to the other. Such a system is found among the Kootenai, Ute, and most Shoshonean tribes of the highlands in western United States. By taking note of such distinctions as these, it seems possible to localize several geographical types of nomenclature whose investigation promises to hold an important place in the anthropology of the future.
TABOOS AND SOCIAL PRIVILEGES
This is a convenient place to note certain curious social phenomena pertaining to the relationship complex. In many parts of the world, a man is not permitted to speak to his mother-in-law and in some cases not even to look at her. These restrictions are designated as mother-in-law taboos.[1] The actual New World distribution of this custom cannot be stated at present, but it is found among many tribes in the interior of North America. In a few cases, the restrictions seem to have applied to one's father-in-law also, particularly among the Plains-Cree of the bison area.[2] On the other hand, the father-in-law and the daughter-in-law are less rigidly restricted, their attitude toward each other being much like that of father and daughter.
This subject deserves more careful investigation, first as to its distribution and ultimately as to its significance, since it seems to be the natural correlate of certain forms of marriage. The data so far available on their geographical distribution show it to be erratic rather than continuous, even one or two tribes speaking mutually intelligible languages differing in the keeping of this taboo. This is shown by the following data supplied by Dr. R. H. Lowie:—
The North American tribes, known to have the mother-in-law taboo, are: the Cree, Assiniboin, Blackfoot, Arapaho, Crow, Lemhi Shoshoni, Dakota, Hidatsa, Mandan, Omaha, Navajo, Apache, Tübatulabal (Kern River Shoshoni), the Western Mono (not the Eastern Mono), Haida, Creek, Alibamu, Kiowa, and Cheyenne. Those known not to observe it are: the Pawnee, Kwakiutl, Nootka, Paviotso, Comanche, Wind River Shoshoni, Hopi, Zuñi, Ute, Nez Percé, Tewa, Keresan, Beaver, and tribes in northwestern California. For
