Kinship and language documentation in Bhutan
Date
Authors
Contributor
Advisor
Editor
Performer
Department
Instructor
Depositor
Speaker
Researcher
Consultant
Interviewer
Interviewee
Narrator
Transcriber
Annotator
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal Name
Volume
Number/Issue
Starting Page
Ending Page
Alternative Title
Abstract
Description
The documentation of kinship terminology as part of a language documentation project can reveal rich information about the social organization of a given community. In Bhutan, documentation of the Tibeto-Burman language Dzongkha reveals a fascinating kinship system. In this talk I present Dzongkha kinship in light of Tibetan data, which, I argue, suggests that Dzongkha speakers have experienced a social history divergent from neighboring Tibetan speakers.
Dzongkha is linguistically a Tibetan dialect (van Driem 1998) but displays a different kinship system than Tibetan. There are several forms, such as terms for ‘mother’, ‘father’, ‘grandmother’ and ‘grandfather’ which are shared between the two languages. There are also several terms similar in form but slightly different in use. For example, Dzongkha ‘aku ‘uncle’ references father’s brother and mother’s second husband but Tibetan akhu references only father’s brother.
Other domains show more divergence in form and use. In sibling terminology, for example, Tibetan has different terms for elder sister (M ego), elder brother (F ego), sister (M ego), brother (F ego) and an additional term for younger sibling of the same gender. Dzongkha, however, has different terms for younger sister (F ego), younger sister (M ego), elder sister, elder brother, and younger brother. Some of the Dzongkha terms appear to be cognate, in part, to Tibetan terms but neither phonological or semantic relationships are straightforward.
Finally, some domains exist in Dzongkha but are completely absent from Tibetan. Most strikingly, there is a reciprocal term in Dzongkha for husbands of sisters; the term ’mâro references the special relationship a man has with his wife’s sister’s husband. No equivalent exists for women married to brothers. In fact, through study of Dzongkha kinship a general tendency emerges for there to be more terms to express relationships to women than to men.
Dzongkha is often passed over in serious language documentation studies as a national language and merely a Tibetan ‘dialect’. However, a deep study in the domain of kinship reveals a fascinating world of social organization, unique to Dzongkha-speaking society and indeed quite distinct from Tibetan. More specifically, I argue the kinship data suggest the Dzongkha-speaking world has been historically shaped by matrilocal and matrilineal social organization, unlike in Tibet. Data in this presentation are organized and illustrated using the MPI program KinOath Kinship Archiver.
Keywords
Subject Headings
Citation
DOI
Extent
Format
Type
Geographic Location
Time Period
Related To
Related To (URI)
Table of Contents
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
Rights Holder
Catalog Record
Local Contexts
Endorsement
Review
Supplemented By
Referenced By
Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.