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Aboriginal kinship terms tend to play down actual blood relationships and to highlight instead the overall structure of the clan or tribe. The terminology may be cyclical so that I apply the same term to both my father’s father and my son’s son. Also my son’s son’s son may even be "my father", and my father’s father’s father may be termed "my son". This suggests a view of succeeding generations, which is quite different from the Western view of an infinite succession of great-grandchildren, great great grandchildren and so on. Another way in which kinship terminology reflects social structure rather than degree of blood relationship lies in the use of terms to refer to classes of individuals. The term of English "father" often refers also to father’s brothers and certain cousins of one’s father. The term of father does not refer to an ancestor but to a set of men … in respect of their social status and responsibilities. This kinship terminology is sometimes described as a classificatory system. The terms for brothers and sisters often show age and sex such as older brother, older sister, younger brother, younger sister. The same terms usually apply to parallel cousins (children of one’s father’s brothers or of one’s mother’s sisters). Cross cousins (children of father’s sisters or of mother’s brothers) are distinguished from parallel cousins either by special names or by identification with some other kinsmen. (eg. a mother’s brother’s son may be called by the same term as mother’s brother). This distinction between the two sorts of cousins is an important one. Many tribes would regard cross cousins, but not parallel cousins as potential marriage partners.
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