Knowledge base · Part VII — Possession and the Affiliative System · this topic as a network
48. Kinship and Honorific Possession
How does the language mark possession of kinship terms, and what are the irregular or honorific patterns?
Kinship terms and the two possession constructions
What two possessive constructions exist for kinship terms?
In Chitose Ainu, most kinship terms other than those for parents can refer not only to blood relatives but also to unrelated strangers of the corresponding generation. (Satō 2008: 213) Kinship terms are not treated as <location> even when they appear in their affiliative form. (Nakagawa 2022: 14.4) Kinship terms that take the concept-form possessive construction are relatively few and are almost strictly restricted to referents of generations older than oneself. (Nakagawa 2024: 222) The kinship term hápo has an informal, everyday nuance like 'dad/papa', whereas ona has a more formal nuance like 'father'. (Satō 2008: 168) The noun unu means 'mother'. (Satō 2008: 168)
The affiliative-construction paradigm
What are the two sets in the kinship vocabulary and how do they differ?
In the Saru dialect, mici 'father' allows both ku=mici and ku=kor mici for the first-person singular, but other persons permit only the kor + mici construction. (Nakagawa 2024: 223) In the Shizunai dialect, the kinship term mici 'father' never takes the belonging form. (Refsing 1986: 87) In the Saru dialect, 'my mother' is expressed as ku=kor hapo, and the affiliative form *ku=hapo is not used. (Nakagawa 2024: 223) In the Shizunai dialect, the kinship term hapo 'mother' is usually found with the attributive postposition kor. (Refsing 1986: 87) For 'elder sister', the construction kor sapo is widely used across Hokkaido dialects, whereas the expected form *kor sa(ha) is unattested. (Nakagawa 2024: 223) In the Shizunai dialect, the belonging form saha 'elder sister' is rare, while ku kor sapo with the diminutive suffix -po is frequent. (Refsing 1986: 87) In kinship expressions, both elements frequently take the affiliative form (e.g. a=yup-i utar-i), which grammatically represents two words and commonly occurs in verse for metrical reasons without differing in meaning from a=yupi utar or a=yuputari. (Nakagawa 2024: 265) The kinship nouns ona 'father' and unu 'mother' usually appear in the belonging form. (Refsing 1986: 87) The noun ona can appear in expressions with the postposition kor, as in e kor ona and an kor ona in god epics (kamuyukar). (Refsing 1986: 87) The noun ona 'father' has onaha as its affiliative form with the suffix -ha, but ona can also be used directly as an affiliative form as in e-ona 'your father'. (Satō 2008: 168) The noun yupo 'older brother' takes personal affixes such as ku-. (Satō 2008: 168)
Address versus reference: the vocative split
How do address and reference forms differ for kinship terms?
