1. Introduction
In this article, I describe the Bantawa kinship terminology. Bantawa language is a member of Rai Kirati language, a Tibeto-Burman group which is spoken by the ethnic group under Rai of the same name in east Nepal. Total population of Rai people in Nepal is 635,151 which comprises of approximately 3%. Out of 635,151, Bantawa speakers are 371,056. Then, Bantawa is spoken by approximately 59 % of Rai people according to CBS report (2001) so it is spoken by majority of Rai people. Bantawa language has three dialects, viz. Dilpali, Chhongkhali and Hatuwali (I.P. Rai 2004). But, I have collected the data only from Dilpali dialect which is spoken in western part of Bhojpur district, east Nepal.
There are several studies about the kinship terminology of Nepal's language carried out by many scholars in different dates. Work on Brahmin-Chetri and Gurung kinship by (Victor Doherty 1974), on Byansi and Sherpa by Allen (1975, 1977 respectively), on Tamang by Toffin (1986), on Limbu by Davids/van Driem (1985), on Mewahang by Martin Gaenszle (2000), etc. are the pioneering works in the field of kinship study. But the Bantawa kinship remains untouched by a systematic study. So, I describe the Bantawa relations through both consanguinity and affinity. In this case, the consanguinity is the relation by blood or the connection of persons descended from the same stock or common ancestors. Furthermore, the consanguineal relations consist of two types of relation, viz. core and peripheral. On the other hand, the affinal relation is the relation made by marriage but not by blood. The affinal relations also consist of two types, viz. core and peripheral. For convenience, I have followed the common ethnological abbreviations which are: [P= parents, M= mother, F= father, B= brother; Z= sister; S= son; D= daughter; H=husband; W= wife; E= spouse; G= siblings; C= child; e= elder; y= younger].
2. Consanguineal relations
The kinship relations are made by different ways. One among them is consanguineal relation which is made by blood. It is the relation among the same stock or common ancestors. The consanguineal relations can be classified into two types of relation, namely core and peripheral.
2.1. Representing kinship terms of core consanguineal relations
The relations made by the ego directly are the core consanguineal relations. The core consanguineal relations, as its name suggests are really the core relations and consist of ego's parents, siblings and offspring. For these relations, there are the following kinship terms.
Table 1
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
F
papa
G+1
2
M
mama
G+1
3
eB
buwa
G=0
4
yB
nicha
G=0
5
eZ
nana
G=0
6
yZ
nichama
G=0
7
C
cha
G-1
8
S
duwacha
G-1
9
D
mechacha
G-1
The core consanguineal relations are father, mother, elder/younger brother, elder/younger sister, child, son and daughter. So there are nine terms for core consanguineal relations in Bantawa. There are not sex and age neutral terms in Bantawa which are found in English like parents, brother, sister, etc. In Bantawa, the terms, viz. buwa (eB), nicha (yB) make the age distinction and the terms, viz. buwa (eB), nana (eZ) make the sex distinction. Similarly, there is an interesting structure in some terms, viz. papa, mama, nana which are a reduplicative form of pa, ma, na respectively.
2.2. Representing kinship terms of peripheral consanguineal relations
The peripheral consanguineal relations are not the direct relation of the ego but the ego's relations through the core consanguineal relations are called the peripheral consanguineal relations. It is also called the relations through relations. The peripheral consanguineal relations can be interpreted by a number of relations which are as follows:
i. Through parents' up generation
Table 2
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
FFF, FMF, MFF, MMF
caʔyaŋ kopa
G+3
2
FFM, FMM, MFM, MMM
caʔyaŋ koma
G+3
3
FF, MF
kopa
G+2
4
FM, MM
koma
G+2
The peripheral consanguineal relations made by parents' up generation are father's/mother's father's father, father's/mother's mother's father, father's/mother's father's mother, father's/mother's mother's mother, father's/mother's father, father's/ mother's mother. The peripheral consanguineal relations are altogether 12 but the terms are only four in Bantawa. In this language, there is not the term for four generation up but some language like Mewahang has the term tupphoba for male and tupmoma for female for four generation up (Gaenszle 2000: 161).
