Week 6 Learning Materials

Language and People

Person Deixis
Last week we talked about the deictic centre with regard to Place and Time. The deictic centre
describes a face-to-face conversational situation, where we have a speaker and listener in a shared
physical space and time. One of the types of deixis that we were introduced to last week is Person
Deixis. In face-to-face conversations, we refer to ourselves (I), to the listener (you) and to the people
we are talking about (she/he/they).
The most essential elements in any linguistic interaction are the Participants. The participants in a
conversation are encoded through the use of words that express Person deixis. Participants are
encoded through personal pronouns and generally distinguish between 1st person (the speaker), 2nd
person (the listener), and 3rd person (anyone else not involved in the conversation). In many
languages, person deixis overlaps with Social Deixis because the terms we use to identify participants
also encode our social relationships with the participants, or the roles that participants are playing.
The category of person is expressed in a number of different ways. For example, person can be coded
with a pronoun.
Activity 1: Complete the English Pronoun chart

Singular Subject Plural Subject Singular Object Plural Object

1st person I we me us

2nd person you you you you

3rd person she/he they him/her they

It It
they them

Answers to Activity 1 are shown at the end of this file.

In English, we make a distinction between first, second and third person. We also make a distinction
between whether we are referring to one person (I) or more than one (we). And in the third person
singular, we make a gender distinctions between female (she), male (he), and nonhuman (it).
Historically, English speakers used to use ‘he’ in situations where a person’s gender could be male or
female. These days it is much more common to use the neutral plural pronoun (they) to talk about a
single person where their gender is unspecified, unknown, or declared to be neutral:
If a student is unable to attend the face-to-face workshop, they should attend an online
workshop instead.
Lihir Pronoun System
Pacific languages are well known for their complex pronoun sets. (Linguists call pronoun sets
pronoun paradigms.) Some of you might know or speak languages where there are different pronouns
for two people, or three people, or small groups of people. An example like this is from Lihir, which
is an Oceanic language spoken on Latangai Island. Latangai is a local name; you might know this
island by its European name New Ireland. (Lahir data from linguist Malcolm Ross.)

In Lahir, there are different pronouns depending on how many people or things are being referred to:
one, two, three, a small group (and this depends on what is being counted, so a small group of people
could be four or five, but a small group of ants could be 50+), and plural. You can see that the forms
for different numbers have contrasting endings most of the dual forms and in all of the trial and paucal
forms.

Lihir Singular Dual Trial Paucal Plural

1 INCL kito ki-tol kita-het giet ‘we all’

yo ‘I’
1 EXCL ge-l ge-tol ge-het ge ‘we all’

2 wa ‘you’ go-l go-tol go-het go ‘you all’

3 e ‘s/he’ du-l die-tol die-het die ‘they all’

Some of you may know languages where there is a distinction between saying ‘we’ and meaning the
speaker and listener together, and saying ‘we’ but meaning the speaker and somebody else, but not the
listener. This distinction in linguistics is referred to as an inclusive/exclusive distinction. We can’t
make this distinction using pronouns in English, but in the Oceanic languages, it is almost always
possible to contrast inclusive and exclusive. In Lihir, kito means ‘me and you’, while gel means ‘me
and someone else’.

Activity 2: Record pronouns from a language other than English. This could be a language you
speak, one you are learning or one you are interested in. Add additional columns and rows as
needed. A few pronouns from te Reo Māori and English are shown as examples – you should replace
these if you are working on a different language. If you do not speak a language other than English,
try looking for translations of English pronouns in te Reo Māori, using the Māori dictionary or just
search online for Māori pronouns.

Singular Dual? Plural

1st person au, ahau ‘I, me’ incl. tātou ‘we’

excl. mātou ‘we’

2nd person ‘you, singular’ ‘you, plural’

3rd person ‘he/she/it’ ‘they, them’

Social Deixis in Pronoun Systems

Person Deixis interacts with Social Deixis, where social information about participants can be
expressed through language choices. Deictic systems very often contain social information and
speakers may be required to use different address forms to interact with different people. This is
typically triggered by differences in age, gender or social status.
In the Indo-European languages, there is a contrast between forms for ‘you’. When you have a
friendly relationship with someone, or when they are socially subordinate to you, you use a T-
pronoun; when you have a more distant social relationship, and you are trying to express respect, you
use a V-form. The V-forms are generally the pronouns that mean ‘she/he’, so this is like saying in
English “Would Sir like his bath now?” compared to saying “Would you like your bath now?” when
you are talking to someone.

