Bininj Kunwok
Triangular Kinship Terms

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Word Stem

babba

Etymology

na- male noun class prefix, babba 'father' [cf Yolngu]

Definitions

#1

ngal-babba you are my kakkak 'DC' (female ego), my BD (or FZ), your FZ.

#2

ngal-babba you are my kakkak 'fDC', my cross-cousin or MMBDD, your skewed FZ (FZD/MBD>F).

#3

ngal-babba you are my korlonj ‘BC’, my ngalkurrng ‘MMBD’, your kakkak ‘MM’.

Not sure about centricity, but a -kurrng poison cousin is also in the section for father or father’s sister and therefore arguably tucentric.

#4

ngal-babba you are my mawah ‘SC’, my D, your FZ.

Tucentric because your father’s sister, babba indexing an adjacent patrilineal generation.

#5

ngal-babba you are my mawah ‘SS’, my ngal-kurrng ‘SSD’, your D

It is not clear what the centricity is here because the term -babba could either index the speaker’s poison cousin kin (father and poison cousin collapse into one “section”) or it could also index the hearer’s adjacent generation patriline. Based on the logic of the previous entry, it could be tucentric.

#6

ngal-babba you are my mawah SS, my SDD, your ZD.

Not clear why a kangkinj can be indexed by -babba or yi-manjmeng in reciprocal. Needs checking perhaps.

#7

ngal-babba you are my MB, my classificatory mother-in-law, your skewed FZ (i.e. FZD>FZ, ngune-modjarrkdorrinj).

Appears to index an adjacent generation patriline, even that which is skewed. Otherwise, ego’s uncle calls ego’s poison cousin a cross-cousin, but here the cross-cousin is skewed. Both terms used by speech participant are tucentric, your ‘babba’ and your ‘balak’ (ngal-kiwalak).

#8

ngal-babba you are my MMB, my FM, your kanjok ‘cross cousin’.

Not clear if the cross-cousin relationship is skewed and therefore a type of fictive adjacent generation patri-kin. For reciprocal, it is not clear how a makkah-cross cousin section can be indexed by ‘ngal-kiwalak’.

#9

ngal-babba you are my mother, my skewed aunty FZ (FZD>FZ), your FZ/BD.

Reveals that no disambiguation for a Crow-style skewed FZ and ‘actual’ FZ is made by the term -babba. Both are terminologically equivalent.

#10

ngal-babba you are my na-kurrng ‘FZDC’, my cross cousin, your mother.

If assumed to be tucentric, how is it that -babba can index ‘your mother’?

#11

ngal-babba you are my son (female propositus), my FZ/BD, your skewed FZ (ngune-modjarrkdorrinj FZD>FZ).

#12

ngal-babba you are my kakkak ZDS, my ngal-kurrng ‘mother-in-law’, your FZ.

#13

ngal-babba you are my eB (male propositus), our skewed berlu 'FZ' (nganemodjarrkdorrinj FZD>FZ).

If sibling equivalence why the different term for reciprocal?