ii. Through father
Table 3
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
FeB
dewa
G+1
2
FyB
baŋa
G+1
3
FeZ
dema
G+1
4
FyZ
chuna
G+1
The peripheral consanguineal relations through father are father's elder/younger brother, father's elder/younger sister. These terms make a clear age distinction which is dissimilar to English terms uncle for FB and aunt for FZ.
iii. Through mother
Table 4
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
MeB
dewa
G+1
2
MyB
chuwa
G+1
3
MeZ
dema
G+1
4
MyZ
chuna
G+1
The relations through father and mother are the same except one, viz. mother's younger brother (MyB) in Bantawa. But, there is a different term for mother's younger brother (MyB) which is chuwa. In Nepali, there is similar term mama for mother's elder/younger brother (MeB, MyB), which is an age-neutral term but in Bantawa, the term chuwa is not totally equivalent to Nepali term mama because chuwa is only for mother's younger brother but not for mother's elder brother. The term dewa is used for mother's elder brother (MeB) as well as for father's elder brother (FeB).
iv. Through father's siblings
Table 5
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
FBeS, FZeS
buwa
G=0
2
FByS, FZyS
nicha
G=0
3
FBeD, FZeD
nana
G=0
4
FByD, FZyD
nichma
G=0
The peripheral consanguineal relations through father's siblings are father's brother's/sister's elder/younger son and father's brother's/sister's elder/younger daughter. The relations made by father's siblings are uphold both age and sex distinction. Elder and younger are distinctly noticed by the terms buwa (eB) and nicha (yB) which are closely similar to the Nepali concept like daju and bhai. Similarly, in Bantawa sex distinction is also maintained by the terms, viz. buwa (eB) and nana (eZ) which is dissimilar to the terms found in English like cousin for both sex.
v. Through mother's siblings
Table 6
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
MBeS, MZeS
buwa
G=0
2
MByS, MZyS
nicha
G=0
3
MBeD, MZeD
nana
G=0
4
MByD, MZyD
nichma
G=0
The peripheral consanguineal relations through mother's siblings are mother's brother's/sister's elder/younger son and mother's brother's/sister's elder/younger daughter. The relations made by the mother's siblings are the same to the relations made by the father's siblings. So, the relations are the different but the terms are the absolutely same in Bantawa.
vi. Through male ego
Table 7
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
BS
chokcha
G-1
2
BD
chokchama
G-1
3
ZS
chuchawa
G-1
4
ZD
saktu
G-1
The peripheral consanguineal relations made by male ego are brother's/sister's son and brother's/sister's daughter. In these terms, sex neutral term cha is found in all except in saktu. The term saktu is used for sister's daughter bhanji in Nepali. It is an odd term in comparison to others because there is not common morpheme marker <-cha> which means child, one generation down relation. So, it would be the subject of study whether saktu is a native term or a borrowed term for sister's daughter in Bantawa.
vii. Through female ego
Table 8
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
BS
sayebuŋcha
G-1
2
BD
sayebuŋma
G-1
3
ZS
duwacha
G-1
4
ZD
mechacha
G-1
The peripheral consanguineal relations made by female ego are the same to the relation made by male ego. But the terms are different. The relations, namely brother's/sister's son and brother's/sister's daughter by male ego and female ego are termed differently because of sex distinction.
viii. Through child
Table 9
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
SS, DS
chuncha
G-2
2
SD, DD
chunchama
G-2
The peripheral consanguineal relations made by child are overlapping. Son's son and daughter's son are called by the same term chuncha. Similarly, son's daughter and daughter's daughter are also called by the same term chunchma. In these two terms, <-ma> which represents the female marker in Bantawa makes a sex distinction.
3. Affinal relations
The relations made by marriage but not by blood are called the affinal relations. In this way, there are two major ways to establish the relations although there are other ways for establishing the relation. Similar to the consanguineal relations, the affinal relations also have two further types. They are core and peripheral which are described below.
