Change in kinship and marriage systems
and its reflection in languages and genes
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Patrick McConvell
AIATSIS/ANU
AUSTKIN PROJECT
http://austkin.pacific-credo.fr
Australian Research Council 2008-10. Harold Koch, Ian Keen(ANU)
Laurent Dousset (CREDO/CNRS) et al incl. McConvell (ANU)
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AUSTKIN ON-LINE DATABASE
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DYNAMICS OF HUNTER-GATHERER
LANGUAGE CHANGE PROJECT
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, USA 2008-11: Claire Bowern (Yale); Jane
Hill (Arizona); Pattie Epps (Texas Austin); Keith Hunley (New Mexico) et al. incl.
McConvell (ANU) [website not yet established]
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How the languages of hunter-gatherer groups have changed and spread
Language is a basic element in human social identity and change and spread of languages
is a key aspect of human and social dynamics.
The spread of farming and languages associated with it has claimed a lot of recent
attention but very little corresponding work on the languages of hunter-gatherers.
What drives change and spread among hunter-gatherers? Are such processes are
fundamentally the same or different from what occurred after the farming revolution – a
relatively recent event in the history of humans.
Comparison of hunter-gatherers in North and South America and Australia
The project is interdisciplinary in using the results of biological anthropology and genetics in
conjunction with those of linguistics, to clarify what the relative contributions of migration
and language shift were to language spreads.
Among the linguistic data to be collected are vocabulary in the fields of plants and animals,
and kinship and social organization. These provide evidence of changes in human ecology
and social patterns respectively and relate to the disciplines of archeology and sociocultural anthropology, also represented in the project team, as well as to biological
anthropology since both nutrition and lifestyle, and marriage patterns can be reflected in
genetic trajectories.
HUNTER-GATHERER
LANGUAGE CHANGE
CASE STUDY AREAS:
NORTH AND SOUTH
AMERICA
HUNTER-GATHERER LANGUAGE CHANGE
CASE STUDY AREA: AUSTRALIA
Resurgence of interest in kinship and kinship change
The last decade has seen a resurgence of interest in long-term
patterns of change in kinship systems, with reworking of
structuralist ideas of ‘transformations’ which do not always lead to
actual historical hypotheses (Godelier, Trautmann and Tjon Sie Fat
eds.1998). There are also actual hypotheses about prehistorical
change emerging (or reemerging), both regional sequences and
general evolutionary patterns and constraints (eg Dziebel 2007;
James et al eds 2008).
Linguistic evidence of kinship change
A prominent theme in some of this work is the importance of
linguistic evidence (emphasised in many papers by the late Per
Hage and colleagues). Reconstruction of kinship terminologies
(systems) at various proto-language levels enables us to view
prehistoric systems and the changes they have undergone.
KINSHIP AND MARRIAGE
Relationships between marriage types and kinship systems
have been proposed throughout the history of anthropology
from Morgan on. These have often been framed in terms of
correlations between marriage patterns or rules and kinship
systems synchronically.
LINKED CHANGE IN KINSHIP AND MARRIAGE
There are also studies which attempt to show how diachronic
developments in marriage might have led to change in kinship
systems. Dole (1969) for instance argues that a change to
generational (‘Hawaiian’) terminology from Dravidian/Iroquois
cross-cousin terminology among the Kuikuru of Brazil
represents an adaptation to language group endogamy due to a
long-distance migration.
Dravidian endogamous circulation
FZ
Cross-cousin terms
same on both sides
and may be same
as ÔspouseÕ
F
Man marries motherÕs
brotherÕs daughter or
fatherÕs sisterÕs daughter
M
MB
Woman marries
motherÕs brotherÕs
son or fatherÕs
sisterÕs son
ÔDRAVIDIANÕ
BILATERAL
CROSSCOUSIN
MARRIAGE
With prescriptive
equations
Dravidian systems would generally tend to keep marriage
alliances in relatively tight closed loops.
