An Analysis of the Factors Influencing the Conceptual Structure of Kinship Terms Among the Mosuo
This study investigates the conceptual structure of kinship terms among the Mosuo people, an ethnic group in southwestern China, focusing on how intimacy of kin relations, generational rank, and the nature of kinship relations influence cognitive processing. Using a rapid classification (speeded categorization) task, the researchers tested whether these three factors affect how Mosuo participants recognize and categorize kinship terms, aiming to further verify a previously proposed two-dimensional structure of Mosuo kinship concepts. Results showed that both intimacy of kinship relations and generational rank significantly influenced participants' rapid cognitive processing of kinship terms, whereas the nature of kinship relations (e.g., consanguineal vs. affinal) had no significant effect. These findings confirm that intimacy and generational rank are indeed the two core dimensions underlying the Mosuo kinship term conceptual structure, distinguishing it from the kinship concept structures found in Han Chinese and other Chinese ethnic minority groups such as the Naxi, Dai, and Yi, and contributing to cross-cultural understanding of kinship cognition.
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