Friendly ‘you’ Respectful ‘you’ Friendly ‘you’ Respectful ‘you’

T V T V

Latin tu vos German Du Sie

 French tu vous Swedish du ni

Russian ty vy Greek esi esis

Italian tu lei Farsi to shoma

German adults use the T-forms with relatives, partners, close friends and close colleagues, and they
use T-forms to their children. But children use V-forms to their parents to show respect. The decision
to use a T-form or a V-form differs a little from one language/culture to the next, and there are social
convention about whether you can change between T/V within a conversation (e.g. Russian which
allows this depending on solidarity factors and even the topic of conversation), or whether you have to
stay with one form or the other more strictly (e.g. German which expects speakers to continue to use
T-forms once they have been established between friends).
In many languages, pronouns are used less than they are in English, and instead, speakers use a range
of address terms that have politeness values.
In Farsi (the Persian language), speakers can use shoma (the polite V-form of ‘you’) to address other
adults and to to express ‘you’ when talking to younger people. But speakers are just as likely to use a
kinship terms when they address family members as well as people outside their family that they
know well and have a close relationship with.

Reverse Kinship terms in Farsi

My Persian husband addresses his older sister as Ābji ‘sister’ and his younger brother as Dādāsh. He
also addresses his close male friends as Dādāsh ‘brother’. Using kinship terms reinforces his close
relationship his siblings and his close friends. He tends to use his younger sister’s first name though.
When it comes to our children, they address their father with Bābā ‘father, dad’. Their father doesn’t
address them with a word for daughter unless he is very cross with them; instead, he addresses them
with a reverse kinship term, as Bābā-i, where the -i suffix shows affection. This is something like
saying ‘my little one’ or ‘daddy’s little one’. If my children and I spoke Persian to each other, they
would address me as Māmān ‘mother’ and I would address them with the reverse kinship term
Māmān-i ‘my little one’.
My husband’s mother addresses my husband with the more adult reverse kinship term; she
addresses him (her adult son) as Māmān meaning ‘my child’. Persian has a complex kinship system
with distinctions for maternal and paternal relatives, and distinctions for blood relatives and relatives
by marriage. It seems that using reverse kinship terms reinforces the kinship system. This is especially
important for children. They are constantly being told by the adults around them of their relationships,
and at the same time, the use of these reverse relationship terms teaching children how to address
adults in their family.
Below is a map made by an engineer named Ahmet Akkoç from the University of Koç in Istanbul,
Turkey. He circulated in among linguists last year when someone suggested that Reverse Kinship
terms were a kind of baby talk. You can see from the map just how wide spread the forms are in the
world’s languages (although they are not used in the Germanic languages). Focussing on the green
shaded areas, hundreds of languages in these parts of the world use reverse kinship terms. Persian,
and indeed Iran as a whole is a nation where the terms are commonly used.

Expressions of Person - Naming

While linguists focus a lot of their attention on pronoun systems, and anthropologists are similarly
interested in kinship systems, a new area of study is focussed on people’s names and how these are
used in different societies.
Names are a direct reference to an individual. They work to identify individuals because they are a
conventional label for a single person. The semantic content or descriptive detail of personal names in
some languages can be quite ‘empty’, while in other languages, names are very meaningful. For
example, there is nothing about the meaning of my name ‘Julie’ which describes me in a unique way
and would allow others to recognise me without learning my name. The association between me and
my name is a matter of social convention.
Names of humans are assigned through a social processes. How the process works, and who has the
right to assign a name, varies from culture to culture. ‘Namings’ that are covered extensively in the
press are the names of babies in the English royal family. In the royal family, there is typically a delay
between a royal birth and “showing” of the baby to the public, and the announcement of the baby’s
name, which happens some days later. Prince William and Kate’s children’s names were shared first
with the Queen (and probably ‘approved’ by her) before they were announced to the public. Harry and
Megan created a stir because they didn’t fully follow the expected royal procedure when their children
were born.
Princess Charlotte’s full name is Charlotte (for her paternal grandfather), then Elizabeth (for her
paternal great grandmother, the Queen) and then Diana (for her paternal grandmother). You might be
interested to know that Charlotte is the first princess in the British royal family who will keep her
position in line to the throne after the birth of her younger brother. When she was born, she was 4 th in
line to the throne after Charles (her grandfather), William (her father), and George (her older brother).
Historically, her younger brother Louis would have taken her place as a more important male heir, but
from Charlotte’s generation onwards, this system has been changed to recognise the right of females
to rule.

