Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 22.djvu/273

 NASS RIVER TERMS OF RELATIONSHIP BY E. SAPIR

THE following Nass River Indian (Nisqa" a ) terms of relation- ship were obtained in May, 1916, from Chief C. B. Barton (Indian name P'd'l), of Kincolith, B. C. Chief Barton was at the time engaged as deputy in Ottawa on tribal business. 1 The orthography here employed is the same as that explained in my Sketch of the Social Organization of the Nass River Indians (Geological Survey of Canada, Anthropological Series, Bulletin no. 7, 1915) ; see pp. 29, 30.

I. NASS RIVER TERMS

In the following table it is to be understood that, unless other- wise indicated, a term may be used by either a male or a female. Most or all of the terms doubtless have a wider, phratric or clan, significance than is here indicated. The ending -i'(*), -0'(*)> '* * s the first person singular possessive suffix, "my."

Note further:

1. Step-relations are designated as real relations.

2. The parents of a married couple are not looked upon as rela- tives. This is strikingly different from the custom of many western American Indian tribes, among whom there is frequently a specific term for " child-in-law's parent."

3. The parent-in-law of a brother or sister is not considered a

��1 Since this set of terms was obtained from Mr. Barton, an opportunity has pre- sented itself in April, 1920, to go over the data with two West Coast Indians visiting Ottawa on Government business Mr. P. C. Calder, a Nass River Indian of the Qitxat'e' n tribe, from the village of Greenville, and Mr. G. Matheson, a Tsimshian Indian, who was brought up among the Nass River Indians and is thus better ac- quainted with the Nass than with his own dialect and who has for a number of years resided in the Lower Fraser country. As both of these Indians are also conversant with the Tsimshian dialect, I obtained from them an independent set of Tsimshian kinship terms. This set supplements a Tsimshian set obtained in 1918 from Mr. W. Beynon, of Port Simpson, B. C., Mr. Barbeau's chief Tsimshian interpreter. I shall present my Tsimshian data in another paper.

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