TOMBULU KINSHIP TERMINOLOGIES
SKRIPSI
Presented at English Education Department in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
“Sarjana Sastra”
By:
E M M O R H . N . S U J A D I NIM. 03 300 293
MANADO STATE UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
2007
Chapter I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of The Study
Quoting a most well known quotation, “homo homini socius”,
which means “human is social being”, gives us a notion that human
cannot be separated or even be far from the society. “When we study
human language, we are approaching to what some might call the
‘human essence’, the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we
know, unique to man”, said by Chomsky (Fromkin, 2001:2). The need
of every person to express something through a media to do the
transferring action is a language.
Language occurs in a society. To communicate something or
to express idea people use language as the tool. It is also used to build
a relationship among members of the society. Being spoken among
members of the society is a requirement for a language. Thus, the
essential usage of a language will appear, as a tool of communication.
Indonesia, with its diversity, encloses with many different
ethnics who speak different languages as well. This is supported by the
amount of islands which is scattered the people into some regions. As
an example, the Java Island is inhabited by many ethnicities which are
different from the Borneo’s island.
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The ethnic language serves to support the national language
therefore, they should be preserved. The role of the ethnic language is
very important for the development of the Indonesian language and its
national culture, since the ethnic languages are part of the living
culture of Indonesia. As what stated by Nababan (1993:50) that the
culture of Indonesia cannot come into being without language. That is
why the existence of Indonesian culture determined by the languages
spoken by ethnic groups.
As every ethnic has its own distinctive language, it also
becomes their pride to speak it. Outside the national language, Bahasa
Indonesia, tribesmen speak in his own language in order to maintain a
close relationship with others. Samsuri says that “pemakaian bahasa
pertama (bahasa daerah) menyebabkan kemesraan yang lebih
mendalam” (Samsuri, 1987). Intimate relationship can be obtained
with the use of the local language among the members of a society
who speak the same language.
Minahasa is one among many ethnic groups in Indonesia. It
takes place at the northern part of Celebes Island. It is between 0°51’
and 1°51’40’’ North Latitude and between 124°18’40’’ and
125°21’40’’ East Longitude. Minahasa comprises about 4786 km2. On
the northern part bordered with Mindanao islands (Philippines), the
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southern part with Sulawesi Sea, the eastern part with Maluku Sea,
and the western part with Bolaang Mongondow.
People of Minahasa speak about 8 different languages
following their own sub ethnic groups. According to the separation in
Watu Pinabetengan, they are as follow (Rattu in Turang et.al.,
1997:80-121):
1. Tonsea with the Tonsea language spoken by those people who
inhabit the north-eastern part of Minahasa which is now known as
Kabupaten Minahasa Utara.
2. Tombulu with the Tombulu language spoken by those people who
inhabit the north-western part of Minahasa.
3. Tountemboan with the Tountemboan language spoken by those
people who inhabit the southern and (some) central parts of
Minahasa.
4. Toulour with the Toulour language spoken by those people who
inhabit Lake Tondano and the eastern part of Minahasa.
5. Tounsawang with the Tounsawang language spoken by those
people who inhabit the middle-southern Minahasa or Tombatu.
6. Ratahan with the Pasan language spoken by those people who
inhabit the middle-southern of Minahasa or Ratahan.
7. Ponosakan with the Ponosakan language spoken by those people
who inhabit the south-eastern of Minahasa or Belang.
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8. Bantik with the Bantik language spoken by those people who
inhabit the north-western of Manado.
Each one has its own characteristics but still has similarities.
Tombulu, as one of Minahasan languages, is spoken among
the people who settled in the northwestern part Minahasa region
(Lalamentik et.al., 1986:6). It is divided into six cultural areas which
all are spoken Tombulu language, as Pakasaan Tombulu (2007)
described:
1. Tou Muung/Tomohon group. They are: Talete, Kamasi, Kolongan,
Paslaten, Matani, and Walian.
2. Sarongsong group. They are: Tumatangtang, Lansot, Pinaras,
Pangolombian, Lahendong, Tondangow, rurukan, and
Kumelembuai.
3. Kakaskasen group. They are: Wailan, Kayawu, Kakaskasen,
Kinilow, Pineleng, Tateli, Sea, Koha, Agotey, Kali, Lota,
Warembungan, Suluan, Rumengkor, Kembes, Tombuluan,
Kamangta, Sawangan, and Koka.
4. Tombariri group. They are: Lolah, Lemoh, Ranotongkor,
Tanawangko, Senduk, Poopo, Teling Kumu, and Mokupa.
