Appendix Three
Kinship Terminology
Bhaktapur's kinship terminology is a variant of the terminology used m other Newar communities (cf. Toffin 1975a ; Nepali 1965). Newar kinship terminology is closely related in both its structure[1] and m much of its vocabulary[2] to what Karve (1968) has called "North Indian" systems of kinship terminology. The details of Bhaktapur's kinship terminology and classification are not relevant to the concerns of this present study, but we will list here the terms and note some of their features for reference purposes.
We will first present Bhaktapur kin terms as arranged by generation and will then note some special terms for relations acquired by an individual through marriage.[3] These terms are in relation to "ego," the conventional designation for an imagined individual on whom the various relations of another individual ("alter") or category of individuals designated by the terminology are centered. Each term's "focal" or "primary" genealogical referent, the individual or group of kin to whom it centrally refers, is given first,[4] followed by terms used in address. Most Newar kin terms have extended references, sometimes to a very large group of "classificatory kin."[5] Thus, for example, aja , whose focal genealogical referent is Father's Father[6] and Mother's Father, is extended to all consanguineal male kin of the second generation senior to "ego," and also to a further group of men related to "ego" through marriage to his extended group of "grandmothers." The exact limits of the extension of these categories and an adequate statement of the principles on which that extension is based is beyond the scope of this study. Extension is similar in many respects to other North Indian systems and IS treated in some of the works referred to above. Toffin (1975a ) deals in a summary way with the principles of extension of Newar terms m the communities he studied. We may note that the nuclear set of kin terms abwa (Father), ama (Mother), kae (Son), mhyae (Daughter), bha:ta (Husband), and misa (Wife) are not extended beyond their focal reference, although
related extended terms (e.g., for Mother's Sisters) may be variations of the core term.
I.
A. Two or more generations senior to ego.
1 a. Aja .[7] Genealogical referent: FF/M F.[8] Address: bajya , and (rarely) aja .
b. Tapa aja .[9] Genealogical referent: FFF, MFF, FMF, MMF. Address: same as for aja .
c. Aya: aja .[10] Genealogical referent: FFFF, MFFF, FFMF, MFMF, FMFF, FMMF, etc.
d. Ghae(n)ghae(n) aja . This term includes for those speakers who use aya: aja all male members of those consanguineal and affinally related kin of the fifth and higher ascending generations. For those who do not use aya: aja , this term begins with the fourth ascending generation.
2. Aji .[11] Genealogical referent: FM/MM.[12] Address: aji, baje . Subsequent generations are designated as for aja , with the addition of tapa:, aya : (for some speakers), and ghae(n)ghae(n) .
B. One generation senior to ego.
3. a. Abwa . Genealogical position: F.[13] Address: Ba, Yaba, Abwa .
b. -bwa . Genealogical position: FeB (tarhibwa, etc.); FyB (cicarhibwa, etc.).[14] ,[15] Address: same terms of address as for abwa . One may use if older than Father or else Mother,[16]taribwa, tarhibwa , etc.; if younger than Father or else Mother, cicarhibwa , and related terms. If alter is considered as Father's youngest Brother, or as significantly younger than Father, special terms for "youngest Brother" may be used, such as aka, pui(n)cabwa , or kanchabwa .[17]
4. Jica paju .[18] Genealogical position: FZH. Address: paju or jica paju .
5. a. Ama . Genealogical position: M. Address: ama, ma(n), yama .
b. Mama .[19] Genealogical position: MZ. Address: Mama, Mamaca , or terms used for ama .
c. -ma(n) or -ama .[20] Genealogical position: FBW. Address: the term of reference itself, or terms used for ama .
6. Paju . Genealogical referent: MB. Address: Paju. Sometimes terms designating older or younger than Mother are added.
7. Maleju . Genealogical referent: MBW. Address: Maleju, Malju .[21]
8. Nini . Genealogical referent: FZ.[22] May be qualified optionally for older or younger than Father. Address: nini , with optional additions indicating age relative to Father.
C. Ego's generation.
9. Ara . Genealogical referent: eB. Address: Ara, dai, daju .
10. Kija . Genealogical referent: yB. Address: kija, bhaica .
11. Jica daju .[23] Genealogical referent: eZH. Address: same as for ara , older Brother.
12. Jica bhaju .[24] Genealogical referent: yZH. Also for DH, SDH, DDH.
Address: For ySH, addressed by name, or term for kija . For DH, etc., jica bhaju .
13. a. Ata .[25] Genealogical referent: eZ. Address: ata, tata, didi (from Nepali).
b. Tata:ju .[26] (also ta:ju ). Genealogical referent: eBW. Address: same as for Ata .
14. Kehe(n) . Genealogical referent: yZ. Address: name, kehe(n) , and various affectionate, diminutive terms.[27]
15. Bhau .[28] Genealogical referent: yBW, also SW, SSW, etc. Address: name, or bhau , etc.
D. One generation junior to ego.
16. a. Kae . Genealogical referent: S. Address: name or affectionate terms such as Babu and babuca .
b. Kaeca.[29] , [30] Genealogical referent: BS (man speaking) or ZS (woman speaking). Address: same as for kae.