Naming in Julie’s family

In my family, names are assigned by both parents after much
discussion. Children are named at birth, or shortly after, by the
parents, and the name is formalised through the legal process of
registering the child’s birth, and applying for a birth certificate. In
my generation, my siblings and I normally have one name that
reflects a relative, and another name that reflects a family friend. In
my case, I am named for my mother’s oldest brother and his wife.
Their names are Ray and Judy; My first name is Julie and my
second name is Renee. My name also reflects popular culture as the
time. I was born in the 1970s, when Julie Andrews was hugely
popular because of her role in the Sound of Music. Apparently my
older sister wanted to name me Julie Andrews not Julie Renee.
(Eeek!)
Iranian children outside Iran have to be named quite carefully,
because they hold dual identity documents. In Iran, middle names are uncommon, and only approved
names and name combinations are possible. So my eldest daughter is called Vida [1], which my
husband and I both liked. We gave her the middle name Mariam, which is the Persian equivalent of
Mary (my paternal grandmother’s name, my mother’s name, and my husband’s paternal aunt’s name).
But in her Persian documents, she is only Vida, because Vida Mariam is not an approved
combination. Likewise, my youngest daughter Kimiya, has the middle name Sara (named for my
paternal aunt, and a cousin on my husband’s side of the family). Both names are approved Persian
names, but the combination is unapproved, so in her Persian documents she is recorded as Kimiya,
and in the English documents as Kimiya Sara.
While my husband’s culture contributed the limitations on possibilities for naming our children, I was
more active about choosing names from the lists that matched our tastes and fitted with our family
histories.
Having a pleasing meaning is generally important in selecting a name, although the recorded
meanings of English names aren’t well known, and are maybe only looked up by parents when they
are choosing a name, and perhaps forgotten after that. Having a fashionable name is also important for
some parents. Fashions change with each generation and so do names.
Acceptable Names in Aotearoa New Zealand
In Aotearoa New Zealand, personal names have to be registered when each baby is born (parents have
at most around two months after birth to choose a name), along with the name of the child’s mother.
Fathers do not have to be named when there are good reasons for not identifying the father. This is a
relatively recent change to our birth register, where there used to be a law that a mother and a father
would be named on every birth certificate.
In Aotearoa New Zealand, rules about names are not as strict as they are in Iran; however, there are
still some rules that have to be followed. Names can’t be offensive, overly long, or include a title or
rank. Each year a list of ‘rejected’ names is published. Some forbidden names include:

– Kingdavid, Queen, Duke, Emperor, King, Majesty

– Princess-Dixie-Rose, Prinze, Prynce
– Royale, Royelle, Roil, Royale-Bubz
– Judge, Justus, Major, Sir, Sire, Miss
– Allah, Saint
– II, III

Inventor Elon Musk’s baby would not have been allowed the name “X Æ A-12” in Aotearoa. It seems
likely that the child will be called “Ash” in practice, since that is the pronunciation of the symbol Æ.
And the Kardashian family baby names “Reign”, “Saint” and “Psalm” would not have been allowed
either.