5. Tikala Ares group. They are people who settled in the area of
Tikala now, but they are presumably not speaking Tombulu
anymore.
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6. Kalabat Bawah group. They are people who settled in the area of
Kampung Wenang (Kampung Cina, now) which presumably don’t
speak Tombulu anymore, Paniki Bawah, and Wusa (still speak but
only the elder people).
Tombulu people use their language to interact among them.
They are using it as a means of communication to cope with the
members of their families and their society. As the tool of
communication, Tombulu has the position to serve as a symbol of
pride of the people who speak it; a symbol of identity; and also as a
means of communication.
It cannot be denied that a number of speakers of Tombulu
language are diminishing. This is due to the fact that people,
particularly the younger, prefer to speak Manado Malay than
Tombulu.
Another indication also shows that elderly people do not use
the language when they speak with the younger and even do not
motivate them to learn and speak the language. Such conditions
threaten the existence of the language.
As these problems arise, the writer attempts to make an
encounter towards these phenomena. He is eager to do a research in
Tombulu language, especially on its kinship terminologies. People of
Minahasa are well known of their family associations. As stated
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above, local language is a tool of communication which reflects
intimacy, he assumes that Tombulu language also occurred in the
same way. In other words, the intimacy between family members can
be seen in the form of the utterances and addressing. With this
research, he hopes that the language will be preserved.
Fischer in his work said that, “Kinship is one of these more
complex systems of culture. All human groups have a kinship
terminology, a set of terms used to refer to kin”. Furthermore
described, Kinship terminologies constitute a culture's kinship (family
relationship) vocabulary, a catalogue of the names that are assigned to
relatives, e.g., father, mother, uncle, grandson (Schwimmer, 2001).
Different societies of course use different labels to designate their kin;
“uncle” is “oncle” in French, “paman” in Bahasa Indonesia, and “om”
in Manado Malay. The society of Tombulu use “ina” /Ina’/ to address
mother and “ama” /ama’/ for father.
Many researchers have done some studies dealing with the
kinship terminologies in some foreign languages as done by Joost
Zwarts on Endo language (Kenya) in 2002 and Mark Turin on
Thangmi language (Nepal) in 2003; also a study of M. Yahya Mansyur
entitled with “Sistem Kekerabatan (kinship) Masyarakat Aceh Utara
dan Aceh Besar (1982). What comes in the mind of the writer is that,
“Why don’t we have our own research on kinship terminologies in our
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own language?” So, to answer this kind of question, he intends to
conduct this research in order to give a clear understanding about
Tombulu kinship terminologies.
1.2 Research Questions
From the explanations above the researcher formulates these
research questions:
- What are the kinship terminologies used in Tombulu language?
- How do these kinship terminologies fill the categorizations of
consanguinal and affinal relatives?
1.3 Purpose of the Proposed Study
The purpose of this study is to identify and to describe the
kinship terminologies used in Tombulu language.
1.4 Scope and Delimitation of the Study
The study is delimited to the use of Tombulu kinship
terminologies by Tombulu language speakers who lived in Tomohon
city. The writer only delimits the generation between one up to five
generations above ego and below ego, because the assumption is that
the people who are classified in the next generation (6th and the rest)
already dead or not exist anymore. It gives only small chance for them
to have a terminology.
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1.5 Significance of the Study
Besides giving a broader and advanced thought to the writer,
this study is expected theoretically, to give a contribution to the
forthcoming research for the development of language studies. This
also directly gives contribution to the amount of written materials
dealing with Tombulu language studies.
1.6 Explanation of the Symbols and the Terms Used
- Ego: Latin for ‘I’. In kinship charts, the point from which one
views.
- Descriptive terms, which include relatively small numbers of types,
preferably having unique referents (only one type of relationship).
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- Classificatory terms, which include a relatively large number of
biological kin types (many types of relationship).
- Consanguinal relative means “blood” relatives.
- Affinal relative means relatives by marriage.
- Lineal relative means kin in your direct line of descent (e.g.,
parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren); in other words, a
vertical relationships, it can be ancestors or descendants.
- Collateral relative is a biological relative who is not a lineal such as
brother, sister, father’s brother, etc.; in other words, a horizontal
relationships.
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Chapter II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
It is undeniable for us to claim that language influences our lives as
human beings. When we communicate something to other people, language
is used to transfer the ideas. Language touches every part of human
interactions, formal or informal, big or small communities, family or
interpersonal communications.