3.1. Representing kinship terms of core affinal relations
The concept of the core affinal relation is similar to the core consanguineal relations but they are considerabley different to each other. The affinal relations (made by marriage) through the core consanguineal relations are called the core affinal relations. The core affinal relations are made by the ego's father, mother, siblings and offspring. They are gradually treated in the following ways.
i. Through father
Table 10
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
FBeW
dema
G+1
2
FByW
chuna
G+1
3
FZeH
dewa
G+1
4
FZyH
pusaĩ
G+1
The affinal relations made by father are father's elder/younger brother's wife and father's elder/younger sister's husband. In Bantawa, there are four terms for such relations. The terms dewa, dema and chuna are also overlapping terms and found in other relations. But the term pusaĩ is a special term and refers to only father's younger sister's husband.
ii. Through mother
Table 11
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
MBeW
dema
G+1
2
MByW
kuyaŋma
G+1
3
MZeH
dewa
G+1
4
MZyH
baŋa
G+1
The affinal relations through mother are mother's elder/younger brother's wife and mother's elder/younger sister's husband. In Bantawa, there are four terms for such type of the affinal relations. The term dewa, dema, baŋa are also overlapping term and used for other relations but the term kuyaŋma is used for only mother's younger brother's wife.
iii. Through the ego's siblings
Table 12
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
GBeW
businima
G=0
2
GByW
nammit
G=0
3
GZeH
pheŋwabuŋ
G=0
4
GZyH
makcha
G=0
The affinal relations through ego's siblings are siblings' elder/younger brother's wife and siblings' elder/younger sister's husband. For these relations, there are four different terms in Bantawa. The terms businima and pheŋwabuŋ are special terms for siblings' elder brother wife and siblings' elder sister's husband respectively but the terms nammit and makcha are so interesting in the sense that they are generation-neutral term.
iv. Through the ego's child
Table 13
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
SW, SSW, DSW
nammit
G=0-1-2
2
DH, DDH, SDH
makcha
G=0-1-2
The terms nammit and makcha are generation overlapping. The term nammit is used for ego's generation (GyBW=ego's younger brother's wife), for one generation down from ego (SW= son's wife), for two generation down from ego (SSW/DSW= son's/daughter's son's wife). Similarly, the term makcha is the same which refers to ego's generations (yZH= younger sister's husband), to one generation down from ego (DH= daughter's husband) to two generation down (DDH/SDH son's/daughter's daughter's husband, son's daughter's husband. In this way, the term nammit and makcha in Bantawa are more problematic terms.
3.2. Representing kinship terms of peripheral affinal relations
The affinal relations through peripheral consanguineal relations are known as the peripheral affinal relations. The peripheral affinal relations are also established through different relations which are treated below.
i. Through parents' siblings
Table 14
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
PZDeH, PBDeH
pheŋwabuŋ
G=0
2
PZDyH, PBDyH
makcha
G=0
3
PZSeW, PBSeW
businima
G=0
4
PZSyW, PBSyW
nammit
G=0
The affinal relations through parent's sibling are parent's brother's/sister's elder daughter's husband, parent's brother's/sister's younger daughter's husband, parent's brother's/sister's elder son's wife and parent's brother's/sister's younger son's wife.
ii. Through parents' child
Table 15
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
SWF, DHF
ŋappa
G-0
2
SWM, DHM
ŋamma
G-0
The peripheral affinal relations made by parents' child are son's wife's/daughter's husband's father, son's wife's/daughter's husband's mother. These are cross relations and reciprocal terms.
iii. Through ego's siblings
Table 16
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
BSW, ZSW
nammit
G-1
2
BDH, ZDH
makcha
G-1
The peripheral affinal relations made by ego's siblings are brother's/sister's son's wife and brother's/sister's daughter's husband. As mentioned above, the term nammit and makcha are used to refer to overlapping relations.
iv. Through ego's wife
Table 17
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
W
tayama
G=0
2
WeB
buwa
G=0
3
WeBW
nana
G=0
4
WyB
sayemnaŋ
G=0
5
WyBW
nichama
G=0
6
WyZ
sayenana
G=0
7
WeZH
buwa
G=0
8
WyZ
sayema
G=0
9
WyZH
nichak
G=0
These peripheral affinal relations, as mentioned in the table are made by ego's wife perspective. The ego is male and the relations are established through his wife. The relations through wife are wife, wife's elder brother and his wife, wife's younger brother and his wife, wife's elder sister and her husband, wife's younger sister and her husband.
