6.1119, Disc: Kinship terms, Re: 1113

[The Linguist List]

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-6-1119. Fri Aug 18 1995. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines:  103
 
Subject: 6.1119, Disc: Kinship terms, Re: 1113
 
Moderators: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar: Texas A&M U. <aristar at tam2000.tamu.edu>
            Helen Dry: Eastern Michigan U. <hdry at emunix.emich.edu>
 
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Editor for this issue: dseely at emunix.emich.edu (T. Daniel Seely)
 
---------------------------------Directory-----------------------------------
1)
Date:  Thu, 17 Aug 1995 13:31:26 EDT
From:  sstraigh at bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu ("H. Stephen Straight (Binghamton
       University/SUNY)")
Subject:  Re: 6.1113, Disc: Kinship terms, re: 1104, 1108, 1110
 
2)
Date:  Fri, 18 Aug 1995 12:29:58 +0930
From:  powers at ist.flinders.edu.au ("David M. W. Powers")
Subject:  Re: 6.1113, Disc: Kinship terms
 
---------------------------------Messages------------------------------------
1)
Date:  Thu, 17 Aug 1995 13:31:26 EDT
From:  sstraigh at bingsuns.cc.binghamton.edu ("H. Stephen Straight (Binghamton Un
iversity/SUNY)")
Subject:  Re: 6.1113, Disc: Kinship terms, re: 1104, 1108, 1110
 
No one has mentioned the interesting asymmetry in English and other
(related and unrelated?) kinship terminologies: mother, father, sister,
brother, daughter, but son, not sonner.  In other words, the (more
frequent?) vocative use of son may derive from something special about
sons that also drives this historical morphological special-ness.
 
H Stephen STRAIGHT, Anthro/Ling/Lgs Across the Curric, Binghamton U (SUNY)
Box 6000, Binghamton NY 13902-6000   Tel: 607-777-2824   Fax: 607-777-2889
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2)
Date:  Fri, 18 Aug 1995 12:29:58 +0930
From:  powers at ist.flinders.edu.au ("David M. W. Powers")
Subject:  Re: 6.1113, Disc: Kinship terms
 
 
> Date:  Wed, 16 Aug 1995 18:33:54 PDT
> From:  alderson at netcom.com (Richard M. Alderson III)
> Subject:  Re: 6.1108 & 6.1110
>
...
 
Mr III writes:
>
> Richard Hudson reports a statement by Stavros Macrakis, that "son" is only us
ved
> as a vocative by fathers.  Y'all need to come to a family gathering of the
> Aldersons and their kin; mothers as well as fathers have no hesitation with t
he
> use of "son" as a vocative.
 
This somehow doesn't surprise me in the family of Richard M. Alderson III.
Presumably there have been a I and/or II (or Sr/Jr) around at the same time.
 
I have never met a I, II, III or Sr or Jr to know how the system works, and
the whole concept is totally foreign to me.  But I expect that three successive
 
generations have exactly the same name (or does the III go on the Birth
Certificate and subsequent legal documents).  It would seem that calling out
Richard wouldn't be much use and so the choice seems to be use of a middle name
 
(which they presumably all share anyway) or use of distinct forms such as Rich,
 
Rick, Dick, etc. or the use of the distinct number, I, II, III (1, 2, 3 - I've
heard only used of children in age order) or the use of Junior (which I have
heard used in American TV shows) and Senior (never heard that), or Son or Boy
(which I've heard on American shows too, but they aren't used in my culture
either, although both seem to be used as much by non-relatives as by parents)
and Dad or Pop (which in my culture may also be used by the mother of her
spouse when addressing the children, but not in my family, and I have heard it
used on American TV shows by the mother to third parties including adults).
 
Seems like we must see a lot of American TV here, but it hasn't affected our
culture and usage much - at least in this respect.  And it hasn't conveyed
adequately some of the details and usages I am unsure of in the above.
 
Yours ignorantly, :?) [note the tongue partially in cheek - no offense intended
]
David Powers
 Down Under
-       powers at acm.org   http://www.cs.flinders.edu.au/people/DMWPowers.html
Associate Professor David Powers                David.Powers at flinders.edu.au
        SIGART Editor; SIGNLL President         Facsimile:    +61-8-201-3626
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