The Evolution of Dravidian Kinship Systems in Oceania: Linguistic Evidence

Abstract

In Allen’s world‐historical theory of kinship, humanity began with a tetradic‐Dravidian system based on cross‐cousin marriage and defined by alternate generation, prescriptive, and classificatory equations. In the course of time the dominant trend has been towards the irreversible breakdown of these equations in just this order. Comparative linguistic evidence is obviously crucial for an evaluation of Allen’s theory and for similar grand theories of irreversible change in kinship systems. This article presents some linguistic evidence from Oceania, a part of the world not covered in the recent symposium on transformations of kinship systems (Godelier, Trautmann & Tjon Sie Fat 1998). The Polynesian evidence shows, consistent with Allen’s theory, that leftward movements towards the Dravidian pole are unusual and can be explained as substratum effects. But the broader Oceanic evidence shows, contrary to Allen’s theory, that endogenous developments of Dravidian systems, although they may be improbable, are indeed possible.

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