When we speak about the language and the use of it in a scope of
society, we are dealing with sociolinguistics, a subfield of linguistics. As
declared by Cippolone et.al, (1998:5), “sociolinguistics is the study of the
interrelationships of language and the social structure, of linguistic
variation, and of attitudes toward language”.
Moreover, Holmes (2001) explained that sociolinguistics is the study
of the relationship between language and society. It is interested in
explaining why we speak differently in different social contexts, and
concerned with identifying the social functions of language and the ways it
is used to convey social meaning.
Stated by Fishman (1976:3), “sociolinguistics seeks to discover the
societal rules or norms that explain and constrain language behavior and the
behavior toward in the speech communities. It is also seeks to determine the
symbolic value of language varieties for their speaker”. This is supported
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by Suwito (1985:5) which stated that “sosiolinguistik memandang bahasa
sebagai sistem sosial dan sistem komunikasi serta merupakan bagian dari
masyarakat dan kebudayaan tertentu”.
Another assertion about sociolinguistics is that what has been stated
by Downes (2005:9) that “sociolinguistics is that branch of linguistics
which studies just those properties of language and languages which
require reference to social, including contextual, factors in their
explanation”. That means sociolinguistics also gives concentration on the
social factors where the language is spoken. That is why we should know
first who is speaking and to whom we are speaking, where the talking
happens, what is being talked, and why are we speaking.
As what have stated above that the relations of language and society
is studied in sociolinguistics, it also has connection to the culture of the
language speakers since it has become their system of communication. A
language study which given an emphasizing on the use of language in a
specific culture to describe the familial relationships is called kinship
terminologies.
2.1 KINSHIP TERMINOLOGIES
Kinship terminology refers to the words used in a specific culture to
describe a specific system of familial relationships. Kinship terminologies
include the terms of address used in different languages or communities for
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different relatives and the terms of reference used to identify the
relationship of these relatives to ego or to each other (Wikipedia, 2000).
Wardhaugh said that “kinship system is a universal feature of
languages, because kinship is so important in social organization”
(Wardhaugh, 1986:219). Moreover, he argued that some systems are much
‘richer’ than others, but all make use of such factors as sex, age, generation,
blood, and marriage in their organization. His statement is held up by
Zwarts (2002) who noted that kinship terminologies could be traced
through the line of consanguinal relatives and affinal relatives.
It is so obvious that kinship occurs in every society. What makes
them ‘richer’ one to another, is that one can serve a terminology for
different age and generation, but the other one has its own terminologies for
each age or generation. In example, English kinship referred siblings sons
as nephew and siblings daughters as niece; in Tombulu, siblings children
are only referred as pahanaken. In this case, English has more terms to
describe cousins which makes it ‘richer’ than Tombulu. But, in some cases
Tombulu might come up with more terms to show the kinship relationships.
Since kin terms are fundamentally arbitrary categories, different
cultures can potentially group their relatives into a widely varying,
indefinite number of classifications. Louis Henry Morgan in his 1871 work
Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family identified six
basic patterns of kinship terminologies:
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• Hawaiian (also referred to as the Generational system): the most
classificatory; only distinguishes between sex and generation.
• Sudanese (also referred to as the Descriptive system): the most
descriptive; no two relatives share the same term.
• Eskimo (also referred to as Lineal kinship): has both classificatory
and descriptive terms; in addition to sex and generation, also
distinguishes between lineal relatives (those related directly by a line
of descent) and collateral relatives (those related by blood, but not
directly in the line of descent). Lineal relatives have highly
descriptive terms; collateral relatives have highly classificatory
terms.
• Iroquois (also known as Bifurcate merging): has both classificatory
and descriptive terms; in addition to sex and generation, also
distinguishes between siblings of opposite sexes in the parental
generation. Siblings of the same sex class as blood relatives, but
siblings of the opposite sex count as relatives by marriage. Thus, one
calls one's mother's sister "mother", and one's father's brother
"father"; however, one refers to one's mother's brother as "father-in-
law", and to one's father's sister as "mother-in-law".
• Crow (an expansion of Bifurcate Merging): like Iroquois, but further
distinguishes between mother's side and father's side. Relatives on
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the mother's side of the family have more descriptive terms, and
relatives on the father's side have more classificatory terms.
• Omaha (also an expansion of Bifurcate Merging): like Iroquois, but
further distinguishes between mother's side and father's side.
Relatives on the mother's side of the family have more classificatory
terms, and relatives on the father's side have more descriptive terms.
