Sentence:  At that time, before <WSD>sublineation</WSD> had become significant for the local group, banishment would have amounted to dismissing a troublesome individual and his wife and children, rather than an entire sublineage consisting of several families ... 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A system of forming kinship groups that subdivide a major lineage into subgroups of more closely related individuals.