SYSTEMS THAT DISPERSE ALLIANCES
The other kinds of marriage system which are known to develop from Dravidian
bilateral cross-cousin marriage have terminological structures distinctively
different from Dravidian. Some also tend to disperse marriage alliances
more widely in various ways. These include
1. Asymmetric cross-cousin marriage eg matrilateral, where
a man marries a (classificatory) MBD, not an FZD
2. Skewing systems eg Omaha where an MBD is classified
as a ‘mother’ and therefore usually unmarriageable
3. ‘Second cousin’ (Aranda) systems in Australia
4. (possibly) systems involving ‘marriage classes’ like
sections and subsections
In Australia, the development of Omaha skewing can be shown by linguistic
evidence to be involved in the transition to matriliateral marriage. Keen also
hypothesises that matrilateral systems are correlated with high polygyny, and
old men having young wives.
LOSS OF CROSS-PARALLEL DISTINCTIONS
As well as the loss of symmetry in marriage direction, a common feature
in both Australia and North America is the loss of an original system which
distinguishes between cross-cousins and parallel cousins (the latter
equated with siblings) in favour of one which suppresses or downgrades
this distinction. This seems to correlate with expansion of language
groups into tougher environments on both continents. Lower levels of
polygyny might be expected in this situation.
The loss of symmetry seems to correlate with what I have called
‘downstream spread’ and loss of cross-parallel distinctions with ‘upstream
spread’. Details of why these correlations are present still need to be
worked out.
Cross-parallel distinctions in grandparent terminology are also lost under
apparently similar circumstances yielding grandfather/grandmother
systems from systems which distinguished FF and MF and FM from MM,
eg in the Chiracahua variety of Apachean and inland Northern
Athapaskan; and in the ‘Luritja’ system of the Australian Western Desert.
MIGRATION AND LANGUAGE SHIFT
The individual ‘migration’ of spouses to post-marital residence
localities is different from the migration of whole groups. It may
be better to use ‘movement of spouses’ for the former.
Migration of groups can happen with or without significant
language shift. Groups may just live side by side without language
shift or one group may displace another physically without
language shift.
Language shift if it occurs can be from or to the migrating
language. It may occur in conjunction with high rates of
intermarriage or not. A likely hypothesis is that this conjunction is
common. If intermarriage and language shift cooccur, language
shift will accompany high gene flow and this may be sexasymmetric.
GENETIC PREDICTIONS ABOUT MIGRATION AND
LANGUAGE SHIFT
Language spread can occur through large-scale migrations or through language shift. In the
simplest migration scenario, marital exchange occurs between local groups subsequent to
the migration. The exchange will produce a correlation between the genetic and geographic
distances between groups…. The migration scenario can be tested by collecting genetic
data from the different groups and measuring the correlation between genetic and
geographic distances.
The hypothesis of language shift may be tested by collecting genetic data from many
groups in a region that speak both similar and different languages. Groups that experienced
language shift will be genetically closer to groups with which they share a more recently
common biological ancestry than to groups with which they share a language. The
hypothesis has previously been formally tested in South America using multidimensional
scaling (Cabana et al. 2006).
The predictions and tests of the migration and shift processes are fairly clear cut if groups
have persisted in the same region for considerable periods, if they have not moved much
within the region, if they are evenly distributed across the landscape, and if genetic
exchange is limited to geographic neighbors. These conditions are never met for long in
humans, but the tests can be adjusted to take into account aspects on population history
estimated from independent sources (e.g., archaeological data) and by taking into account
geographic features such as waterways.
“DOWNSTREAM”
Greater carrying
capacity
Initial
upstream
spread
100%
migration
“UPSTREAM”
Lesser carrying
capacity
“DOWNSTREAM”
Greater carrying
capacity
Range
expansion
Migration
“UPSTREAM”
Lesser carrying
capacity
Language shift
“DOWNSTREAM”
Greater carrying
capacity
High mobility
Dense
networks
Language
focussing
Low contact
influence
“UPSTREAM”
Lesser carrying
capacity
“DOWNSTREAM”
Greater carrying
capacity
Downstream
spread
Migration
“UPSTREAM”
Lesser carrying
capacity
Language shift
“DOWNSTREAM”
Greater carrying
capacity
RAIDS
INTERMARRIAGE
RITUAL TIES
Downstream
spread
Migration
“UPSTREAM”
Lesser carrying
capacity
SUBSTRATUM
Language shift
Genetics and marriage
Patrilocality and dispersal of mtDNA
There have been a number of studies of mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA
(female and male-linked respectively) which have linked wide distributions to
preferred post-marital residence patterns and resultant ‘migration’ of spouses. A
common pattern is the wide dispersal of mtDNA, linked to patrilocal residence, and
perhaps to certain marriage patterns.
