Sibling Terms as Used by Marriage Partners

Abstract

In several societies of Southeast Asia, consanguineal kinship terms are used as nouns, pronouns, and prename titles. As nouns they refer only to consanguineal kin but as pronouns they include affinal kin as well, and the choice of term is determined by the generational level. Since marriage partners are affinal kin of the same generation, their only possible choice among consanguineal terms for pronominal use is the sibling terms. Such use is normal and uncomplicated, and involves no serious ambiguity. But the same usage is found in the Min (Fukienese) dialect of Taiwan, where one form of marriage prescribes that the intended bride be raised as a younger sister in the same household with her intended husband. In this case the use of sibling terms must at some point give rise to an ambiguity which might well be the cause of almost intolerable embarrassment. How the ambiguity is handled in this type of marriage arrangement is a matter needing further investigation.