(Adapted from Schwimmer, 2001)
Here are some examples of kinship diagrams which will help to
make easy the descriptions of Tombulu kinship terminologies. These
diagrams are used to represent the kinship system of a language, in this
case, Tombulu language appears following the model of lineal kinship
terminology.
Chart 01
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Lineal kinship terminology is a parental generation kin terminology with
four terms: one for M, one for F, one for FB and MB, and one for MZ and
FZ. The terminologies variations occur only to the close relatives.
Chart 02
Generational kinship terminology is terminologies with only two terms
serve for M, MZ, and FZ, and the other for F, FB, MB.
Chart 03
15
Bifurcate collateral kinship terminology employing separate terms for M, F,
MB, MZ, FB, and FZ. Each member of the family (differentiated from
father and mother sides) has his/her own terminology.
Chart 04
Bifurcate merging kinship terminology provides same term for parallel
relatives (M, MZ, and F, FB) but different terms for cross relatives
(MB, FZ).
(Adapted from Schwimmer, 2001)
2.2 SOCIO-CULTURAL BACKGROUND
Tombulu as one of the ethnic language in Minahasa has become a
communication apparatus among the members of the Tombulu society. It
was a result of the culturization when they started to build their community,
which now known as Tombulu. It was started hundred years ago when
Minahasa divided into several sub-ethnics in Pinawetengan un nuwu
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ceremony. At last, some of the descendants of Toar and Lumimuut, which
called mayesu group, moved to the foot of mount Empung. they settled at
the valley which lodged by many bamboo clusters. This is the pioneer
village of a new community known as Kinilow Tua’. Through the time,
their name gradually changed. They called themselves as ‘tou um wulu’
which means people from/who lived in bamboo clusters.
They stretched their community to the surroundings and built new
villages to be inhabited. Some went northern and opened Talete, Kamasi,
Paslaten, and Kolongan. Other went west and found Kakaskasen, Wailan,
Kayawu, Woloan, and Taratara. Because of their needs of salt, they went to
the sea shore and made salt. For the sea shore was far enough from their
first settlement, they initiated new villages near the sea shores. That was
how Tombariri and Tikala Ares were settled. Other reasons of shifting
inhabitance were the natural disaster such as earthquake and flood; wars
between clans for an area; need of a new place of farming. At the result,
Sarongsong was settled and Kalabat Bawah, as well. (Retold by:
H.B. Palar, Pakasaan Tombulu, 2007)
For the reason of making salt people from Kinilow Tua’ went down
the mountain to the sea shores. They were heading east where they can find
shores of Sulawesi sea. When they went back home, they found that it was
already too dark to proceed their journey as they arrived at the foot of
mount Lokon. Then, they started to build huts as their shelters from
17
darkness and rain. As the time went by, they found that many people had
making a move to settle the new place. They lived in the valley between
two steep cliffs which they called katingolan or narrow place. It was chosen
because they want to defend themselves from Bantik clan who at any time
attacked them.
The village was then moved to the place where we can see now as
Woloan, because of a great earthquake. In 1850 they opened the new area
which full of wolo trees. That is why they called themselves as Woloan
which means places where grew wolo trees. They were led by a leader
called dotu named Tingkulengdeng.
The village then divided into three villages as the requirement of the
government system. Since 1978, they become Woloan 1, Woloan 2, and
Woloan 3 village. (Retold by: J.B. Ngala, Lurah Woloan 3, 2007)
Until now, people of Woloan still speak Tombulu in communication
among them and they have the same language ability between youngers and
elders.
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Chapter III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design
Bogdan and Biklen, (1992:30) stated that “qualitative
research is descriptive. The data collected are in the form of words or
pictures rather than numbers. The written results of the research
contain quotations from the data to illustrate and substantiate the
presentation”. In conducting the research, the writer uses a qualitative
approach as the data will be described in the form of words.
3.2 Data Collection
3.2.1 Subject
The subject of this study is Tombulu language spoken by the
Tombulu ethnic. The sample were the Tombulu language
speakers who lived in Woloan Tiga village. The writer takes
some informants to collect the data. As adapted from Nida
(1960:190), the informants are chosen to fulfill these criteria:
1. They are native speaker of Tombulu;
2. They are adult;
3. They can speak and understand Bahasa Indonesia well;
4. They have no speech defect;
5. They are socially accepted.
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3.2.2 Instruments for Collecting Data
The writer uses some instruments in order to collect the data.
Tape recorder is used to record the conversations, as well as
notebook and pen. A word lists is also used to collect data.