17. a. Mhyae . Genealogical referent: D. Address: name, Affectionate terms, Nani, Maya(n) , etc.
b. Mhyaeca[*] .[31] Genealogical referent: BD (man speaking), ZD (woman speaking). Address: same as for mhyae.
18. Bhe(n)ca .[32] Genealogical referent: ZS/ZD (man speaking) or BS/BD (woman speaking).[33] Address: Addressed to a male, bhe(n)ca or one of the terms of address for kae . in the case of female alters bhe(n)ca is not usually used for address, but one of the terms of address for mhyae is used.
E. Two or more generations junior to ego.
19. Chay . Genealogical referent: SS, SD, DD, DS. Address: same as for kae or for mhyae .
20. Chui . Genealogical referent: SSS, SSD, SDS, SDD, DDS, DDD, etc. Children of chay . Address: same as for kae or for mhyae .
21. Ui . Genealogical referent: Children of chui .
22. Kui . Genealogical referent: Children of ui .
23. Jhui . This term is reported by some informants but is unknown to others. Genealogical referent: Children of kui .
II. Terms for kin generated through ego's marriage.
24. Bha:ta .[34] Genealogical referent: H. Address: kin terms and proper name are avoided.
25. Misa . Genealogical position: W. Address: kin terms and proper names are avoided.
26. The remainder of acquired affinal terms . Other affinally acquired terms of reference are usually based on the spouse's relation to alter, with the addition of prefixes or suffixes indicating the affinal relationship.
The husband uses the prefix sasa , indicating "Wife's family," and adds the kinship term derived from his Wife as ego. Thus Wife's Mother is sasa ma(n) , Wife's younger Brother is sasa kija , and so on. Toffin (1975a ) reports the term sasa in another Newari dialect as being used also by Wives for referring to
members of the Husband's family. In Bhaktapur, however, a Wife tends to use the term bhata[36] suffixed to a kin term based on the Husband's position as "ego." Thus the Husband's youngest Brother is kija bhata , Husband's Mother's Brother is paju bhata , and so on.[37] A Wife, however, does not refer to her Husband's parents by means of the bhata form. Instead, the honorific suffix -ju is used. Husband's Father is referred to as ba:ju , and Husband's Mother as maju .
Terms of address used for spouse's kin may be the term of reference, but they are usually the same term of address used directly to one's own kin. Thus, for example, Paju bhata may be addressed as paju . A Wife is more likely to refer to her Husband's Sisters' Children (to whom she is maleju ) as bhe(n)ca rather than bhe(n)ca bhata , but a Husband will be more likely to refer to his Wife's Brothers' Children (for whom he is the ritually and socially less important FZH or jica paju ) more formally as sasa bhe(n)ca . Such differences, like the Wife's use of the terms ba:ju and maju (rather than sasa ma and sasa bwa ) for her Husband's Father and Mother, reflect the implication that for women marriage entails the acquisition of new kin—particularly her Husband's core kin, or syaphu(n) —through her radical transformation in that marriage and that these kin who are not supposed to be essentially different from the kin of her natal household, phuki , and tha:thiti . The Husband, in contrast, uses an affinal terminology that emphasizes that the new kin acquired through his marriage are, essentially, his Wife's kin.
Like other North Indian systems, the Newar kinship system names certain core family members unambiguously and without extension—Mother, Father, Son, Daughter, Husband, and Wife. In contrast, again as in other systems, there are extremely extended categories of Brother, Sisters, Father's Brothers, and Mother's Sisters, and of ascending and descending "Grandparents" and "Grandchildren." The Newar system goes beyond some other North Indian systems in lumping together both matrilineal and patrilineal ascendents. In contrast to most other North Indian systems, Newar systems amalgamate Mother's Sister's Husband to Father's Brother, and m some Newari dialects (but not Bhaktapur's) Father's Sister's Husband is also amalgamated to this category. In contrast to other North Indian systems, Mother's Brother's Wife is given a specific name (of both reference and address) of her own, maleju , and not just a feminine form of Mother's Brother. Finally, m contrast to most other North Indian systems, Father's Sister's Husband is given a name (jica paju ) that terminologically connects him to Mother's Brother (paju ) and to the "bridegrooms," jica , who marry into the patriline.[38]
The Newar system deals with the reciprocal terms to Mother's Brother and Father's Sister—a woman's Brother's Son and Daughter, and a man's Sister's Son and Daughter—in what is on the surface a radically different way from the North Indian systems. The Newar system calls all cross-nephews and nieces by the same name, bhe(n)ca , and calls parallel nephews and nieces "Sons" or "Daughters," adding, however, the diminutive particle -ca , to distinguish them from "focal" sons and daughters. The North Indian system, in contrast, simply separates Brother's Children from Sister's Children, independently of the sex of
ego, and does not provide a reciprocal term to Mother's Brother and Father's Sister, although when the sex of the speaker is known there is no ambiguity. These differentiations of cross and parallel uncles and aunts, and of cross and parallel nephews and nieces disappear, as they do in other North Indian systems in the next ascending and descending generations where they become amalgamated as "grandparents" and "grandchildren."
Most terms are strictly generational, with the equivocal exception of the affinal terms jica bhaju , which includes younger Sister's Husband and Daughter's Husband, and bhau , which includes younger Brother's Wife and Son's Wife. Generational terms include a wide range of consanguineal and affinal kin.