Australian Aboriginal kinship

Subsection systems are a unique social structure that divide all of Australian Aboriginal society into a number of groups, each of which combines particular sets of kin.

Some language groups extend this by having distinct male and female forms, giving a total of sixteen skin names, for example the Pintupi (listed below) and Warlpiri.

On the basis of detailed analysis and comparison of the various subsection systems and their terminologies, and in particular the apparent prefix /j-/ for male and /n-/ for female, it has been identified as a social innovation originally from the Daly River region of the Northern Territory, which then spread rapidly southwards to other groups.

[1] The Yolŋu people of north-eastern Arnhem Land divide society (and much of the natural world) into two moieties: Dhuwa and Yirritja.

Each of these is represented by people of a number of different groups (each with their own lands, languages and philosophies) through their hereditary estates – so many things are either Yirritja or Dhuwa: Fish, stone, river, sea etc., belongs to one or the other moiety.

The mechanics of the Lardil skin system means that generations of males cycle back and forth between two subsections.

The Warlpiri system is almost the same: The Kunwinjku of Western Arnhem Land have a similar system; male forms begin with Na-, the female forms with Ngal-:[4] Each person therefore has a patrimoiety and a matrimoiety, a father's and a mother's subsection group.