Universal #1666

Legacy number: 1666

 Number  1661
 Original  Proper name-like uses are much more frequent with certain kin terms, notably the ones that denote ascending relations, and in particular parental ones, such as ‘father’ and ‘mother’.
 Standardized  IF any other kin terms are used like proper names, THEN those denoting ascending relations, and in particular parental ones, such as ‘father’ and ‘mother’, are used like proper names too.
 Keywords  kinship
 Domain  lexicon
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  languages surveyed by Dahl & Koptjevskaja-Tamm
 Source  Dahl & Koptjevskaja-Tamm (forthcoming)

← Back to Universals Archive

Discussion
Notes
For example, in the English-speaking world, one would address one’s father as ‘father’ but one’s siblings or children rather by their names. Accordnig to Dahl & Koptjevskaja-Tamm, a system which is inverse to the English one is not attested. This suggests a universal partial ordering of kin terms (‘hierarchy’ being too strong), based on closeness to what Dahl & Koptjevskaja-Tamm propose to call the PARENTAL PROTOTYPE. Parental terms were singled out already in Greenberg’s work on markedness relations (see # 1662).
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
For example, in the English-speaking world, one would address one's father as 'father' but one's siblings or children rather by their names. Accordnig to Dahl & Koptjevskaja-Tamm, a system which is inverse to the English one is not attested. This suggests a universal partial ordering of kin terms ('hierarchy' being too strong), based on closeness to what Dahl & Koptjevskaja-Tamm propose to call the PARENTAL PROTOTYPE. Parental terms were singled out already in Greenberg's work on markedness relations (see <a class="innerLink" href="browse.php?entry_id=1662"><img src="../img/entry.gif" border="0">).