Re: Words for relationships that don't have good analogues in English

ROGER MILLS wrote:
> Tim Smith wrote:
>> Sai Emrys wrote:
>>> What words for relationships do you have in your conlang(s), or are
>>> there in interesting other languages I might not know, that do not
>>> have good analogues in normal English?
>>
>> Great timing!  It just happens that I've been revising the kinship terms
>> in my currently-most-developed conlang, Tirazdak, which is spoken in a
>> conculture where polyamorous "group marriages" are the norm.  In this
>> culture, descent is reckoned strictly matrilineally, because you know
>> who your mother is, but because your mother probably has several
>> "husbands" (and maybe other lovers as well -- the definition of
>> "marriage" doesn't include sexual exclusivity), you don't know or care
>> who your biological father is.
> (snip all)
>
> What a complete and well-thought-out analysis!! There's much here that
> also corresponds to Kash society but which I hadn't formalized. I may
> have to stea....adapt some of your ideas. Thanks.
>
>
Roger,

Thanks for the complement, and feel free to adapt whatever you find
useful.

I took a quick look at the Kash web site, and I can see the
similarities, culturally at least (I haven't looked at the language yet,
though I intend to).  One important difference, which wasn't clear from
my post, is that the speakers of Tirazdak are, biologically at least,
just ordinary Earth-humans, and thus have about the same statistical
distribution along the Kinsey scale as the rest of us (that is, a
substantial majority of them are either primarily or exclusively
heterosexual).  But the fact that the language doesn't have specific
terms for "homosexual", "heterosexual", or "bisexual" reflects a general
sense that such differences aren't really all that important.  There's
no presumption that everyone in a _karaznal_ ("married multiple") is a
sexual partner of everybody else in the group; whether any given two
people in the group have sex with each other frequently, occasionally,
or not at all depends on their own genders and sexual orientations
(among other factors), and is generally not obvious to people outside
the group.

I wish I could refer you to an online source for further information on
the language and/or the culture, but I don't have a web site and don't
have any immediate plans for one.  (Too much else going on in my life,
despite having recently retired.)  Maybe someday.  In the meantime, I'm
working on a grammar in conventional monograph form (with appendices
about the culture), which, when if and when it's finished, I'll be happy
to share with anyone who's interested.  (But don't hold your breath.)

And BTW, I sincerely hope that the medical situation you mention
in another post is resolved satisfactorily.

- Tim