Abstract: The kinship of the Moso is one hot topic in the field of anthropology, ethnology, culturology and psychology in recent years. The Moso is a matriarchal ethnic group living in the border of Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. From the perspective of cognitive psychology, the present study intends to explore the conceptual structure of kinship words of the Moso by comparison with that of Han and Naxi nationalities.
Two experiments were conducted using the methods of natural classifying and multi-dimensional scale. In Experiment I, 109 Moso people (56 males and 53 females) with an average age of 18.12 and at least junior high school education were recruited. Participants were instructed to sort 62 kinship words in Chinese characters into groups based on their own standards. In Experiment II, another 105 Moso people (55males and 50 females) with an average age of 22.75 and similar education background were tested in the same way as Experiment I but with different materials, which were 27 basic kinship terms transliterated from local language by He Fayuan (1995). The aim of experiment II was to replicate and verify the results of experiment I.
The results demonstrated that there are two main dimensions in the conceptual structure of kinship words of the Moso. One is level of intimacy among the relatives, the other one is position in the family tree. Their conceptual structure shares some common features as that of Han and Naxi nationalities, but also has some unique traits. For example, mother’s brother is classified as one of the lineal relatives in Moso people. We speculate those differences are caused by the unique matriarchy and marriage systems of the Moso. We also notice that avunculate and patriarchy are changing in modern Moso societies. In traditional Moso families, mother’s brother holds the greatest place in relatives, while father is not even an essential member of the family. In modern Moso families, though mother’s brother is still the most important member of the family, father is gradually becoming a necessary part of the family and plays an increasingly prominent role. Finally, the present study challenges the view that the Moso is a living fossil of matriarchal society. Matriarchy in the Moso society is not only the product of a particular period of history, but also the active and ongoing choice for survival and maintenance of Moso culture.

Key words: the Moso, kinship words, conceptual structure