kinship terms (was Re: The pitfall of Chinese/Mandarin_

On Tuesday, December 11, 2001, at 02:23 , Adam Walker wrote:

>> From: "H. S. Teoh" <hsteoh@...>
>> Date: Sun, 9 Dec 2001 16:27:01 -0500
>>
>> And if you think this is bad... just wait till I tell you about
>> translating "aunt" and "uncle"... *snicker* there are distinct words for
>> your father's siblings (and distinctions between younger/older,
>> male/female), your mother's siblings (and distinctions between
>> younger/older and male/female), AND your in-laws, plus separate terms
>> with
>> the same distinctions for each uncle/aunt on your in-laws' side, etc.,
>> etc., ad infinitum. And this only covers relatives of the same
>> generation... it gets a LOT worse with grandparents, nephews, nieces, ..
>> .
>
> Aiya!  I get so confused trying to remember ayi's and gugu's and waigu's
> and
> shenshen's and buomu's and yimu's and then all the numbering with dagu and
> ergu and sangu.  AIYA!!  It's enough to drive a sane person crazy!
> Chinese
> family trees are terrifying!
>
Heh...I think Korean's only *half* as bad, because it has all those things
for the *father's* side of the family, but a lot of missing distinctions
on the *mother's* side of the family.  I dunno, it always seemed slightly
easier than trying to remember terms like "cousin second-removed" or
whatever.  No doubt it's due to familiarity with one system and not the
other on my part.  As I'm in a Korean extended family, I've heard the
*Korean* terms far more often.  <laugh>

I once got in a shouting match with one of my cousins over whether a
particular aunt (my mom's/her dad's sister) was "imo" or "gomo."  We were
*both* right.  ("Imo" for an aunt on the mother's side, "gomo" for an aunt
on the father's side.)

ObConlang: Are there particular (a)symmetries in y'all's conlangs' kinship
terms?  I haven't actually *devised* them, but I suspect that Czevraqis
has more for the mother's side of the family as the speakers generally
reckon descent matrilineally.

Yoon Ha Lee [requiescat@cityofveils.com]
http://pegasus.cityofveils.com

Life is complex: it consists of real and imaginary parts.

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