Re: OT: Language & clans? Re: OT: Ukraine

Chris Bates wrote at 2004-11-30 16:00:39 (+0000)
 > Well, of course different languages have different terms for such
 > things depending on the structure of the societies who speak that
 > language: for instance, English is probably not ideal for talking
 > about the intricacies of the old system of family, clans etc of
 > some of the Native Americans, since most English nations aren't
 > organised in exactly that way. Its similar to the way family terms
 > and what they cover vary from language to language depending on
 > what's required and what people think its important to disguish in
 > conversation, but even though they change, there are key concepts
 > which don't tend to (I doubt many languages commonly employ family
 > terms that span different generations, for instance a word that
 > means "brother"/"uncle" seems unlikely to me. The exception I'd say
 > is the very general eg "relative").

Even in English, "cousin" spans generations*.  And look at Dani:
http://www.umanitoba.ca/anthropology/tutor/kinterms/dani.html

* Granted the prototype is a (first) cousin, no times removed, and
  other sorts tend not to come up much.  But if you speak of, say, "a
  distant cousin" there's no guarantee that you're in the same
  generation.