Activity 3: Exploring naming as a cultural activity

Make notes on your own name. You may need to consult a parent or family member, especially
regarding naming ceremonies. If you have the opportunity, discuss personal names with a flatmate
(or future baby names with a friend). Just be aware that some aspects of personal names may be
private, so be respectful and allow people to skip over any questions that they do not wish to answer.
 1. Personal name and meanings

2. Links to sibling names? Links for family names? Links to significant people?

3. Naming selection and bestowal; naming ceremonies

3. Forms of address (personal names, titles, nicknames)

Onomastics
Onomastics is the study of names. Within this field of study, different types of questions are
considered by academics. Cognitive psychologists have considered how important the meanings of
names are. And their research has shown that the meanings of personal names do not always play a
role in a person’s identity formation. The choice and meaning of a name is apparently not important
to the construction, development and maintenance of identity. I suspect that this type of research may
produce different results if it were conducted in a wide range of cultures. Do you have a sense of
embodying the meaning of your name? I am well aware that I do not embody the spirit of Julie
Andrews. But I am similar to my namesake Uncle Ray, who was a high school English teacher.
In some cultures and in all families, names are incredibly significant, but the reasons for their
significance can vary. Psychologists have found that as individuals, we have quite a lot of difficulty in
learning and remembering names, and that the ‘meaning’ of a name doesn’t help us with this process
very much. Research has shown (as well as personal experience) that names are vulnerable to memory
loss as we age, or if we experience a brain injury. Not only that, proper names of people also take
longer to recall than the nouns we use to refer to objects.

A possible explanation for this is that names are directly linked to individual people in our brains,
whereas nouns belong to a wide network of information about form, materials of composition,
function, smell, task, motion, etc. When thinking of objects, this wide network of information is
available, and it can be accessed more quickly, and over longer periods of time, than the human-to-
name link.
For example: when we think of chairs and tables, we have sensory memories of how these look and
feel to touch, to lift, to sit on or sit at. And we have functional memories of how we use these objects.
These multiple memories are attached with greater or lesser strength to the different members of the
chair and table category.
Names, on the other hand, are different because they are linked to a single real world entity, rather
than to multiple entities. It takes time to build up a body of sensory and interactional memories of a
person, and until we do so, there is no network of memories to help us
recall a person’s name.
However, our life experiences perhaps suggest different
understandings of names. Names can include meaningful elements. In
English, first names are very often gendered – this wordle is clearly a
wordle of girls’ names, not boys’ names.

And surnames may tell us about a person’s nationality or origins,

as we can see in the second wordle (which display’s Irish
surnames).

Activity 4: What category or type of cultural information is expressed in these names?

Richard, Peter

Akiko, Hiroko

Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao

Mackenzie, Alexander, Catherine, Charlotte

Matthew, Mark, Luke

The examples show that names can signal a person’s mother tongue, heritage language or ethnic
identity. Names can also signal socioeconomic class distinctions or aspirations, and religious beliefs.
It seems quite likely that when we first learn a person’s name, we pay more attention to the elements
of meaning that we identify, but that over time, those elements of meaning become less significant to
us, and we develop a simpler person=name link that we draw on when we use the person’s name. In
some circumstances however, the meaning of names might remain significant. This is the case where
there are naming stories that are told and retold over time within a family. These stories reinforce the
meaning and value of a person’s name within their social group.
Indigenous North American names – Name Sequences
In some indigenous North American cultures, names and name stories have more cultural significance
than many names in English. There are many different indigenous North American tribal groups and
naming practices vary considerably across them.
Personal names may tell a person’s story by highlighting their personal characteristics, or by
identifying an achievement of the person. Names can be used to signal clan or family membership. In
some cultures, personal names change through the life span of an individual. A person may be named
and renamed through their life – they have a name sequence rather than just one name.
An example of a name sequence is of a man who was named Jumping Badger at birth. When he was
growing up, he displayed a very slow, deliberate manner. His name changed to the indigenous word
meaning ‘slow/deliberate’. Later, he participated in a battle, and after the battle he took his father’s
name Sitting Bull. His father meanwhile took a new name Jumping Bull. In this culture, individuals
have name sequences that reflect different stages and events in their lives.

A name sequence through time

Birth name: Jumping Badger

Youth name: “Slow/Deliberate”

After 1st battle: Sitting Bull

Indigenous North American names – Name Sets

In some cultures, a person may have a name set. This is when a person has more than one name at
same time, and their different names relate to different roles or responsibilities.
For example, an Indigenous North American man has the common name Severt Young Bear (Young
Bear is his family name). At the same time, he has an indigenous name Hehaka Luzahan (which
means ‘Swift Elk’).
When the man is interacting in society as a common citizen, he is addressed by others with his
common name Severt. This changes when he performs a leadership role. Instead, he is addressed with
his tribal name Hehaka Luzahan.

