[Lingtyp] Kinship systems that distinguish age but not gender

[Dineke Schokkin]

Dear all,

Apologies for coming late to the discussion. Paluai (Austronesian, Oceanic) has four directly possessed sibling terms:

Tou- older sibling same sex
Naê- younger sibling same sex
Mwane- sibling of opposite sex, ego female
Patne- sibling of opposite sex, ego male

Thus, relative age/seniority is relevant for siblings that have the same sex as you, both for males and females. In contrast, for siblings of opposite sex their sex relative to your own is indicated, whereas relative age is irrelevant. An article co-authored by me and Ton Otto, ‘Relatives and relations in Paluai’, appeared in the June issue of Oceanic Linguistics, and discusses the socio-cultural embedding of this kinship system, including importance of seniority and inheritance rights for same-sex siblings, and the importance of the brother-sister pair in mortuary exchange ceremonies and elsewhere. It may be of interest to some of you.

Best wishes,
Dineke

From: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org>> on behalf of Peter Puxon <peter_puxon at soas.ac.uk<mailto:peter_puxon at soas.ac.uk>>
Date: Tuesday, 25 July 2017 at 11:26 PM
To: Hedvig Skirgård <hedvig.skirgard at gmail.com<mailto:hedvig.skirgard at gmail.com>>
Cc: "<LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG<mailto:LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>>" <LINGTYP at listserv.linguistlist.org<mailto:LINGTYP at listserv.linguistlist.org>>, Alexandra Marley <alexandra.marley at anu.edu.au<mailto:alexandra.marley at anu.edu.au>>
Subject: Re: [Lingtyp] Kinship systems that distinguish age but not gender

Dear Hedvig,

It seems perhaps that Iban spoken in Malaysian Borneo makes this distinction:

aka  = 'elder brother / sister'
adi = 'younger brother / sister'

Iban traditionally is 'utrolocal' meaning that residence on marriage is equally likely to be with the husband / bride's family.

Regards,

Peter Puxon
SOAS

On 19 July 2017 at 09:31, Hedvig Skirgård <hedvig.skirgard at gmail.com<mailto:hedvig.skirgard at gmail.com>> wrote:
Dear LINGTYP,

Does anyone know of a language that has a distinction in the kinship system for age of referent (younger/older) without also having a distinction for gender of referent? For example, a language that marks siblings as being younger or older to ego without reference to being sister or brother.

The hypothesis is that this doesn't happen/is very rare. We'd like to know if you've come across any examples of this.

I'm asking for my friend Alex (cc:ed) who is not on the list. Please direct any responses or comments to her.


***

Tōfā soifua,

Hedvig Skirgård

PhD Candidate
The Wellsprings of Linguistic Diversity

ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language

School of Culture, History and Language
College of Asia and the Pacific

Rm 4203, H.C. Coombs Building (#9)
The Australian National University

Acton ACT 2601

Australia

Co-chair of Public Relations

Board of the International Olympiad of Linguistics

www.ioling.org<http://www.ioling.org>

Blogger at Humans Who Read Grammars
http://humans-who-read-grammars.blogspot.

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