Fanti Kinship and the Analysis of Kinship Terminologies / David B. Kronenfeld.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kronenfeld, David B., 1941- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Families--Ghana.

Families.

Fanti (African people)--Social life and customs.

Fanti (African people).

Kinship--Ghana.

Kinship.

Language and culture--Ghana.

Language and culture.

Ghana--Social life and customs.

Ghana.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (406 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Urbana, Illinois : University of Illinois Press, [2009]

Summary:

This book examines Fanti kinship terminology from a variety of analytic and formal perspectives. Based on work with a broad number of informants, David B. Kronenfeld details and analyzes internal variation in usage within the Fanti community, shows the relationship between terminology and social groups and communicative usage, and relates these findings to major theoretical work on kinship and on the intersections of language, thought, and culture. The terminological analysis in this study employs a great variety of formal approaches, assesses the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, and covers a wide range of types of usage. This work also performs a systematic, formal analysis of behavior patterns among kin, joining this approach with the analysis of a kinship terminological system. Rather than treating kinship terminology as a special, isolated piece of culture, this study also ties its analysis to more general semantic and cultural theoretical issues. Including computational and comparative studies of kinship terminologies, this volume represents the fullest analysis of any kinship terminological system in the ethnographic record.

Contents:

Intro

Cover

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

The Fanti Study

Book Structure

A Note on the Relationship of Chapters to the Original Articles and Papers

PART I

1. Fanti Kinship: The Structure of Terminology and Behavior

Kinship Terminological System

The Behavior Bases of the Terminology

Behavior Among Kinsmen

Comparison of Terminological and Behavioral Analyses

2. A Formal Analysis of Fanti Kinship Terminology (Ghana)

I. Introduction and Ethnographic Settings

II. Presentation and Formal Analysis of the Terminology

Kernels

Extension Rules

III. Some Considerations of Formality and Marking

IV. Conclusion

3. Particularistic or Universalistic Analyses of Fanti Kinterminology: The Alternative Goals of Terminological Analysis

F Analysis

Comparison and Discussion

Conclusion

4. Fanti Kinship Behavior: What a Fanti Needs to Know to Treat a Kinsman Correctly

Data Collection

2. Data Arrangement

3. Inductive Exploration of the Data

4. Identification of Actual Variables

I. Trivial

II. Categorical

III. Categorical Plus Regression

IV. Regression

5. Conclusion

Appendix

PART II

5. Context in the Late 1970s: Schneider, Needham, Scheffler, and Keesing

1. Schneider

2. Needham

3. Scheffler

I. Conjunctivity

II. Connotation and Denotation

III. Typology

4. Keesing

6. Morgan vs. Dorsey on the Omaha Cross-Parallel Contrast: Theoretical Implications

Terminologies

Analytic Approach

Comparison

More on Morgan

"Overdone" Kinship

7. Comparison with Tax's Theoretic Approach (1980)

8. Kroeber vs. Radcliffe-Brown on Kinship Behavior: The Fanti Test Case

I

II

1. Traditional View

2. Structuralist View.

3. Independence View

4. No Relation View

III

IV

V

The Behavioral Study

Results

Some Considerations of Convincingness

VI

Summary

The Relevant Categories for Behavior

VII

PART III

9. The Uses of Formal Analysis re Cognitive and Social Issues

Formal Analysis

General Issues

What Shapes Kinterminologies

Formal Rule Systems and Terminological Comparison

Some Comparative Examples

10. Computer Analysis of Skewed Kinship Terminologies

11. Using Sydney H. Gould's Formalization of Kinterminologies: Social Information, Skewing, and Structural Types

Kingraphs

Case 1

Case 2

Examples of Reductions

Case 3

Skewing Bases

Social Shapers

PART IV

12. Sibling Typology: Beyond Nerlove and Romney

Nerlove and Romney's Analysis

Types Omitted in Nerlove and Romney's Analysis

Apparent Errors: Disjunction or Overlapping Terms

13. Fanti Kinship: Language, Inheritance, and Kin Groups

1. Sibling Types

2. Seniority

3. Modifiers and Grammar: Sex

4. Inheritance Order

Segments

Property Rotation

5. English Loan Words in the Fanti Kinterminology

14. Some Observations Concerning Usage (1969)

Notes

References

Credits

Index.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Print version: Kronenfeld, David B. Fanti Kinship and the Analysis of Kinship Terminologies

ISBN:

9780252055843

0252055845