3.2.3 Research Events
This research is conducted with the writer among the speakers
community, doing some conversation with them. It is possible to
the writer only to take field notes while doing conversations and
also taping. Besides it, writer makes a personal interview with
some samples to have a clear understanding.
3.3 Data Analysis
The collected data are analyzed through the procedures of qualitative
analysis suggested by Bogdan and Biklen (1992):
1. Activity of unitization
In this activity, the data were collected and put into units. After
that, they were given codes for easy controlling.
2. Activity of categorization
In this activity, the data were classified on the category of
consanguinal and affinal relatives.
3. Activity of explanation
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In this activity, the data were analyzed with explanation based on
the first and second steps. The explanation was based on the
theories pointed out in the review of literature.
4. Activity of interpretation
In this activity, the data were interpreted for conclusion of the
findings.
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Chapter IV
ANALYSIS
4.1 TOMBULU KINSHIP TERMINOLOGIES
Over time, certain modes of representing kinship relationships have
emerged as de facto standard, raging from the taxonomical tree-like model
with circles and triangles to a list or glossary full of abbreviations (Vinding
in Turin, 2001:6). The writer will represent the Tombulu kinship
relationships in a list of glossary which describes the terminologies and in
charts which describe relationships.
The table given below shows the common abbreviations used for
referring to kinship relationships. Abbreviations may be combined to
indicate complex relationships.
Table 01
Female Male Neutral
Mother M Father F Parents Pa
Sister Z Brother B Siblings Si
Daughter D Son S Child Ch
Wife W Husband H Spouse Sp
Step St
Elder e
Younger y
ex- x
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In example, a FyZ as father’s elder Sister and SpDH as spouse’ daughter’s
husband. An X2 means the same thing as XX. The formula F3B should be
read as father’s father’s father’s brother.
The writer has collected the data from the informants and found that the
Tombulu kinship terminologies are various. The terms are:
Table 02
No. Terminology Gloss Formula
1. ama’ father F
2. ina’ mother M
3. tu’a parents Pa
4. koki’ children Ch
5. piniara tuama son S
6. piniara wēwēnē daughter D
7. łołoateken step child StS
8. piniara tu’a eldest child eCh
9. taweng youngest child yCh
10. kaka’ tuama elder brother eB
11. kaka’ wēwēnē elder sister eZ
12. tuari tuama younger brother yB
13. tuari wēwēnē younger sister yZ
14. mahkarepes-tina’i siblings Si
15. ito’ uncle FB
16. mui aunt FZ
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17. tua’ Father/Mother older siblings FeSi/MeSi
18. pahanaken tuama nephew BS
19. pahanaken wēwēnē niece BD
20. oki’-nē-mahtuari cousin FBCh
21. puyun grandchild SCh
22. puyun kazua great grandchild S2Ch
23. puyun katelu great great grandchild S3Ch
24. tētē grandfather FF
25. nēnē grandmother FM
26. katarēimopo’ great grandfather F3
27. kumaruaimopo’ great great grandfather F4
28. kasēndē’ wife W
29. kaawu wife W
30. katēndē wife W
31. mahayo husband H
32. oki’ tuama son-in-law DH
33. oki’ wēwēnē daughter-in-law SW
34. ipag brother-in-law SiH
35. susi sister-in-law SiW
36. mahnuang parents-in-law WPa, HPa
37. penigien parents-in-law WPa, HPa
38. kasungkul children’s spouses’ parents ChSpPa
39. kawulēng spouses’ siblings’ spouse SpSiSp
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40. tina’asa ex-spouse xSp
41. mahnuangē ex-parent-in-law xW/HPa
42. paipagē ex-siblings-in-law xW/HSi
The Tombulu language differentiates kin on the basis of generation,
age, sex, and marriage relationships. To show the relationships, the writer
will separate the explanation into two parts; first, with consanguinal
relatives, and second through affinal relatives.
4.2 REPRESENTING KINSHIP
4.2.1. Consanguinal Relatives
Consanguinal relatives are relatives that are related in descent.
Murphy (2001) defines consanguinal as a relationship by blood (i.e.,
presumed biological) ties. A consanguine is a relative by birth (i.e., a
“blood” relative), as distinguished from in-laws (“affines”) and
steprelatives. Zwarts, in his 2002 work on Endo language, gives more
addition that consanguinal relatives can either be lineal (ancestors or
descendants) or collateral (related through a sibling relation).