In the Saru dialect, address terms for older relatives take the construction kor + conceptual form, in contrast to reference terms which take affiliative forms. (Nakagawa 2022: 14.4) Across Hokkaido dialects, kinship terms usable as vocatives for senior relatives appear in the concept form, whereas terms used for third-person reference are mainly used in the affiliative form. (Nakagawa 2024: 225) Kinship terms yupo 'older brother' and sapo 'older sister' are used as vocatives in the form ku= + affiliative noun (ku=yupo!, ku=sapo!). (Nakagawa 2024: 226) When yupo 'older brother' or sápo 'older sister' are used as address terms toward elder peers in Chitose Ainu, the first-person possessive prefix ku- is obligatorily attached. (Satō 2008: 214) In Ainu, unlike Japanese, speakers can address junior interlocutors using kinship terms. (Nakagawa 2024: 226) Among kinship expressions marked with the first-person singular prefix, terms for younger siblings are not used as terms of address to the listener. (Satō 2008: 152) Most kinship terms can be used as vocatives, with the exception of seven: ona 'father', unu 'mother', sut 'grandmother', ekas 'grandfather', aca 'uncle', yup 'older brother', and sa 'older sister'. (Nakagawa 2024: 224) The seven kinship terms that cannot be used as vocatives are used when speaking of relatives objectively in the third person or to refer to blood relationships rather than specific individuals. (Nakagawa 2024: 224) In narrative prose narration, objective kinship terms like ona and unu are frequently used, whereas vocative forms like hapo rarely appear in narrative prose outside of characters' quoted dialogue. (Nakagawa 2024: 224) Kinship nouns that express possession in the concept-form construction, like hapo, can be used as vocatives in their concept form alone without prefixing ku=kor. (Nakagawa 2024: 225) Kinship nouns other than those expressing possession in concept form use the same word for both vocative and third-person expression, but take the form with the prefix ku= 'my' when used as a vocative. (Nakagawa 2024: 225) For senior relatives, terms usable as vocatives (such as mici, hapo, huci, ekasi) and terms used to speak of them in the third person (such as ona, unu, sut, ekas) are distinguished lexically. (Nakagawa 2024: 225) At least in the Saru dialect, when mici 'father' is used as a vocative, one says ku=mici! 'father!'. (Nakagawa 2024: 225) Ainu has honorific address terms (symmetry terms / taishōshi) formed from kinship nouns and demonstrative expressions, used instead of second-person personal affixes. (Satō 2008: 213) When a kinship noun is used as a term of address toward the listener, it behaves as a common noun (third person), so no personal affix attaches to the verb. (Satō 2008: 213) Kinship address terms are used both as vocative address forms and as nominal argument expressions. (Satō 2008: 214) Kinship nouns denoting senior members of the speaker's own generation (yupo 'older brother', sápo 'older sister') cannot be used as self-reference terms (jishōshi) in Ainu, unlike in Japanese. (Satō 2008: 215) Only kinship nouns referring to generations above the speaker (ekasi, húci, hápo, totto, acapo, unarpe) can be used as self-reference terms. (Satō 2008: 215) Using kinship nouns for self-reference is less common than using them as address terms, and using first-person singular personal affixes is more common in such situations. (Satō 2008: 215)
Honorific possession via the 4th person
How is honorific possession marked for esteemed possessors?
The noun phrase a=yup-i (literally 'self's older brother') does not necessarily refer to a biological relative and can be used as a polite form of address. (Bugaeva 2008)
Predicative possession with kinship affiliatives
Dialect variation in kinship terms
What dialect variation exists in the kinship lexicon?
In the Saru dialect, the kinship term for a younger sister viewed from an older brother is matapa, etymologically analysable as mat-apa 'female relative'. (Nakagawa 2024: 224) The term for a younger sister viewed from an older brother is macirpe in Chitose and mostly tures in other dialects. (Nakagawa 2024: 224) In the Tokachi dialect, speakers lack awareness of konnarpe as deriving from kor + unarpe, and say kor konnarpe to express 'someone's aunt'. (Nakagawa 2024: 223) The form kor yupo is used in the Shizunai and Ishikari dialects, but it appears only in very limited examples in the Saru dialect. (Nakagawa 2024: 224) The word for 'younger brother' across all of Hokkaido is ak. (Nakagawa 2024: 224) For 'younger sister', different words are used depending on whether the viewpoint is that of an older brother or an older sister. (Nakagawa 2024: 224) The word for a younger sister viewed from an older sister is matak throughout Hokkaido, whereas dialectal variation is known for a younger sister viewed from an older brother. (Nakagawa 2024: 224) The word matak for a younger sister viewed from an older sister can be interpreted as mat-ak 'female younger brother', representing a closer relationship than matapa. (Nakagawa 2024: 224) Even in the Saru dialect, tures is used in oral literature to mean a younger sister viewed from an older brother. (Nakagawa 2024: 224) In Chitose Ainu, the kinship noun hāpo means 'father'. (Satō 2008: 152)