A name set across Common name: Tribal name:

social spaces
Severt Young Bear Hehaka Luzahan (‘Swift Elk’)

A lot of individuals have name sets that link to their different language/cultural experiences. People
who come from overseas to Aotearoa New Zealand may take an English or English-sounding name if
they find that Kiwis have trouble pronouncing their personal name correctly. The willingness to learn
pronunciation of ‘foreign’ names has improved considerably over the years, although there are still
many people who could do better at this!
Finally, in a number of different cultural groups, including Indigenous North Americans, and
Indigenous Australians, it is not polite to mention names of people after they have died. So the
practice of naming children after older or deceased relatives is avoided in such cultures. This is very
different from the practices in my family that I have shared, and it may be different from your family
practices too.
Names and Descriptions
An alternative to the use of a name to refer to someone is the use of a descriptive expression.
Descriptions provide referential content so that the listener can pick out the individual that the speaker
is referring to. Descriptive content is varied, and can include a person’s physical characteristics, their
activities, or their behaviours.

Activity 5: The game Guess Who? requires us to

highlight distinctive characteristics of individuals, in
ways that are avoided in ordinary conversation. If you
were hoping to win the game, what descriptions would
you provide of Maria, Sue, Betty and Sabrina? Make a
few notes.

Names– a symbol of the way cultures value social equity

We might wonder why we bother with names instead of descriptions. If descriptions get us to the
correct individual faster and more accurately, why do we assign and take time to learn personal
names?
The answer may lie in culture. The most useful descriptions of people are those that pick out features
that are ‘unique’ or ‘noticeable’ or ‘contrastive’ against others. In many cultures it is extremely
impolite to point out such differences. Using a personal name allows us to avoid that kind of
impoliteness.
For many of the people who I know, I use only their first name, either to talk to them, or about them,
to other people. One linguist has commented that the use of bare names signals the cultural value of
social equality:
“When English speakers make person reference using a bare name, they not only achieve
reference (i.e., convey to their addressee who it is they are talking about), but in addition they
make available a virtual assertion of that person’s non-differential position, publicly
reproducing the specific Anglo cultural value – we’re all at the same level on an equal plane
– each time they do it.” (Nancy Enfield 2007: 117)

In my experience of being Pākehā, the ‘normal’ way to mention someone is by first name. Anything
else provides additional meaning. So I could mention a person I know by first names as ‘Scott’, and in
most contexts I would do that. If I knew Scott as a close friend, the nickname “Scottie” might be
available too, although I personally do not to use nicknames very often outside my immediate family
members.
Alternatively, I might name Scott by a role that he has, e.g. ‘the school Principal’, or I could focus on
a relationship of his and call him ‘Jane’s husband’.
 · To call him ‘the school Principal’ is to focus on his senior role in relation to mine, and
suggests that whatever I am going to say about him, it will be to do with Scott’s school.
· To call him ‘Jane’s husband’ names Scott by association with another person. This
suggests that my comments are going to be oriented around Jane. This could be for a
number of different reasons. It may be that ‘Jane’ is a safe person to talk about, but direct
talk about ‘Scott’ suggests too much familiarity. You may for example have ex-
boyfriends or girlfriends. When you mention them to you current partner, instead of
saying ‘my old boyfriend’, you say ‘Sarah’s new man’ or ‘Matt’s cousin’, to avoid
drawing attention to you prior relationship.
In general communication, how do we refer to individuals and what communicative pressures act
upon us?

The preference for achieving recognition

In conversation, one of the most important aspects of communication is ensuring that you, and the
person you are talking to, both know who you are talking about. The speaker and the listener have to
have in mind the same people for a conversation to work. So when we start talking about people, we
choose strategies that will allow the audience to work out who we are talking about. In New Zealand
English (NZE), the first choice for introducing participants is to use a personal name.
e.g. Donald, Jacinda, Winston...
This strategy works, provided you and your audience both know the person, and recognise the name.
So achieving recognition is the first consideration that must be addressed in conversations about other
people.

