Types of kinship and their categorization in different languacultures (based on the Russian, Kabardian and English languages)

Abstract

The aim of the study is to identify the principles of categorization of kinship in different languacultures – Russian, Kabardian and English. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time, with the involvement of the Kabardian language, a comparative analysis of the conceptualization of kinship and kinship relations in the worldviews of the languages under consideration was carried out. As a result of the study, similarities and differences were identified in the principles of understanding kinship created on the basis of the presence of common immediate ancestors (kinship by blood), as well as established as a result of marital family relations (kinship by marriage). It was revealed that in the Russian and English linguistic consciousness, kinship is conceptualized broadly, according to which the general terms designating this category (cf. ‘родство’ и ‘kinship’) simultaneously serve to nominate kinship by blood and marriage. Moreover, it was found that in the Kabardian language, there is no general term that conceptually correlates with Russian and English units, both as scientific and everyday terms. Instead, the Kabardian language has two specific terms denoting kinship by blood and marriage, respectively.