Kinship System
Within common typologies, the Hawaiian system is the simplest classificatory system of kinship. In it, differences are distinguished by generation and by gender. There is a parental generation and a generation of children. In this system, a person (called Ego in anthropology) refers to all females of his parent's generation as "Mother" and all of the males as "Father". In the generation of children, all brothers and male cousins are referred to as "Brother", all sisters and female cousins as "Sister".
The Hawaiian system is usually associated with ambilineal descent groups. It is found in approximately one third of the world's societies, although these are usually small societies.
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