfather's sister is a 

 "grandmother" except in those instances where the maternal grand- 

 father and the father are of the same clan when she is classed as 

 "father's sister"; the paternal grandmother's brother is a "father" 

 and the paternal grandfather's sister is sometimes a "grandmother." 

 In the parent's generation there is a separate term for the "father's 

 sister," and her husband is classified as a "grandfather." There is no 

 separate term for the "mother's brother." Instead, he is classified 

 with ego's brothers, being either "older brother" or "younger brother" 

 depending on whether he is older or younger than ego. The mother's 

 brother's wife, woman speaking, is classified with her brother's wife 

 and her husband's sister as "sister-in-law" (itu'). A man classifies 

 the "mother's brother's wife" (uuku) with his brothers' wives and his 

 wife's sisters. 



In ego's generation, siblings are distinguished according to age 

 and sex, while parallel cousins are treated as siblings. A female 

 uses the term itdru and a male the term iuku for an older brother; 

 both employ isuku to designate a younger brother. A female employs 

 the term iru for an older sister and itdku for a younger sister; the 

 children of sisters are designated as sons and daughters. A male 

 designates "older sisters" as itawiu and "younger sisters" as itakisu, 

 their female lineal descendants likewise being classified as "older 

 sisters" and "younger sisters" depending on their age. 



12 The kinship system is still in operation (1933) among the older people so that it is possible to get a rather 

 detailed account of the terminology and most of the social usages. 



