Definitions of Cross Versus Parallel: Implications for a New Typology (An Appreciation of A. Kimball Romney)

Abstract

Following a brief introduction to typologies and the background of classifications of kinship terminologies, the author addresses this problem of needed revisions in our typology of kin terminological systems. First, he lays out an example involving the definition of cross versus parallel features in Dravidian- and Iroquois-type terminologies in which a lack of attention to explicit formal characterizations of systems has led to needless confusion. Second, he turns to the problem of developing that new general typology for kin term systems. The findings that produce the need for a new typology depend on analytic advances since Murdock’s codification, and so he offers a brief overview of those advances and the findings that necessitate typological restructuring.