Based on the theory given above, the writer will analyze the
Tombulu kinship terminologies in both relations.
4.2.1.1. Lineal Relatives
Tombulu uses ama’ ‘father’ and ina’ ‘mother’ or tu’a ‘parents’ to
refer the generation directly above ego and piniara ‘child’ or koki’
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‘children’ for the generation directly below ego (only distinguishes by the
sex, piniara tuama ‘son’ and piniara wēwēnē ‘daughter’). The terms tētē
‘grandfather’ and nēnē ‘grandmother’ are used for the second generation
above ego and katarēimopo’ ‘great grandfather/great grandmother’ for the
third generation and after that there is kumaruaimopo’ for ‘great great
grandfather’ and then for great great great grandfather only called by opo’.
For the second generations below ego, puyun ‘grandchildren’ is used for
both male and female. Numerical terms are used for the next generations
below, such as: puyun kazua (#2) for great grandchildren, puyun katelu (#3)
for great great grandchildren.
Chart 05
Tombulu kinship terminologies for offspring
ego
piniara tuama
puyun
piniara wēwēnē
puyun kazua
puyun katelu
children
grandchildren
great grandchildren
great great grandchildren
puyun kaepat great great great grandchildren
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Chart 06
Tombulu kinship terminologies for ancestor
ina
=
tētē nēnē
ama parents
grandparents
great grandparents
great great grandparents
=
=
=
ego
katarēimopo’
kumaruaimopo’
= great great great grandparents opo
The distinctions of sexes are very contrast. Tombulu speakers
differentiate their children by including their sexual referent in addressing.
That is why an ego will call his son as piniara tuama and his daughter with
piniara wēwēwē. Parents will call their eldest child with piniara tua’ and
the youngest one with taweng. The differentiation of sex is also occurred on
the addressing of the grandchildren. The elder people – not all – address
their grandchildren with the distinction of their sexes only to confirm that
they are speaking or referring to the right one.
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We can assume the following elementary rules for assigning terms to
basic kinship types:
F ama’
M ina’
Pa tu’a
S piniara tuama
D piniara wēwēnē
Ch koki’
FF, MF tētē
FM, MM nēnē
F3, M3 katarēimopo’
F4, M4 kumaruaimopo’
F5, M5 opo’
ChCh puyun
There is exception in addressing the generation above grandparents.
Speaker of Tombulu prefer to call them opo’ rather than using the longest
one. So, in this case there is a reduction rules for a distant generations. The
third generation and the forth ancestor (assumed that they might have dead
already) are called by the same term for their distant relations:
PaPaPaF PaPaF, PaPaPaM PaPaM opo’
This is why a great great grandfather and a great grandfather can
have the same term as called opo’ in Tombulu.
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To show another closest relationship between brothers and sisters, a
terminology was exposed to cover. Term mahkarepes tina’i is used to show
that they are coming from one intestine or from one womb.
In addition, the writer found that Tombulu language has terminology
for addressing parents’ step descendant. A step son will be called a
łołoateken by his parents and a daughter as well.
Table 03
Lineal kinship terminologies
Generations Male Female +5 opo’ +4 kumaruaimopo’ +3 katarēimopo’ +2 tētē nēnē
ama’ ina’ +1 tu’a koki’ -1 piniara tuama piniara wēwēnē
-2 puyun -3 puyun kazua -4 puyun katelu -5 puyun kaepat
4.2.1.2. Collateral Relatives
Collateral relatives are relatives that are related through a sibling
relation. We need to distinguish between parallel relatives and cross
relatives. Roughly speaking, parallel relatives are linked through a relation
involving siblings of the same sex, otherwise we are dealing with cross
relatives.
29
Chart 07
= ito’ mui ito’ mui ama’ ina’
oki’-nē-mahtuari oki’-nē-mahtuari kaka’ (e) tuari (y)
kaka’ (e) tuari (y)
oki’-nē-mahtuari oki’-nē-mahtuari
pahanaken pahanaken pahanaken pahanaken
Tombulu collateral kinship terminologies
Ego distinguishes his/her siblings with an emphasizing on the age,
older or younger. An older sibling is called kaka’ and a younger one is
tuari, and also distinguish as tuama for male sibling and wēwēnē for
female. The term pahanaken is used to address siblings’ children (SiCh).
There are no distinctions between ego’s brother’s and sister’s, they all
called by the same term. In addition, they are not differentiated by their
sexes.