•In other cases, the results reflect known historical events. For example,
colonizations consisting primarily of men have resulted in the introgression of
European Y-chromosomes—but not mitochondria—into native populations
•…patrilocal groups show more geographic structure in their Y-chromosomes,
while matrilocal groups have more geographically structured mitochondria.
(Wilkins & Marlow 2006:290)
•the ethnographic dataindicate that the transition to agriculture is associated with an
increase in patrilocality.We propose a model in which male and female migration
are similar over most of human history, and female-biased migration is a recent
phenomenon.
(Wilkins & Marlow 2006:291)
CLAIMS DISPUTED
This follows on claims by Marlow (2004) that hunter-gatherers
tend not to have bilateral descent as well as no strong bias in post
marital residence in contrast to agriculturalists. These hypotheses
are doubtful.
Wilkins & Marlow assume that there has been a broad change
towards more patrilocality over the course of (pre-) history due to
the change to agriculture.
However when we look at hunter-gatherer groups we can see not
only that there is variation in these patterns between them but also
that they go through processes of change which affect marriage
dispersal patterns and therefore distibution of genetic markers.
The connections [of kinship systems] with genetic variation are also worth
pursuing, particularly because different kinship systems may have different
consequences for patrilineally and matrilineally transmitted genes …
…the interaction between kinship as a social institution and population processes
like migration and diffusion may be a particularly rewarding topic for future
investigation. For example, prehistorians commonly argue that demic expansions
are driven by innovations in subsistence, especially domestication. But which
groups spread and both when and how they did is sometimes a function not just of
material technology but of social structure. Instead of kinship systems being
passively carried along by population expansions and diffusion like neutral genetic
poymorphisms,they may play an active role in these processes,which may in turn
feed back to influence kinship. This article has argued that demic expansions have
been associatedwith the spread of particular social systems; future research may
demonstrate that these social systems haveplayed some role in causing these
expansions. If so, then cultural anthropology’s long-standing interest in kinship
systems and their structural consequences may contributeto explaining some of
the major events in prehistory.
DOUG JONES (2003)
Kinship and Deep History: Exploring Connections between Culture Areas,
Genes, and Languages
AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST 105(3):501–514.
Jones contd.
For Na Dene speakers in North America, …there is substantial agreement on
linguistic relationships and ancestral kinship systems, …
For New Guinea and Australia, the role of demic expansions and genetic and
cultural diffusion in the origin of population clusters, language families, and
culture areasis less certain, although a provisional case can be made for
parallel transmission. Australia is particularly interesting: Although not widely
known, there is quite suggestive genetic,linguistic, and archeological evidence
for a fairly recent (from about six k.y.a.) demic expansion. This obviously
may bear on the origin of the continent’s distinctive social organization.
