Kinship terms

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linguoboy
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Kinship terms

Postby linguoboy » 2021-03-01, 20:15

Anthropologists have sorted all of the various kinship systems of the world into six basic schemes, which are conventionally named after a representative people employing them. This link takes you to pages which list all six systems with sample terminology (not always from the same language as the one the system is named for):

https://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/tutor/kinterms/termsys.html

Languages in which there are distinct terms for older and younger persons in each category (sex-specified or otherwise) are treated as subtypes of one of the other systems. So, for instance, Korean is considered a subtype of the Sudanese system.

Note further that this just covers the terminology used for blood relatives and in-laws in the simplest case. It doesn't get into the complications of multiple marriages (simultaneous or otherwise), nor the use of kinship terms for addressing non-relatives (which is a complex topic of its own). But I thought it could at least be a jumping off point for discussions of those aspects.
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

Linguaphile
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Re: Kinship terms

Postby Linguaphile » 2021-03-01, 21:00

It might be beneficial or relevant to also post a link to the discussion that was started earlier today in the Translations subforum:
Translations of brothers and sisters | brother | sister
Sono di continuo a caccia di parole. Descriverei il processo così: Ogni giorno entro in un bosco con un cestino in mano. Trovo le parole tutt'attorno: sugli alberi, nei cespugli, per terra (in realtà: per la strada, durante la conversazioni, mentre leggo). Ne raccolgo quante più possibile. -Jhumpa Lahiri

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Gormur
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Re: Kinship terms

Postby Gormur » 2021-04-14, 18:17

My university, hehe. Just a note, we don't (at least in my family, probably most Norwegian families as well) talk about in-laws like people who are blood relatives. We just use their given name to refer to them. We avoid calling them kin because marriage between two people is seen as a legal bond, not a family one. We're not marrying into families and saying hey mum/dad/daughter/son or brother/sister to in-laws; not that it doesn't go on but I've certainly never noted it

I didn't know what an in-law was till I was an adult. I mean the actual concept that people marry into a family. I thought it was weird too :hmm: :lol:

Cheers :)
Eigi gegnir þat at segja at bók nøkkur er hreinferðug eðr ønnur spelluð því at vandliga ok dáliga eru bœkr ritnar ok annat kunnum vér eigi um þœr at dœma

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Re: Kinship terms

Postby vijayjohn » 2021-04-20, 6:54

To this day, I'm puzzled about the kinship terms even within my own family. One term I've brought up elsewhere on this forum is [əmˈmaːji]. I think that might mean the wife of either parent's brother, but I'm not sure. I'm mostly basing this guess on the fact that there are two people in my family I call that; one of them is my dad's brother's wife, and the other is the wife of one of my mom's several brothers.


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