[Lingtyp] Kinship systems that distinguish age but not gender

[Geoffrey Khan]

In some Neo-Aramaic dialects (Semitic) there is semantic neutralization 
of gender in words referring to young children, but the word is 
morphologically feminine, which is the morphologically marked gender, 
rather than morphologically masculine, which is the morphologically 
unmarked gender, e.g. Qaraqosh /bati '/my young daughter/son' < /brat-i 
/'my daughter'. Feminine morphology is used elsewhere in the dialects to 
express diminutive and endearment in kinship relations, which is what we 
seem to have here.

Geoffrey Khan


On 19/07/2017 20:00, Gary Holton wrote:
> Tobelo (North Halmahera) is similar:
>
> -riaka ‘older same-sex sibling’
> -dodoto  ‘younger same-sex sibling’
> -hiranga   ‘opposite-sex sibling’
>
> On Wed, Jul 19, 2017 at 9:06 AM, Dryer, Matthew <dryer at buffalo.edu 
> <mailto:dryer at buffalo.edu>> wrote:
>
>     While Murdock (1968) discusses the interaction of gender of ego
>     with sibling of same sex vs. sibling of opposite sex, he does not
>     discuss the interaction of these with older vs. younger sibling.
>     There are eight possible relationships by these three parameters.
>
>     All three of these parameters are relevant in Walman (a Papuan
>     language in the Torricelli family), but relative age is
>     neutralized for siblings of opposite sex.
>
>     Matthew Dryer
>
>     *From: *Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org
>     <mailto:lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org>> on behalf of
>     Guillaume Segerer <guillaume.segerer at cnrs.fr
>     <mailto:guillaume.segerer at cnrs.fr>>
>     *Date: *Wednesday, July 19, 2017 at 9:41 AM
>     *To: *"lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
>     <mailto:lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>"
>     <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
>     <mailto:lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>>
>     *Subject: *Re: [Lingtyp] Kinship systems that distinguish age but
>     not gender
>
>     Hi all
>
>     What Hedwig is looking for is common in West Africa. I can think
>     of Manjaku, Balanta and Bijogo, but RefLex (www.reflex.cnrs.fr
>     <http://www.reflex.cnrs.fr>) also gives interesting results for
>     some Bantu languages, among others. Many languages (like Joola,
>     Baynunk) have a contrast between "same sex sibling" vs "opposite
>     sex sibling", regardless of age. I have no example in mind of
>     languages having a 4-term contrast combinig the two above features.
>
>     Guillaume Segerer
>
>     Le 19/07/2017 à 10:31, Hedvig Skirgård a écrit :
>
>         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.
>         <http://humans-who-read-grammars.blogspot.>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Geoffrey Khan
Regius Professor of Hebrew
University of Cambridge

Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Sidgwick Avenue
Cambridge CB3 9DA
UK

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