Russian strategies for achieving recognition

In Russian, there are several choices to introduce a person as the topic of conversation. In formal
settings, the first name can be used with a patronymic name. This means to use the name of
someone’s father to refer to a person. Patronyms are formed with the father’s first name, and a suffix,
that indicates whether the person is a son or a daughter of the person.

Naming Pattern Example

[first name][patronym] Anna Boris-ovna (Boris’s daughter Anna)

Nikolai Ivan-ovich (Ivan’s son Nikolai)

In Russian, titles like Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss are not used. People have official surnames, although these
are not used in face-to-face conversation. Instead, they are used in written communication, and to talk
about a person in settings where they are not known to the audience. When people are known to the
audience, patronyms are used as the most important identifying strategy.
In informal settings, it is common for Russians to use a nickname or a diminutive (an affectionate or
cute name). The endings -nya and –ka which you can see in the table have a diminutive function.

First Name Nicknames/Diminutives

Stephen Stiva

Tatiana Tanya

Ivan Vanya

Darya Dolly

Maria Masha, Mashenka (best friend’s nickname), Mashunechka (boy friend’s

nickname)

Alexander Sasha, Shura, Sanya

The preference for minimisation

In addition to ensuring that we both know who we are talking about, a second important consideration
is to be minimal or economical in our communication. So a speaker should, where possible, use one
referring expression rather than multiple expressions when referring to people. Speakers across
different languages generally offer a single referring expression to identify a person. They only add
other expressions when the first expression is unsuccessful (and the audience looks confused or says
‘who?’). The preference for minimisation is a preference to say as little as necessary to achieve
recognition. In other words, we should not go on and on about who a person is.

The preference for association

In certain situations, speakers work to explicitly relate or associate the person they are talking about
directly to their audience. When speakers choose to do this, they are doing more than just referring to
a person; they are also using the referring expression to perform a social action. Association means to
identify a person by linking them to someone else.

Ø Recipient oriented association

For example, I’m talking to my husband and I want to
tell him about something that happened during the
day, I might say Your daughter got into trouble at
school today! The referring expression your daughter
is doing more than just referring to a particular
individual whom we both know. Normally, her first
name Kimiya would be sufficient to achieve
recognition in such a situation. By choosing the
alternative recognitional your daughter, I link Kimiya
to her father.
This type of alternative recognitional can be
described as an Recipient-oriented Association because the form your daughter explicitly associates
the referent with the addressee (the diagram is adapted from Stivers, 2007, p. 95).
Why do we use recipient oriented Association? As well as associating my daughter with her father
(who I am talking to) I additionally express my disapproval at her behaviour. When I associate my
daughter with her father, I shift responsibility for my daughter’s actions away from myself, and onto
my husband.

Ø Speaker Oriented Association

Another example of associative reference would be if I was talking to my mother on the phone and I
said, “My daughter got an award at school this week!” My normal choice of recognitional in a
conversation with my mother would be my daughter’s first name, so again, the neutral form would be
“Kimiya”. But on this occasion, I have chosen the kinship term ‘my daughter’.
What is the effect of using a speaker-oriented association? When I claim my daughter through our
relationship, I explicitly and closely associate myself with my daughter and her success, and thereby
claim responsibility for her success. I also express my pride at her achievement. This can be
represented by the following figure (Diagram adapted from Stivers, 2007, p. 95).

Circumspection: the practice of being cautious or discreet

A further tension operating in person reference is circumspection. Circumspection is the practice of
being cautious or discreet in the way that we refer to others. This principle is widespread and in many
cultures, there are locally appropriate conventions for being circumspect. Many conventions involve
avoid referring to someone by directly naming them with their first name.
For example, in English, there are restrictions relating to using first names of authority figures in
formal situations. In a court of law, it is the custom to refer to the adjudicator as ‘the Judge’ and to
address them as ‘your honour’. It would be inappropriate at a formal meeting here at the University to
refer to the Vice-Chancellor by his first name ‘Neil’.

