Groups, hypergroups and the enigma of the Murngin. The Murngin case (Q686103)

Starting from the algebraic study of a kinship system, inside an Australian tribe, known as the Murngin system [see \textit{A. Weil}, in C. Lévi-Strauss (ed.), Les structures élementaires de la parenté, 278- 285 (1949)], the paper describes a more general mathematical model of kinship structures, making use of hypergroups and semidirect products of groups. In particular, the regular and alternate marriage of the Murngin system are re-discovered and also other possible structures (mixed with alternation) are obtained.