Let's walk through the process. We could begin to gather a person's family of orientation by merely asking "Who is your mother?" but as we know in some societies an ego may call all of his parent's sisters "mother." The same confusing situation could exist when we ask about ego's siblings (brothers and sisters). With our limited ability in the language we will need some simple phrases that will elicit clear and exact information. In our society a doctor would ask something like... "Who is your biological mother?" But alas, few tribal languages include words like "biological." The objective here must be clear. No matter what actual phrases used, we need to arrive at a knowledge of who the actual father, mother and siblings are for both the family of orientation and procreation. Here's what has worked in New Guinea: (In English of course)

• "A woman bore you; what is her name?"
• "(Name) conceived you by a man, what is his name?"
• "Did (mother) have any other children by (father)?"
• "Please tell me the name of one of them."
• "Is (child) a male or female?"
• "What is the name of another?"

(Repeat the last two lines until family of orientation is complete.)

• "Are you married?"
• "What is his/her name?"
• "Did you have any children by (name)?"
• "What is the name of one of them?"
• "Is (name) male or female?"
• "What is the name of another?"

(Repeat the last two lines until family of procreation is complete.)

We advise that you list ego's children under "mother" rather than try to chart it out in your field notes. Some families may have 10-15 children, and the "ad-lib" chart can be too confusing. In the example below, notice that the children are always listed under the mother. If you're gathering ego's family of orientation you would list his mother's name above his, and his father's name to the left of his mother. Ego's brothers and sisters would be listed under the mother's name.