90 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 194 



"sisters-in-law": the spouse of an "older brother" is an "older female 

 in-law"; the spouse of a "younger brother" is a "younger female 

 in-law." The "younger female in-law" classification is extended to 

 include spouses of "sons" and "grandchildren." 



A male ego and a female ego also classify the children of male 

 members of the lineage somewhat differently. A male ego classifies 

 the children of male members of the mother's lineage only on the 

 basis of sex as "sons" and "daughters" irrespective of their age and 

 generation. A female ego makes the same distinction for children 

 of her own and previous generations but children of males of succeed- 

 ing generations are classified as "grandchildren" irrespective of sex. 



All men of the mother's father's lineage are called "grandfather" 

 regardless of age and generation, and all women of the same lineage 

 are called "grandmother" or "father's sister" by both male and female. 

 Men and women of the father's father's lineage are not usually recog- 

 nized; instead, they are classified in relationship to other kin with 

 closer kinship ties to the mother's matrilineal lineage. The grouping 

 of the father's father's brothers with the paternal grandfather, whereas 

 informants generally were uncertain of the classification of the paternal 

 grandfather's sister, can be better explained by the practice of equating 

 sibhngs of the same sex. 



The lineage diagrams are the basis of the Hidatsa kinship system. 

 They indicate the grouping of kin, determine the applications of 

 kinship terms, and regulate the behavior and social relations of every 

 Hidatsa within the village group. 



KINSHIP EXTENSION 



The extent to which the Hidatsa recognized kinship is important 

 both from a comparative standpoint and also from that of social 

 integration of the village group and the relations of the villages to 

 each other and to neighboring alien social groups. The Hidatsa have 

 numerous methods of extending the scope of the kinship system which 

 result in the general belief that all people of the village and the neigh- 

 boring Hidatsa villages were in some way related to each other. 

 Actually, by the extension of the kinship categories to comprise the 

 entire village and tribal group, an individual generally stood in two 

 or more relationships to all persons not of the immediate related 

 households. 



In addition to the socially recognized genealogical relatives men- 

 tioned in the preceding charts, a person was believed to be a blood 

 relative to everybody in his own clan even though this relationship 

 could not actually be traced. A person was similarly related to all 

 members of his "linked" clans and moiety. Since, with two excep- 

 tions, the same clans existed in the other Hidatsa villages and were 