An ego will call his/her parents siblings with ito’ ‘uncle’ and mui
‘aunt’. We found that in Tombulu language there are no differences
between parallel and cross relatives because they all are addressed by the
same term. That is why ego calls father’s brother and mother’s brother (FB,
MB) with ito’ and father’s sister and mother’s sister (FZ, MZ) with mui. An
exception found that the term tua’ is addressed to an older sibling of either
30
father or mother. Then, ego will call father’s elder siblings (FeB, FeZ) and
mother’s elder siblings (MeZ, MeB) with the term tua’. This exception
shows that the differentiation happens not only on the gender side but also
on the age side.
There are no parallel or cross cousins also in Tombulu kinship
terminologies. Either father’s siblings’ children (FSiCh) or mother’s sibling
children (MSiCh) are called as oki’-nē-mahtuari. This term is classificatory
because it refers to many types of relationships. The same categorization
also occurred on the term pahanaken. It is not only used for ego’s siblings’
children but also for the cousins’ children from both father and mother
sides.
We can construct the basic kinship formula of the collateral relatives
as follow:
FB, MB ito’
FZ, MZ mui
FeB, FeZ, MeZ, MeB tua’
eB, eZ kaka’
yB, yZ tuari
BCh, ZCh pahanaken
FBCh, MBCh oki’-nē-mahtuari
FZCh, MZCh oki’-nē-mahtuari
FSiChCh, MSiChCh pahanaken
31
We can clearly see that each nuclear family relationship has each own
terminologies, and to more distant relatives they are grouped into general
categories. The group of distant relatives has come to a process called
collateral merging where all of the parents’ siblings’ children are having the
same term and the generation below them as well.
PaeBCh, PayBCh, PaeZCh, PayZCh oki’-nē-mahtuari
PaeBCh2, PayBCh2, PaeZCh2, PayZCh2
eBCh, yBCh, eZCh, yZCh pahanaken
We can also notice that collateral relatives terms are determine by
generation, age, and sex, as shown in the following table:
Table 04
Collateral kinship terminologies
Generations Male Female +5 opo’ +4 opo’ +3 opo’ +2 tētē nēnē
tua’ (e) +1 ito’ mui tuari (y), kaka’ (e) (tuama/wēwēnē)
tuari (y), kaka’ (e) (tuama/wēwēnē) 0
oki’-nē-mahtuari -1 pahanaken (tuama/wēwēnē) -2 puyun (tuama/wēwēnē) -3 puyun -4 puyun -5 puyun
Up to this point, we can identify consanguinal relatives terminologies which
only serve on lineal kinship (ama’, ina’, tu’a, koki, and piniara) and on
32
collateral kinship (ito’, mui, tua’, tuari, kaka’, pahanaken, and oki-nē-
mahtuari). For terms like tētē, nēnē, opo’, and puyun, are used in both lineal
and collateral.
4.2.2. Affinal relatives
A relationship between people who has married to each other and get
their own terms is called affinal relatives. In other words, an affinal relative
is relativity by marriage.
This relativity serves on both relationships, whether lineals (e.g.,
son’s wife) or collaterals (e.g., sisters husband). We will trace the Tombulu
kinship terminologies through those relationships and find more
understanding or clearance on the affinal relatives of Tombulu language.
A relationship such as marriage shares some terms for their way of
addressing to their spouses. In Tombulu, a male ego addresses his wife (W)
with kasēndē or kaawu or katēndē; and a female ego address her husband
(H) with mahayo; and in pairs, they are called as sanasēndē or sanaawu or
sanatēndē. The explanation about these various terms in referring spouses is
very cultural. These terms contain with the cultural value that describe a
gathering between a man and a woman together in one.
Tombulu language specifies the terminologies for lineal relatives
such as the term mahnuang for parents-in-law, oki’ tuama for son-in-law,
and oki wēwēnē for daughter-in-law. These terms occur on the basis that
33
every one still has a relationship through blood with our siblings. In
contrast, Tombulu speakers diverge the person’s gender by emphasizing on
the term tuama and wēwēnē. That is resulted ego has to call his/her father-
in-law (HF, WF) as mahnuang tuama and mother-in-law (HM, WM) as
mahnuang wēwēnē. The terms of different sexes are also occurred on to the
terms for son-in-law (DH) and daughter-in-law (SW). These given
terminologies appear on both sides without any distinction for male or
female ego. In many cases of communication, Tombulu speakers tend to
use another term to refer their parents-in-law to show much respect at them.
The term penigien is used for both parents without differencing their sex
orientations.
