Iroquois System of Kinship

The Iroquois system is also known as bifurcate-merging system.Here a distinction between sex of the connecting relative is made.

But a selective merging of collateral kin on one side with lineal kin is made to produce classificatory terms.

Thus in ego's generation siblings and parallel cousins are merged together but are distinguished from cross-cousins.

In the first ascendent generation father is merged with father's brother and mother's sister's husband but is distinguished from mother's brother and father's sister's husband who have a common term.

The Iroquois System is generally associated with societies that pratice cross-cousin marriage.Such a practice occurs matrilineal,patrilineal and even double-descent systems.

The Iroquois tribe in North America possess this kinship system.