[Tibeto-burman-linguistics] kinship terms for 'cousins'

[Yuan-Lin Yang]

Dear Jesse,

Thank you very much for your informative description on Stau 'cousin'-like
(?) expressions. It stirs my interest when I see the declarative/possessive
forms contain complex/compound modifiers *tʰɛv(=ɡə ŋə-rə)*, and I have a
number of questions on it.

First, does *tʰɛv* mean relative? In Taunggyi Pa'O, the word for
'relatives' is *pʰû-ê* (" ̂ " stands for high tone), in which *pʰû *means'
'younger relative(s)', and *ê* 'older relative(s).

Second, it's interesting to see that the declarative/possessive forms are
longer. To me *tʰɛv(=ɡə ŋə-rə)* works really like a predicate or relative
clause.  Especially, I wonder why the sensory evidential *-rə* is used. Is
*-rə* used even when the relative is not in presence? Or is* =ɡə ŋə-rə* not
used in this case?

Also, is *-rə* borrowed from G.yukhog Tibetan as well? Or it should be
consider as a cognate? (Sorry that I am not very familiar with Tibetic &
rGyalrongic languages). And it's cool to know that *nə-ret* is obligatory,
because a friend of mine told me that evidential copula of such a kind is
not found in the possessive/referential 'cousin'-like kinship terms of the
Tibetan variety she works on.

On the other hand, thank you also for point out the distinction between
vocative and possessive/declarative. In the data I elicited, it is in the
latter form, but not the former. I will try to elicit the vocative form in
the next field sessions.

Best,
Mickey.

Jesse P. Gates <stauskad at gmail.com> 於 2026年2月11日週三 上午5:50寫道：

> Dear Mickey,
>
> Many TB languages lack a specific kinship term for 'cousin'. Stau does not
> have specific kinship terms for 'cousin', but rather uses 'brother' or
> 'sister' for the vocative, and for possessive/declarative, an idiomatic
> tʰɛv(=ɡə ŋə-rə) following 'brother' or 'sister'. So, for example,
>
> Vocative: æti ‘mohter's brother's son (older than ego)’
> Possessive/declarative: æti tʰɛv(=ɡə ŋə-rə)ˈ ‘mohter's brother's son
> (older than ego)’
> Vocative: ædæ ‘mohter's brother's daughter (older than ego)’
> Possessive/declarative: ædæ ˈtʰɛv(=ɡə ŋə-rə) ‘‘mohter's brother's daughter
> (older than ego)’ ’
>
> tʰɛv(=ɡə ŋə-rə) means ‘is a relative’. The ending =ɡə ŋə-rə is the
> indefinite article + copula + sensory evidential. The modifier *tʰɛv* was
> borrowed from the G.yukhog Tibetan *tʰov* (WT: *thov*) phrase
> *tʰov-nə-ret*, but in G.yukhog Tibetan *=nə-ret* is not optional.
>
> If you haven't already, I also suggest that you determine whether there
> are some differences between vocative and possessive/declarative, and what
> the terms are for each. Many languages, so some differences between "what I
> call a relative" vs. "what that relative is called."
>
> One interesting thing about most Gyalrongic languages is that they
> distinguish 'male-speaking' vs. 'female-speaking' (it is actually based on
> the sex of the referent, not the speaker, unless the speaker is the
> referent) for older and younger siblings. See below for this in Stau.
>
> [image: Screenshot 2026-02-11 at 5.40.05 AM.png]
> These analyses, along with other fun things about Stau kinship
> terminology, can be found in my 2023 LTBA article "Kinship terms in Stau"
> (attached).
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 10, 2026 at 10:51 PM Yuan-Lin Yang <firstboy11th at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Dear Tibeto-Burmanists:
>>
>> I am currently working on Taunggyi (Northern) Pa'O, a Karenic language
>> mainly spoken in the Shan State, Myanmar. Through yesterday's field session
>> with my consultant, I learnt that their language does not have specific
>> kinship terms for 'cousins' or 'ego's father/mother's brother/sister's
>> child(ren)'. Instead, they just call them 'uncle/aunt's child/son/daughter'
>> (but they do distinguish uncles or aunts of different ages and sides). And
>> I have also tried to check whether such a phenomenon is prevalent in TB
>> languages with ChatGPT, yet it has only found that Burmese, Lahu, and
>> Lepcha seem to behave in the same way.
>>
>> Thus, purely out of interest, I would like to know if similar phonomena
>> is also found in the languages you work on. And if your language(s) happen
>> to be other special cases, you are welcome to share as well.
>>
>> Best,
>> Mickey,
>> MA student, Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University.
>> _______________________________________________
>> Tibeto-Burman-Linguistics mailing list
>> Tibeto-Burman-Linguistics at listserv.linguistlist.org
>>
>> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tibeto-burman-linguistics
>>
>
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