About: the Judge the VC Adults: Mum, Dad, Grandma

To: your honour (Vice Chancellor) Kids: Poppy, Michael
Never: Bob or Sally Never: Neil

Further restrictions typically operate for English speakers with senior kin relations such as parents and
grandparents. The typical way to refer to these people is not to use their first names, but to select the
appropriate kin term (e.g. Mum, Dad, Grandma/Nanna/Nan, Grandpa/Poppa/Pops). The kin term
serves as a recognitional, and at the same time it overtly signals the special kin relationship held
between speaker and their older family member, and shows respect for their seniority. This particular
name avoidance behaviour is thought to be a universal (Fleming 2011:145). It is not extended to
Aunts and Uncles in English however; we combine the kin term with first name when referring to
Aunts and Uncles (e.g. Aunty Judy, Uncle Ray).
In other cultures, the situation can be much more complex, involving taboo practices which require
speakers to completely avoid uttering the first names of specific people in their community. Typically,
this would be one’s in-laws and/or other senior kin. Sometimes name avoidance extends to recently
deceased community members, and it is also observed among small groups of community members
who come together to organise community events such as a feast.
First names may not be the only words which are taboo; other lexical items (words) in the language
which share the same or similar sound as the taboo name may also be avoided by speakers. When a
speaker needs to refer to an individual who is in a taboo-relationship with them, they may use a
number of different strategies including association (your father, John’s mother), or a special set of
vocabulary.
The consequences of breaking a name taboo differ cross-culturally. A person who breaks a name
taboo may be required to pay a fine. More seriously, community members may believe that some
physical or spiritual punishment will befall the transgressor or one of their relatives. Crop-failure and
illness are often sees as the result of failing to follow cultural taboos.
While it may seem that taboo practice requires restraint and careful language use, it has been
suggested that the very act of avoidance actually works to establish and intensify relationships in
societies where social networks are particularly important. For example, in-laws who must actively
work at avoiding first names are constantly enacting their social roles as in-laws. They draw overt
attention to their relationship through what they are not saying. Some cultural groups, such as the
Korowai people of PNG, may even ‘opt in’ and voluntarily agree to avoid one another’s names as a
way of signalling that a relationship holds special meaning and value.
The following case studies briefly demonstrate the uses of name taboos in different cultures; the first
describes in-law taboo practices in Kambaata (Ethiopia), while the second outlines name taboo
practices in Neverver (Vanuatu).

Case Study 1 Kambaata (Cushitic language, Ethiopia)

One type of name taboo is found in the Kambaata language (Highland East Cushitic, spoken in
Ethiopia). This study was carried out by a linguistic anthropologist called Yvonne Treis, who is based
at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, Language & Culture. Kambaata society is
patrilineal and strongly patriarchal. Marriage is forbidden among members of the same clan, and a
married woman will move to live with her husband, near her her in-laws (marriage is virilocal or
patrilocal).

Yvonne Treis observed a practice called Ballishsha, where wives participate in a form of in-law
taboo. Treis says the practice is being abandoned by young wives, but there was still enough of the
Ballishsha being used that she was able to describe it in a very interesting paper called ‘Avoiding their
names, avoiding their eyes: how Kambaata women respect their In-laws’.
The practice involves
· avoid using the name of in-laws
· avoid using words that start with the same syllable as in-law names
This practice occurs in all contexts regardless of whether in-laws are present or not. The consequence
of non-participation is bad luck, and problems with their children’s development. Mistakes are
experienced with shame; in-laws become angry. The name and vocabulary avoidance is coupled with
avoidance of eye contact. The women must avoid initiating conversation, and young women eat
separately from their father in law, walk behind him, or simply stay out of his field of vision. With
their mother-in-law, the women avoid eye contact. They are obligated to support household work
even after they live alone with their husband. In return, the mother-in-law has an obligation to provide
support during illness, childbirth, and for marital issues. Because women can’t use their in-laws’
names, or any words that sound similar to their names, they have to use alternative strategies to
communicate. There are several options that they make use of in order to avoid taboo names.
· They use special ballishsha vocabulary;
· They use (near) synonyms to express meanings;
· They use antonyms (opposites!) to express meanings;
· They use loanwords from neighbouring languages;
· They paraphrase their meanings.
Practicing ballishsha requires quite a lot of communicative awareness and flexibility, and it seems
that as the Kambaata women are becoming more urbanised and educated, they are less willing to
engage in ballishsha practices.

