Dyadic kinship terms (

abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

or ) are

kinship term Kinship terminology is the system used in languages to refer to the persons to whom an individual is related through kinship. Different societies classify kinship relations differently and therefore use different systems of kinship terminology; ...

s in a few languages that express the relationship between individuals as they relate one to the other. In English, there are a few set phrases for such situations, such as "they are father and son", but there is not a single ''dyadic term'' that can be used the way "they are cousins" can; even the latter is not truly dyadic, as it does not necessarily mean that they are cousins ''to each other.'' The few, and uncommon, English dyadic terms involve

in-laws ''In-Laws'' is an American sitcom television series created by Mark Reisman, that aired on NBC from September 24, 2002 to January 14, 2003. The series starred Bonnie Somerville, Jean Smart, Elon Gold, and Dennis Farina. Plot The protagonist has ...

: co-mothers-in-law, co-fathers-in-law, co-brothers-in-law, co-sisters-in-law, co-grandmothers, and co-grandfathers. Examples of dyadic terms for blood kin include Kayardild (Australian) ''ngamathu-ngarrba'' "mother and child", derived from ''ngamathu'' "mother", and ''kularrin-ngarrba'' "brother and sister", from ''kularrin'' "cross-sibling", with the dyadic suffix ''-ngarrba.'' Not all such terms are derived; the Ok language Mian has a single unanalysable root ''lum'' for "father and child". Dyadic blood-kin terms are rare in

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...

. Examples are Icelandic and Faroese, which have the terms "father and son", "father and daughter", "mother and son", "mother and daughter". Chinese and Japanese use compound nouns to make dyadic terms, such as (in Japanese) ''oyako'' "parent and child", ''kyōdai'' "brothers; siblings", ''shimai'' "sisters", and ''fūfu'' "husband and wife". The languages which have such terms are concentrated in the western Pacific. There are at least ten in New Guinea, including

Oksapmin Oksapmin is a Trans–New Guinea language spoken in Oksapmin Rural LLG, Telefomin District, Sandaun, Papua New Guinea. The two principal dialects are distinct enough to cause some problems with mutual intelligibility. Oksapmin has dyadic kins ...

,The Oksapmin Kinship System
, retrieved May 21, 2009. Menya, and the Ok languages; fifteen or more Austronesian languages, from Taiwan to New Caledonia; and at least sixty in Australia, such as Kayardild above. There are sporadic examples in Northern Eurasia, including a few Turkic and

Uralic The Uralic languages (; sometimes called Uralian languages ) form a language family of 38 languages spoken by approximately 25million people, predominantly in Northern Eurasia. The Uralic languages with the most native speakers are Hungarian (w ...

languages,

Yukaghir The Yukaghirs, or Yukagirs ( (), russian: юкаги́ры) are a Siberian ethnic group people in the Russian Far East, living in the basin of the Kolyma River. Geographic distribution The Tundra Yukaghirs live in the Lower Kolyma region ...

, and Ainu; depending on definitions, the

Yi languages The Yi or Nuosu people,; zh, c=彝族, p=Yízú, l=Yi ethnicity historically known as the Lolo,; vi, Lô Lô; th, โล-โล, Lo-Lo are an ethnic group in China, Vietnam, and Thailand. Numbering nine million people, they are the seven ...

of Southeast Asia may also be said to have such terms. Elsewhere they are rare, or at least have not been described. Known languages include Athabaskan (

Koyukon The Koyukon (russian: Коюконы) are an Alaska Native Athabascan people of the Athabascan-speaking ethnolinguistic group. Their traditional territory is along the Koyukuk and Yukon rivers where they subsisted for thousands of years by ...

and

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Pomo The Pomo are an Indigenous people of California. Historical Pomo territory in Northern California was large, bordered by the Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to Clear Lake, and mainly between Cleone and Duncans Point. One small grou ...

, and

Southern Paiute The Southern Paiute people are a tribe of Native Americans who have lived in the Colorado River basin of southern Nevada, northern Arizona, and southern Utah. Bands of Southern Paiute live in scattered locations throughout this territory and ha ...

in North America,

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...

, Paezan (

Nasa Yuwe The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

), and Cariban ( Tiriyo) in South America, Adyghe in the Caucasus, and

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( Kxoe, Gǀwi) in southern Africa.Evans, Nicholas. 2006. "Dyadic Constructions." In Keith Brown (ed.) ''Encyclopaedia of Language and Linguistics'' (2nd Edition).

References

{{Reflist Kinship terminology