Kinship terminology

Kinship terminology is the system used in languages to refer to the persons to whom an individual is related through kinship. Different societies classify kinship relations differently and therefore use different systems of kinship terminology; for example, some languages distinguish between consanguine and affinal uncles i.e. the brothers of one's parents and the husbands of the sisters of one's parents, respectively, whereas others pretend only one word to refer to both a father and his brothers. Kinship terminologies include the terms of address used in different languages or communities for different relatives and the terms of consultation used to identify the relationship of these relatives to ego or to used to refer to every one of two or more people or things other.

Group/dyadic kin terms and pronouns

Australian Aboriginal languages tend to produce extensive vocabularies for denoting kin-relations, including for referring to and addressing dyads and groups based on their relation to one another and/or to the speaker. For example, see below the fix inventory of group kin-terms in Bardi note that some but not all of these are assessed with respect to the speaker as well and may thus be considered tri-relational dyadic terms:

The size of this dyadic kin-term inventory is not atypical of Australian languages. Though smaller, the Dyirbal dyadic kin-term inventory is also extensive e and y stand for elder and younger:

FyB+eBC

FyZ+eBC

MyC+eZC

MeZ+yZC

MeB+yZC

B+B

Z+Z

HZ+BW

etc.

MeBS+FyZD/S

In Murrinh-patha, nonsingular pronouns are differentiated not only by the gender makeup of the group, but also by the members' interrelation. if the members are in a sibling-like relation, a third pronoun SIB will be chosen distinct from the Masculine MASC and Feminine/Neuter FEM.