zompist wrote:
Depends on the institution and its size. Ordinary families have cohorts by generation, but a large institution will have a smaller age range. If the cohort is getting large and there's been a lull in recruitment, that's the ideal time to have the next batch form a new cohort.
Thanks, this makes sense! So was that "about 150" figure in reference to age cohorts in a band, or the band
across age cohorts?
zompist wrote:
It's hard, in a sense, to get caught for adultery. As there are almost always multiple men in a cohort, a woman can always point to one of them as the father. If somone is both blatant and unrepentant, they could get punished or kicked out.
What happens in cases where a woman is in an all-female institution but gets pregnant?
A couple new things, as I've been reading further...
Most simply, a little error:
Quote:
They did not perhaps exceed 10,000 residents, but that extraordinary density in a land where the average settlement was a few dozen people.
I think this should be "that
is extraordinary density."
How do family names work? It mentions that "husbands join the wife’s family and take her name" and we have examples of dynasty names, like Tràŋ and Lé itself, but the name section in the Lé grammar just talks about personal names. Do family names apply at the jɔ level (or do they keep the same name when splitting, or how?)? Is it just a rich person thing or does everyone have one? And how do you grammatically state someone's full name?
Just a little clarification, but in the rationalists' list of sins by animal, where it says "The bat is unfaithful," does that mean relationship infidelity, being religiously unfaithful, being disloyal, or what sense of the word?
And "the fish is perverse"... what is taboo?
I should also note that I really love the flavor of the quotations. I especially enjoy the contrast where "This must have provoked answers or rebukes." Great stuff

I enjoy the system of elements, too... I enjoy systemizations even if they have nothing to do with reality. Maybe even more, then

Basically, the Bé and Xengiman are my favorites of the Almean cultures
