Page:The Melanesians Studies in their Anthropology and Folklore.djvu/63

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ii.]
Florida Terms.
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monly with general terms. The special relation of the sister's son to his mother's brother is of course conspicuous; each calls the other tumbu; and this term is applied also to the father's mother's brother by his grand-nephew, and by the great-uncle to his sister's grandchild. In a generation of members of the same kema all of them call one another hogo in the same sex, and, with more or less attention to nearness of blood, brothers and sisters; that is to say, an elder brother or sister is tuga to one of the same sex, and a younger brother or sister is tahi, while a brother or sister is vavine to one of the other sex. With the exception of the mother's brother, the blood relations of the ascending generation are all father and mother, tama and tina. In the generation above, with the exception of the father's mother's brother aforesaid, who is tumbu, all male and female are kukua. In descending a man's sons and daughters, and his brother's and cousin's children, are dale, distinguished as dale mane and dale vaivine, according to sex, a man's sister's child being tumbu and in the same way a woman's children and her sister's and female cousin's children and her husband's brother's and sister's children are all her children, dale mane male, dale vaivine female. Descending to the next generation, all are again kukua to their grandparents and great uncles and aunts, and all above them; except that, as aforesaid, the relation of tumbu subsists between a great-nephew and his father's mother's brother. Husband and wife are tau. A father- or mother-in-law, and son- or daughter-in-law, is vungo, the term being applied widely to persons connected by marriage who are not of the same generation. Brothers- and sisters-in-law, and generally persons of the same generation connected by marriage, are iva to one another[1].

It would seem that the absence of exogamous divisions of the population in that region of the Solomon Islands in which descent follows the father (namely, in Malanta, about Cape Zelee, in Ulawa, and in San Cristoval), must make the system

  1. The word mavu, which is used for 'namesake,' is also used as a term of family relationship. Unfortunately the full list of Florida terms made by me many years ago lacks a key.