v. Through ego's husband
Table 18
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
H
tayapa
G=0
2
HeB
buwa
G=0
3
HeBW
nana
G=0
4
HyB
nicha
G=0
5
HyBW
nichama
G=0
6
HeZ
nana
G=0
7
HeZH
buwa
G=0
8
HyZ
nichama
G=0
9
HyZH
nichak
G=0
The relations made by ego's husband are more similar to the relations made by ego's wife. But there are different terms for some relations like wife's younger brother (WyB) and husband younger brother (HyB). They are not treated by the same terms and have two different terms, viz. sayemnaŋ and nicha. They are closely similar to Nepali terms sala and dewar. Similarly, there are different terms for wife's elder sister (WeZ) and husband's elder sister (HeZ). They are sayenana and nana which are also similar to Nepali terms jethisasu and amaju. Similarly, there are other set of relations. They are wife's younger sister (WyZ) and husband's younger sister (HyZ). They have different terms, viz. sayema and nichama. Except these terms, some are the same from both ego's wife and husband. For examplesː wife's elder brother (WeB), husband's elder brother (HeB) and wife's elder sister's husband (WeZH) are called by the same term, viz. buwa. Similarly, wife's elder sister (WeZ) and husband's elder sister (HeZ) are also called by the same term, viz. nana.
vi. Through brother's wife and sister's husband
Table 19
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
BWeB, SHeB
buwa
G-0
2
BWyB, SHyB
saiba
G-0
3
ZWeB, ZHeB
buwa
G-0
4
ZWyB, ZHyB
saiba
G-0
The peripheral affinal relations made by brother's wife and sister's husband are brother's wife's/sister's husband's elder/younger brother, sister's wife's/sister's husband's elder/younger brother. The term saiba is more interesting which is a sex-neutral term and cross relation.
vii. Through his or her spouse
Table 20
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
EFF, EMF
kopa
G+2
2
EFM, EMM
koma
G+2
3
EF, EFBe/y, EMZe/yH, EMBe/y, EFZe/yH
chadiwa/ba
G+1
4
EM, EFBe/yW, EMZe/y, EMBe/yW, EFZe/y
chadima
G+1
The peripheral affinal relations through spouse are 22 relations but the terms for these relations are only four in Bantawa. So, the many relations are addressed by a few terms, viz. kopa, koma, chadiwa/ba, chadima.
4. Analysis
Bantawa kinship terms can be analyzed in a number of ways. Morphologically, some terms are a completely duplicated form, viz. papa (F), mama (M), nana (eZ), etc. but <-pa>, <-ma> are gender marker morphemes in Banatawa but <-na> alone don't exist and mean nothing. Similarly, cha alone exists and means child but cha in some terms, viz. nichak (yB), nichama (yZ), chokcha (BS), chokchama (BD), etc. are found in different sense. In the terms nichak (yB), nichama (yZ),
In Bantawa kinship terms, the morpheme <-wa> which alone doesn't exist is interesting. The morpheme <-wa> in buwa (eB), chuwa (MyB), chuchawa (ZS), chadiwa/ba (EF, EFBe/y, EMZe/yH, EMBe/y, EFZe/yH) are male so it might refer to the male gender marker (this is because I noticed that some speakers use both terms chadiwa/ba so it might be an alternative of <-ba> which is generated by devoicing of <-pa>).
The other interesting thing in Bantawa kinship terms is that FeB and MeB are called dewa but FyB and MyB are called differently. The first one is called baŋa and the latter one is called chuwa. The elder parallel/cross uncle is called by same term. So the term for elder cross uncle is dissolved by the consanguineous superimposition (Gaenszle 2002ː 165). But there are different terms for younger parallel and cross uncle in Bantawa.
In Bantawa kinship terms, there is another interesting feature which is a vertical equation. The term nammit and makcha refer to the ego's generation, one generation down from the ego, two generation down from the ego which are very difficult to notice that who belongs to what generation. Similarly, saiba (BWyB, SHyB, ZWyB, ZHyB), ŋappa (SWF, DHF), ŋapma (SWM, DHM) are the reciprocal terms for cross relations. They recieve and address the same term to each other.
