The typical Polynesian family consisted of three or more generations. Polynesian kinship terminology distinguishes between generations, as might be expected in a society so strongly oriented toward tradition and genealogy. There are sets of terms for the grandparents’ generation, distinguishing by sex only; for the parents’ generation, in which parents are distinguished from various categories of aunts and uncles; for members of a person’s own generation, in which the terms permit identification by sex, relative age, and sometimes marital potential (marriage of certain cousin categories is preferred in some Polynesian societies); and, finally, for the children’s generation, in which age ...(100 of 6847 words)