大南魯凱族家系之持續

THE CONTINUATION OF THE FAMILY LINE AMONG THE TAROMAK RUKAI

自從 1955 年 Goodenough 發表 A Problem in Malayo-Polynesian Social Organization 一文，提出非單系繼嗣群（non-unilinear descent group） 一詞以來，社會人類學家逐漸從單系繼嗣（unilinear descent）的烟霧中探首出來，開始注意非單系繼嗣，進行討論與深一層的研究，發現單系繼嗣並非唯一的形式。據 Murdock 1957年所發表的研究報告中顯示，全世界約有三分之一以上的社會具有非單系繼嗣群；因此學者們，為這個朦朧不清迄今仍然很少為人所共同接受的理論的領域展開熱烈的研究，開闢了一條新蹊徑。臺灣東部的大南魯凱族為一非單系社會，本文旨在對大南魯凱族的家系的持續問題做了深入的研究，以期貢獻於非單系社會的研究。以下我們從大南魯凱族的家的單位為出發點，分‘家內嗣系’和‘家外嗣系’兩項敘述。

The Taromak Rukai of Taiwan is a stratified society which consists of three social classes, the nobles, the commoners and an intermediate one by the name of alapulua. The persons who live in a house are called, collectively, a dadana. As usual, such people form a family. Each house has a house name which is identical with that of the family and expresses the status and the obligations of the respective family. In the continuation of the family line/house line among the Taromak Rukai, there is no ascription or exclusion through specified kin relationships approaching a frequency of 100 percent. Therefore, it is apparent that the society of the Taromak Rukai is nonuni linear. Participation in religious rites is the primary and prerequisite factor for the affiliation of the family line. If we modalize the continuation of the family line, from the point of view of an individual who will succeed, we can discern several steps. The fundanental step is participation in the ritual of the first millet ripening. From the basic level to the high level, we can express these steps as follows: 1. participating in the first millet ripening ceremony of the family. 2. the fitness of the social and economic elements (including the conditions of status, marriage, residence, etc.). 3. being familiar with the rituals. 4. being qualified and able to live in the family's house. The last step is the conspicuous expression of the affiliation of the family line. However, the above steps are only meant to facilitate the understanding of the real condition of affiliation. They are not absolute. In fact, the actual affiliation is complicated and changeable. Even though a person may select his affiliation from among two or more possibilities through his kin relationships, his choice is conditioned to a large extent by relative social, economic and religious advantages. The preferential marriage among close relatives, particularly to second cousins, tends to reduce the number of families among which a person can exercise his choice of affiliation. Although the fertility rate of the Taromak Rukai is high (for instance, in 1933 it was 44.61%),so is the mortality (in 1933 it was 31.60%). Therefore, the natural increase rate is very low (in 1933 it was 13.01%) and the average number of each generation in a family is small. In 1933 and 1963 there were 4.6 and 5.44 members per family, respectively. Owing to the low number of family members and the device of nonunilinear descent which provide chances for the family member to affiliate outside the family, the property of each family in every generation is not dispersed and is beneficial to the family as a whole.