5. Conclusion
Bantawa consists of a greater number kinship terms in comparison to other language. It is intersting that there are so many relations made by two ways, viz. consanguineal and affinal. The consanguineal relations are made by blood and they are also called parallel relatives. The consanguineal relations are of two types, viz. core and peripheral. Similarly, the affinal relations are made by marriage which is also called cross relatives. They are also two types, viz. core and peripheral. But consanguineal and affinal are more controversy because the affines of affines are treated as consanguines (Gaenszle 2000ː 166). So, there are no absolute consanguineal and affinal relations. It is not possible to establish blood relatives without cross so it is a more puzzle.
Some terms are more confusing because they refers to several generation (G=0, G-1, G-2). This is the case of a vertical equation. So, sometimes such terms create confusion while understanding. Similarly, some affinal terms are dissolved by the consanguines because of the consanguineal superimposition. In Bantawa, some terms are predictable for female by adding <-ma> female gender marker but this is not the case in majority. While summing up, there are 42 kinship terms in Bantawa
S.No.
Kinship relation
Kinship terms
Generation from ego
1
PPF, PPFB, PPMB, PPFZH, PPMZH
caʔyaŋ kopa
G+3
2
PPM, PPFZ, PPMZ, PPFBW, PPMBW
caʔyaŋ koma
G+3
3
PF, PFB, PMB, PFZH, PMZH
kopa
G+2
4
PM, PFZ, PMZ, PFBW, PMBW
koma
G+2
5
F
papa
G+1
6
M
mama
G+1
7
FeB, FeZH, MeB, MeZH, etc.
dewa
G+1
8
FeZ, FeBW, MeZ, MeBW, etc.
dema
G+1
9
FyB, MyZH, etc.
baŋa
G+1
10
MyZ, FyBW, etc.
chuna
G+1
11
MyB
chuwa
G+1
12
MyBW
kuyaŋma
G+1
13
FyZH
pusaĩ
G+1
14
EF, EFB, EMB, EFZH, EMZH
chadiwa/ba
G+1
15
EM, EMZ, EFZ, EMBW, EFBW
chadima
G+1
16
eB, HeB, HeZH, WeB, WeZH
buwa
G=0
17
eBW, GBeW
businima
G=0
18
eZ, HeZ, HeBW, WeBW
nana
G=0
19
yB, HyB
nichak
G=0
20
yZ
nichama
G=0
21
eZH, GZeH
pheŋwabuŋ
G=0
22
BWZ, ZHZ, BWB, ZHB
saiba
G=0
23
WyB
sayemnaŋ
G=0
24
WeZ
sayenana
G=0
25
WyZ
sayema
G=0
26
W
tayama
G=0
27
H
tayapa
G=0
28
CEF, CEFB, CEMB, CEFZH, CEMZH
ŋappa
G=0
29
CEM, CEMZ, CEFZ, CEFBW, CEMBW
ŋamma
G=0
30
yZH, DH, BDH, ZDH, DDH, SDH
makcha
G=0-1-2
31
yBW, SW, BSW, ZSW, SSW, DSW
nammit
G=0-1-2
32
C
cha
G-1
33
S
duwacha
G-1
34
D
mechacha
G-1
35
BS from male ego
chokcha
G-1
36
BD from female ego
chokchama
G-1
37
BS from female ego
sayebuŋcha
G-1
38
BD from female ego
sayebuŋma
G-1
39
SS from male ego
chuchawa
G-1
40
SD from male ego
saktu
G-1
41
SS, DS
chuncha
G-2
42
SD, DD
chunchama
G-2
References
Allen, Nicholas J. 1975. Byansi Kinship Termnology: A Study in Symmetry. Man, 10: 80-94.
1996. Sherpa Kinship Terminology in Diachronic Perspective. Man, 11: 569-587.
Davids et al. 1985. Limbu Kinship Terminology. A Discription. Kailash 12, 1-2: 115-156.
Gaenszle, Martin. 2000. Origins and Migrations: Kinsip, Mythology and Ethnic Identity among the Mewahang Rai of East Nepal. Kathmandu: Mandala Book Point.
Rai, I.P. 2004. A Comparative Study English and Rai Bantawa Kinship Terms. An Upbulished M.Ed Thesis: T.U. Kirtipur, Kathmandu.
