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How do kin terms change according to the person who possesses them in Aboriginal languages?
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Australian Aboriginal languages
A discussion of the languages of Indigenous Australians.
In Australian Aboriginal languages, kin terms are frequently modified to reflect the person (first, second, or third) of the possessor. This process occurs even in languages that typically lack possessive markers on other nouns.1
The variation in these terms generally manifests in two ways:
- Conjugation: Kin terms are routinely conjugated to indicate the possessor, such as distinguishing between "my/our" and "your" forms.1
- Suppletion: Some languages utilize stem-replacement (suppletion) based on the person of the implied possessor. For example, a language might use distinct roots for "Pop" (first/our person), "Dad" (second person), and "father" (third person).1
Beyond simple possession, some languages, such as Warlpiri, employ complex "triangular" kin terms. These terms express the relationship of both the speaker and the listener to the referent simultaneously, such as identifying someone as "my father who is also your mother’s brother".1