[cites McConvell & Evans etc. on Pama-Nyungan expansion hypothesis]
KINSHIP IN NORTH AMERICA
Athapaskan &
Numic:
Cross-parallel
lost in outer
areas, then
lineal (Crow) in
origin area
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Algonquian:
Cross-parallel
lost in outer
areas, then
lineal (Omaha)
in further
southern area
NUMIC
Ancient Mitochondrial DNA Evidence for Prehistoric
Population Movement: The Numic Expansion
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL
Frederika A. Kaestle and David Glenn Smith
ANTHROPOLOGY 115:1 Ğ12 (2001)
Suggests that genetics supports a migration scenario for Numic expansion in the main
but Cabana et al 2008 advocate a more rigorous method which may affect that finding
Proto-Numic ‘Kariera’
The four +2/-2 alternate generat ion terms and the two key +1
generation prescr iptive terms clearly imply that the Proto-Numic
kinship system was Kariera B (Dravidiana te)
+2/-2:
*kynu FF, mSC
*toko MF, mDC
*kaku MM fDC
*hu’ci~wi’ci FM, fSC
In the parental generati on, the prescriptive equations MB=spouses F,
FZ= spouse’s M are singled out:
+1:
*ata MB (FZH) EF mZC
*pahwa FZ (MBW) EM fBC
Gene flow across
linguistic boundaries in
Native North American
populations
Keith Hunley and
Jeffrey C. Long
PNAS February 1,
2005 vol. 102 no. 5
ATHAPASKAN
(Hunley & Long contd)
…a history of pervasive genetic exchange across linguistic boundaries. The distribution of mtDNA
haplogroups in the Apache and Navajo presents the clearest example. As shown in Fig. 4, the
distribution of the canonical Native American mtDNA haplogroups differs markedly between the
far North and the Southwest. Notably,mtDNA sequences belonging to haplogroup B are not
observed in the northern Na-Dene-attributed populations, and members of haplogroup C occur
rarely (Fig. 4). By contrast, mtDNA sequences in Southwestern non-Athabascan speakers are
characterized by the predominance of members of haplogroups B and C and the absence of
members of haplogroup A. The haplogroup configuration for non-Athabascan speakers in the
Southwest is exemplified in the present study by the Pima mtDNA sequences (Fig. 4) …The
Navajo and Apache possess many haplogroup A sequences typical of Northwestern
populations with languages attributed to the Na Dene language family. However, DNA
sequences belonging to haplogroups B and C are also common in the Navajo and Apache,
and these are most likely due to immigrants from the local non-Athabascan speaking
populations. …the pattern of genetic exchange is not reciprocal.A-group haplotypes would
have appeared in the Pima sample if they had absorbed a substantial number of Athabascanspeaking migrants. The pattern of asymmetrical genetic exchanges is allthe more interesting
given current mate exchange practices.Today, marriage practice in both the Western Apache
and Navajo is strongly matrilineal . On this basis, we would not expect to see the inclusion of
female lineages introduced from the surrounding non-Athabascan-speaking populations.
However,the practice of matrilineality in these populations is likely to have begun after the
Navajos and Apaches arrived in the Southwest(31). This practice makes it likely that the
haplogroup B and CmtDNA sequences carried in the Navajo and Apache today wereintroduced
early in their experience in the Southwest, and before the current cultural practices were initiated.
THIS IS PUZZLING…
•‘matrilineal’ refers to a type of descent not a type of marriage
•presumably this refers to a requirement that Apacheans need to have a mother
from the same group to be a member of a matriclan, in effect prohibiting men
marrying outside the group;
•not everyone is convinced that Apachean matrilineality is a product of late contact
with Pueblos; Dyen & Aberle argue it is old in Athapaskan
•matrilocality has been seen to be a response unifying a group after migration
(Divale 1974)
BUT IT IS AN INTERESTING TYPE OF MODEL
•it proposes a past cultural change in marriage which affects the pattern of gene
flow between groups
•the present-day gene distribution mainly reflects a previous period when gene flow
was higher, and putatively, a different marriage regime existed
•incidentally - this is not in the article - parallel types of argument can be drawn
from historical linguistics - kinship terminologies that reflect old states of affairs that
help us understand change in social practices
•generally however geneticists do not engage with this type of anthropological
linguistics
Jack Ives and Sally Rice (2006) Correpondences in
Archaeological, Genetic and Linguistic Evidence for
Apachean History
UCSB/MPI-EVA Language & Genes Workshop
Human biological data provide unambiguous evidence for this hypothesis that
Apachean ancestors came from the Subarctic, had a small founding population,
and followed a route southward that did not take them through the Great Basin
(e.g., Li et al. 2002; Malhi et al. 2003; Smith et al. 2000 . Both mtDNA
haplotype A and AL*Naskapi incidences confirm a northern origin for all
Athapaskan populations. Lower sequence variation for mtDNA haplotype A
among Apachean peoples, as well as the characteristics of Athabascan Severe
Combined Immunodeficiency Disorder and Athabascan Brainstem Dysgenesis
Syndrome, imply genetic bottlenecking in the Apachean past. AL*Naskapi is
absent among Numic speakers, but mtDNA haplotypes B and C among
Apachean speakers show that gene flow did take place with their immediate,
recent neighbours (Puebloan peoples for Navajo, Piman peoples for Apaches).
