1.11. Family and kinship

1.11.1  Family

The Yerava family is a joint family consisting of the progeny in the male line living under one roof. When a girl gets married she is no more a member of her parents family. The dest living man is the head of the family. His decisions are accepted in the social and other matters. He decides on changing the master or remaining with the same master, the wages to negotiated, the loan to be taken, etc., in such dealings he normally consults his married sons living with him. When they change the master, enbloc they shift. Only when there is a fous difference in the family, or when a son desires to go on own for the rest of the life, when he is asked to go away by the parents, separation takes place. In such a case, both son and father do not work with the same master.

The head of the family looks after the economic needs of the house. Some times, the sons collect money from the master as wages and spend it. But it is rarely done. Even after the on going out and having his own establishment, he keeps in such with the parents. He respects them. Once they become old and it becomes impossible for them to work, the sons would provide food and shelter and look after their parents. Among Yeravas, rarely women are taken into account while taking a social and economic decision. However, with love or through quarrel they try to influence the decision.

1.11.2  Kinship

The elder kinsmen and women are highly respected by the youngsters. When an elder meets on younger one, the younger one bows down and touches the feet of the elder. The elder asks makka okka ca:yle ua.ro:. 'Are all at home happy?' The younger one answers ua:ru 'yes, they are'.

The kinship terms identified in Yerava are classified into those of consanguinal and affinal. The consanguinal are sub-classified into those of ascending and descending generations.

Here, the seniority is indicated by prefixing utt-to the terms of first ascending generation appe 'father' and amme 'mother'.