Case Study 2 – Neverver (Vanuatu)

Name avoidance is also practiced by Neverver speakers (Vanuatu) and is an important part of
Neverver society. Similar practices are found in many different cultural groups in Vanuatu, although
in each one, the details are slightly different.

Neverver speakers of inland Malekula

Island, Vanuatu
Older community members are entitled to use personal names of younger community members; and
siblings and spouses will also use personal names with each other. But younger generations will avoid
using personal names of older generations. So age is a key factor in name avoidance.
Family relationships are an additional factor involved in name avoidance, with the strongest name
avoidance practices occurring with one’s in-laws, especially those of the same age or older (though
not with one’s spouse).
Name avoidance appears to be practiced as form of respect. Revealing taboo names is very
embarrassing and considered to be rude. However, the belief system does not include any specific
negative consequences if someone mistakenly use a taboo name. Unlike Kambaata women, there is no
extended avoidance of words that happen to sound the same as taboo names. If your name is similar to
a word for fishing, or gardening, then everyone can still use the word for fishing or gardening. They
just will avoid using your actual name.
To avoid using names directly, the speakers will use kinship terminology by association. They employ
both speaker-association (e.g. my mother) and addressee association (e.g. your aunty). A further
strategy is to associate the referent with a third person, a member of a younger generation, so that a
personal name can be safely used (e.g. Cindy’s grandmother).
Here is an example (translated into English) from a story I recorded. Two young women were talking
to each other. They were cousins, and had known each other from birth. No other family members
were around during their conversation. Even so, they practice name avoidance, to show respect to
their family members.
“A coconut struck Auntie’s head”
“Auntie” is the speaker’s mother, the listener’s aunt = this is recipient association
In NZE we would just say: ‘mum’s head’
“Me, Auntie, Uncle Simon and Robert, we sat down by the bamboo”
“Auntie” and “Uncle” are the speaker’s parents, the listener’s aunt and uncle = again, this is
recipient association
In NZE we would just say: ‘me, mom, dad and Robert’
“Amber, her father came”
“Her father” is the speaker’s husband; “Amber” is the speaker’s daughter = this is a 3 rd person
participant-association reference
In NZE we would just use a first name: e.g. ‘John’
“Amber and her grandmother were at home”
“Amber” is the speaker’s daughter, “her/Amber’s grandmother” is the speaker’s mother = this
is another 3rd person participant-association reference, where Amber is used to safely refer to
the speaker’s mother
In NZE we would just say: ‘Amber and mum’ meaning ‘my mum’
Concluding comments
The interconnected principles of person reference are thought to operate in all societies, and are
expressed in all languages:
- recognition (we need to know who we are talking about)
 - minimisation (but we shouldn’t over-share)
- association (we should try to link into our social networks and the social networks of the
people we are talking to)
- circumspection (we take steps to avoid being considered over-familiar or rude).
Although these principles are found in all societies, there is a culture-specific application of each one.
Different societies prefer different person reference strategies and studying these strategies can help to
reveal the social organisational principles of a particular society.
In some societies, kin terms are heavily used to refer to individuals, instead of personal names. In
these societies, family relationships are central to daily life and speakers go to considerable effort to
maintain these relationships. In other societies, personal names are used instead of kin terms or even
titles. In such societies (Pākehā in Aotearoa New Zealand are an example), speakers take steps to treat
each other as social equals, even when there are significant differences in social status and people’s
individual situations.
Activity 6: Family Address Terms
- Consider the ways that you address your family members. Make notes in response to each of
the questions below.
- Which family members (if any) do you address with their first name?
- Are there any family members whose first names you never use, or feel uncomfortable using?
What type of relationship do you have with these people? Are they in the same generation,
younger, or older than you? How do you address these people instead?
- Are there any family members who you almost always address with a nickname or
affectionate name or affectionate kin term? What type of relationship do you have with these
people? Are they in the same generation, younger, or older than you?
- Are there any differences in the way you address your paternal relatives (everyone on your
dad’s side of the family) and your maternal relatives (everyone on your mum’s side of the
family)?