Pama–Nyungan grandparent systems change with grandchildren, but not cross-cousin terms or social norms
Kinship is a fundamental and universal aspect of the structure of human society. The kinship category of ‘grandparents’ is socially salient, owing to grandparents’ investment in the care of the grandchildren as well as to older generations’ control of wealth and cultural knowledge, but the evolution...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2020-01-01
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| Series: | Evolutionary Human Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X20000316/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1811156362264051712 |
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| author | Catherine Sheard Claire Bowern Rikker Dockum Fiona M. Jordan |
| author_facet | Catherine Sheard Claire Bowern Rikker Dockum Fiona M. Jordan |
| author_sort | Catherine Sheard |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Kinship is a fundamental and universal aspect of the structure of human society. The kinship category of ‘grandparents’ is socially salient, owing to grandparents’ investment in the care of the grandchildren as well as to older generations’ control of wealth and cultural knowledge, but the evolutionary dynamics of grandparent terms has yet to be studied in a phylogenetically explicit context. Here, we present the first phylogenetic comparative study of grandparent terms by investigating 134 languages in Pama–Nyungan, an Australian family of hunter–gatherer languages. We infer that proto-Pama–Nyungan had, with high certainty, four separate terms for grandparents. This state then shifted into either a two-term system that distinguishes the genders of the grandparents or a three-term system that merges the ‘parallel’ grandparents, which could then transition into a different three-term system that merges the ‘cross’ grandparents. We find no support for the co-evolution of these systems with either community marriage organisation or post-marital residence. We find some evidence for the correlation of grandparent and grandchild terms, but no support for the correlation of grandparent and cross-cousin terms, suggesting that grandparents and grandchildren potentially form a single lexical category but that the entire kinship system does not necessarily change synchronously. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:50:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-35cc13f87bb54dbeaff031b214e330d4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2513-843X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:50:15Z |
| publishDate | 2020-01-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Evolutionary Human Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-35cc13f87bb54dbeaff031b214e330d42023-03-09T12:32:20ZengCambridge University PressEvolutionary Human Sciences2513-843X2020-01-01210.1017/ehs.2020.31Pama–Nyungan grandparent systems change with grandchildren, but not cross-cousin terms or social normsCatherine Sheard0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8259-1275Claire Bowern1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9512-4393Rikker Dockum2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6640-808XFiona M. Jordan3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9953-8884School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, BristolBS8 1TQ, UK Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, BristolBS8 1UU, UKDepartment of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven. CT06520, USADepartment of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven. CT06520, USADepartment of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, BristolBS8 1UU, UKKinship is a fundamental and universal aspect of the structure of human society. The kinship category of ‘grandparents’ is socially salient, owing to grandparents’ investment in the care of the grandchildren as well as to older generations’ control of wealth and cultural knowledge, but the evolutionary dynamics of grandparent terms has yet to be studied in a phylogenetically explicit context. Here, we present the first phylogenetic comparative study of grandparent terms by investigating 134 languages in Pama–Nyungan, an Australian family of hunter–gatherer languages. We infer that proto-Pama–Nyungan had, with high certainty, four separate terms for grandparents. This state then shifted into either a two-term system that distinguishes the genders of the grandparents or a three-term system that merges the ‘parallel’ grandparents, which could then transition into a different three-term system that merges the ‘cross’ grandparents. We find no support for the co-evolution of these systems with either community marriage organisation or post-marital residence. We find some evidence for the correlation of grandparent and grandchild terms, but no support for the correlation of grandparent and cross-cousin terms, suggesting that grandparents and grandchildren potentially form a single lexical category but that the entire kinship system does not necessarily change synchronously.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X20000316/type/journal_articlePama–Nyunganphylogenetic comparative methodskinshipgrandparentscultural evolution |
| spellingShingle | Catherine Sheard Claire Bowern Rikker Dockum Fiona M. Jordan Pama–Nyungan grandparent systems change with grandchildren, but not cross-cousin terms or social norms Evolutionary Human Sciences Pama–Nyungan phylogenetic comparative methods kinship grandparents cultural evolution |
| title | Pama–Nyungan grandparent systems change with grandchildren, but not cross-cousin terms or social norms |
| title_full | Pama–Nyungan grandparent systems change with grandchildren, but not cross-cousin terms or social norms |
| title_fullStr | Pama–Nyungan grandparent systems change with grandchildren, but not cross-cousin terms or social norms |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pama–Nyungan grandparent systems change with grandchildren, but not cross-cousin terms or social norms |
| title_short | Pama–Nyungan grandparent systems change with grandchildren, but not cross-cousin terms or social norms |
| title_sort | pama nyungan grandparent systems change with grandchildren but not cross cousin terms or social norms |
| topic | Pama–Nyungan phylogenetic comparative methods kinship grandparents cultural evolution |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X20000316/type/journal_article |
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