The Kinship Terminology of the Dimasa

Alternate Generation Equivalence in the Tibeto-Burman Area

Bibliographic Data

ID3777960
AuthorsPascal Bouchery (Territoires, Villes, Environnement & Société, corresponding author), Monali Longmailai (Assam University)
Year2019
Volume60
Issue3
Pages226-254
Publication date2019-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnthropological linguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-5483 • E-ISSN: 1944-6527
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/anl.2019.0005
OpenAlexW2972332166
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited18

Most languages of the Bodo-Garo cluster of the Tibeto-Burman family exhibit kinship terminologies that are built upon the principle of seniority and incorporate terminological equivalences between agnatic kin of alternate generations. Interestingly, the latter feature does not appear to be shared by any other language of the Sino-Tibetan family. To find a similar intricate pattern of self-reciprocity between consanguineal relatives of different generations, one has to turn to the Munda systems of Central India (whose languages belong to the Austroasiatic family); this raises several problems of interpretation. Dimasa is chosen here as a model, as it most clearly exhibits the general principles underlying kin classification in Bodo-Garo languages

Equivalence (formal languages) · Genealogy · Interpretation (philosophy) · Kinship · Language family · Linguistics · Sociology · Terminology · Anthropology · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · History · Philosophy · South Asian Studies and Conflicts