ABSTRACT
A central factor in the continuity and stability of a Tale settlement is the economic organization; but the persistent morphological framework, the factor that gives its peculiar stamp to the form of a Tale community, is its lineage skeleton. To observe the operation of the lineage principle in the structure of a Tale settlement, we must isolate for consideration its male population. Births and deaths among its members continually change the composition of the sub-clan. Deaths of male members often cause further segmentation in the lineages of smallest span. There are two factors of great importance in the dynamics of the lineage system: the principle of segmentation in the lineage and the connexion between lineage aggregation and locality. The effect of the congruence between lineage ties and local ties is of no less importance for a woman than for a man.