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SOME POSSIBLE TRANSITIONS IN PAMA-NYUNGAN
KINSHIP SYSTEMS
Yolngu
>asymmetric
(matrilateral)
Karajarri
Kariyarra
Arrernte
Western
Desert
Cape York
Peninsula
?original
Kariera/Dravidian
>Aranda
(MMBDD/FFZDD
= wife)
>Luritja,
weakening
of crossness
NGUMPIN-YAPA
Ngumpin downstream spread
ARANDIC
‘THE ARANDA SCARP’ Tawny-hair
WESTERN DESERT DIALECTS
DRAVIDIAN TO MATRILATERAL
(‘Kariera’ to ‘Karadjeri’)
FZ
Crosscousin/spouse
terms different on
each sides ÔspouseÕ
F
Man marries motherÕs
brotherÕs daughter ONLY
M
MB
DRAVIDIAN
BECOMES
MATRILATERAL
With ÔrupturedÕ
prescriptive
equations
Woman marries
fatherÕs sisterÕs
son ONLY
KINSHIP AND MARRIAGE SYSTEMS IN CAPE YORK
PENINSULA AND N.E.ARNHEM LAND
10
ARNHEM
LAND
3
GULF OF
CARP ENTARIA
1
7
11
Ayapathu
4
CAPE YORK
P ENINSULA
9
5
6
7
2
8
NORTHERN
TERRITORY
QUEENSLAND
MAN
MARRIES
FZDD
MBD
ÔKaradjeriÕ
MyBD
FZD
MBD/ FZD
ÔKarieraÕ
There is a strong
genetic
connection
between
western CYP
and Yolngu of
NE Arnhem
Land (White
1997)
Ayapathu
(Rigsby)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
kami
kamindhinhu
ngathi
ngathindhinhu
piipi
piinhayi
ngayunpa (poko)
paapa
kaali
thowe
muki
mukithu
wunhayi
karrki
yapi
RED=HAVE
YOLNGU
COGNATES
THOMSON (1972)
Kariera
Prescriptive
equations
Omaha
skewing
Cross cousin and uncle/aunt/
nephew/niece terms: the transition via
Omaha skewing
changes in meanings of terms CapeYork Peninsula >NE
Arnhem Land
FZ:
pim i
FZC /H/H
B:dhuwa
y
ZC :
dhu wa
F
EGO
MB+
muk
M
MB-:
gala
MBC /W /
W B:gala
y
The Indigenous
Australian Marriage
Paradox
Small-World Dynamics on a Continental Scale
Douglas R. White drwhite@uci.edu
Woodrow W. Denham wwdenham@gmail.com
White & Denham contd
Data - Problematic but Generally Accepted
• Ethnographers estimate that the
populations of Indigenous
Australian language groups were
consistently small, averaging
perhaps 500 people each.
• Classical models of Indigenous
Australian kinship systems
consistently embody
endogamous marriage as both a
norm and a logical requirement.
White & Denham contd
The Australian Paradox
• Paleodemographers argue that small reproductively
closed human populations are doomed due to stochastic
variations in birth rates and sex ratios.
• If both the population estimates and the models are right,
how did these small closed societies avoid extinction and
indeed persist in Australia for 40,000 years and more?
White & Denham contd
A Counter-Intuitive Approach
• We weaken the axiom for endogamy simply to a
preference, one that might vary through time.
• We argue that widespread restrictions on marriages,
especially when mates are scarce, may reduce choices
locally, but facilitate integration of populations globally
by forcing people to marry outside their own language
groups.
• Simply put, local restrictions encourage the
dispersion of marriages.
• [REPRODUCTIVE STRESS theory of changes in
marriage/kinship systems being developed by White
& Denham]
CONCLUSIONS
• Different kinship systems are correlated with different
marriage preferences and prescriptions
• Changes in kinship and marriage can be investigated using
linguistic reconstruction of terminologies and changes of
meaning of terms
• Different marriage systems are correlated with different
distributions of genes
• Some systems like ‘Dravidian’ bilateral cross-cousin
marriage tend to limit distribution of spouses (and genes)
while others disperse them
• The tendency for dispersal may be related to phases of
spread of peoples and languages :upstream with endogamy
and fission; downstream with exogamy, and language shift
• The proportion of language shift vs. pure migration, and its
direction. can be investigated using genetics