ABSTRACT
The procedure whereby a Yako marital relationship is established or dissolved cannot be understood apart from kinship and age set systems which provide its structural framework. This chapter considers these systems in so far as they are relevant to the sociological analysis of marriage and the family. The Yako kinship system is dual in character. Patrilineal kinship affords the organising principle of a system of major territorial descent groups known as yepun which will be referred to as patriclans. At the same time matrilineal kinship reckoning is dominant in determining the succession to property among the Yako and ritual values unify bodies of persons who claim common matrilineal descent and constitute matriclans known as yajima. Although the principle of patrikinship determines the formation and maintenance of primary settlement units in a Yako village community the grouping of the units in larger divisions or wards of the village known as yekpatu ignores this principle and is determined by territorial proximity alone.
