Social Organization 



83 



CHAPTER VII 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 



The Copper Eskimos, like all the other branches of their race, have built 

 up their society on the basis of the family, the term family being taken to mean 

 a man, his wife and their direct descendants. There are certain peculiarities, 

 however, in their conception of the family, and the angle from which they 

 regard the various relationships, both within and without it, differs considerably 

 from our own. This is evident from their kinship terms, a table of which is 

 given below. As the vocative forms are never used in some cases, I have given 

 throughout the forms for the 3rd person singular. 



Term 



Relation to Male 

 or Female 



Meaning! 



Relation to 

 Male 



Relation to 

 Female 



(1) atata. 



(2) atatsianga. 



(3) ananga 



(4) angota 



(5) arna 



(6) nutara 



(7) irninga 



(8) pannia 



(9) kattangota . . . 



(10) angayua .... 



(11) nukka 



(12) alekha 



(13) neya 



(14) annia 



(16) akalluanga. . 



(16) inroiata 



(17) pangnaryua. 



(18) aisia 



(19) anga 



(20) ? 



(21) kangiganga. . 



(22) oyorua 



(23) ? 



(24) nuatkatiia... 



grandfather 



(father's father?) 

 grandfather 



(mother's father?) 

 grandmother 

 father^ 

 mother^ 

 child 

 son 



daughter 

 sibling^ 



older brother 



younger brother . . 

 older sister' 

 younger sister 



grandchild 

 paternal uncle 

 paternal aunt 

 maternal uncle . 

 maternal aunt . . 



brother's child 

 sister's child 



kinsman or relative" 



older sister 

 younger sister 



older brother 

 younger brother 



brother's child 



sister's child 



^The Rev. H. Girling has kindly confirmed the accuracy of most of these terms. 



2Lit. "man", or "male". 



'Lit. "woman", or "female". Little children often use amama as the term of address. 



^"Sibling" , a new word coined by American anthropologists, combines the meanings of both "brother' ' 

 and "sister"; that is to say, it denotes common parentage without making any distinction in regard to 

 sex. 



'I have heard the word agarulua used once or twice instead of alekka but this may be due to the in- 

 fluence of Mackenzie river Eskimos. It is certainly not the usual term in Coronation Gulf. 



'The Barrow (N. Ala.ska) word is nunakattia, which means "place-companion" or "fellow-countryman". 

 Since all the Eskipios living in one place are connected in some way, either by affinity or consanguinity, 

 the term naturally acquired the additional meaning of "relative" or "kinsman". The derivation^of 

 the Copper Eskimo word nuatkattia is uncertaiii. 



23335— 6i 



