Baniata Kin Classification: The Case for Extensions

Abstract

The system of kin classification used by the Baniata-speaking people of Rendova Island, Western British Solomons, is here subjected to structural semantic analysis. The formal semantic model thus derived is discussed and evaluated with reference to numerous claims that other models of the same general sort are invalid for a variety of reasons and that other kinds of models have greater psychological or cognitive validity. The conclusion is that these claims are false and that the alternative models are descriptively inadequate, largely because none of them takes adequate account of the polysemy of the terms in question. The discussion concludes with some observations on the problem of explaining why it is that a particular people employ particular rules of kin-class definition and extension.