KINSHIP, COGNITION, AND COMMUNICATION: ONOMASTICS AS AN AUXILIARY TOOL

Abstract (English)

The kinship terminology and naming system on the island of Hvar function as
complementary systems alongside cognatic descent and bilateral inheritance with a
patrilineal bias. I argue here that the naming system, distinct from kinship
terminology due to its formal properties, serves as an auxiliary classification tool.
Links within the genealogical space are traced through the transmission of given
names, which communicate and fill in kin relationships absent from the kinship
terminology. This structural model is homologous with the four-section system and
the naming system found in other cultures and adapted to specific cultural concerns
and constraints. It exemplifies a basic human cognitive tool that may have
contributed to the early human demographic success.