There are generalizations among the generations above and below
ego. As they are married, a male and a female ego will call their
grandparents-in-law (HFPa, HMPa, WFPa, WMPa) as tētē and nēnē
following on how their spouses address their grandparents (SpPaPa). For
the second generation below or grandchildren, ego (either male or female)
will call their grandson-in-law (ChChH) or granddaughter-in-law (ChChW)
as puyun, the same term with a consanguinal terminology for grandchildren.
Up to this point, we can see that there is a reduction for a more
distant relative. The formula can be put together as follows:
34
- a distant relatives above ego
HPaF, WPaF PaF tētē
HPaM, WPaM PaM nēnē
- a distant relatives below ego
ChChH, ChChW ChCh puyun
We find that affinal relatives on lineal relationship of Tombulu
kinship terminologies don’t serve to differentiate age of the family
members but only to the sex and generation.
Chart 08
Male and female affinal relatives in lineal relationships
=
mahnuang tuama
mahnuang wēwēnē
mahayo kasēndē kaawu katēndē
puyun puyun
oki’ wēwēnē oki’ tuama
= mahnuang
tuama mahnuang wēwēnē
=
tētē nēnē =
tētē nēnē =
= =
= =
35
Table 05
Affinal relatives in lineal relationships
Generations Male Female +3 and above opo’ +2 tētē nēnē
penigien +1 mahnuang tuama mahnuang wēwēnē
0 mahayo kasēndē, kaawu, katēndē
-1 oki’ tuama oki’ wēwēnē -2 and below puyun
Through collateral relatives, we can trace that Tombulu speakers
used different terminologies to every collateral members of the family. The
term ipag is applied to address brother-in-law (ZH) and susi to sister-in-law
(BW).
It is no evidence that Tombulu kinship terminologies serve any other
terms to be occupied on to the people of different ages (eZH, yZH, eBW,
yBW). All of them generalized into those two terms above. That makes a
male ego will call his brother-in-law as ipag whether he is a husband of
elder sister or younger. It is also occurred on a female ego at the same way,
as well.
The writer found that there are terms which used among the two
joined families to refer each other. One’s parents (either husband’s or
wife’s) addressed sibling’s parents with the term kasungkul (HPa, WPa).
This term used only restricted to the nuclear family. No other relatives will
36
use this term outside the family, except the children who are married each
other and the parents.
The other term of referring member of the in-law families is kawulēng. This
term used among siblings-in-law (BW, ZW). If an ego’s spouse (e.g. wife)
is a sister of a man’s wife, then they both are connected through these two
sisters. Both ego and the man can call each other with the term kawulēng.
The term interchangeably used for both male spouses and female spouses
and without making a differentiation to the siblings sexes.
In this marriage system, the divorced family members are referred
with some terms. A special term is given to a divorced spouse (xW/xH)
which will be called by the term tina’asa. In using this term, the speaker
and the addressed person aren’t differentiated by the sexes; it can be
husband or wife. The term mahnuangē serve for the people who once were
someone’s parents-in-law. An ego (male or female) will call his former
father-in-law (xWF, xHF) with this term and the former mother-in-law
(xWM, xHM), as well. Another term is applied to former siblings-in-law.
When ego is divorced, one will use paipagē to refer to the ex-brother-in-law
(xHB, xWB) and ex-sister-in-law (xHZ, xWZ).
In the case of divorced family member, Tombulu speakers do not
give emphasizing on the genders but only on the marriage relation itself. It
is also occurred only to very restricted members of the family (spouse,
parents, siblings).
37
38
Chart 09
Joined family relationship
Divorced marriage relationship
ma
Chart 10
kasungkul
= =
=
kawuleng
= =
hnuangē
= tina’asa
=
=
paipagē
=
Chart 11
Affinal relatives for male ego
= susi
mui
mahayo kasēndē kaawu
puyun puyun
oki’ wēwēnē oki’ tuama
tētē nēnē =
= =
= =
= ipag susi
= ipag susi
oki’-nē-mahtuari =
oki’-nē-mahtuari =
= pahanakēn
= pahanakēn
= ipag
= pahanakēn
= ipag susi
= pahanakēn
= mahnuang
tuamamahnuang wēwēnē
= ito’ mui
= ito’ mui
= ito’
= ito’ mui
oki’-nē-mahtuari =
oki’-nē-mahtuari =
oki’-nē-mahtuari =
oki’-nē-mahtuari =
oki’-nē-mahtuari =
oki’-nē-mahtuari =
39
Affinal relatives for female ego
= susi
mui
mahayo kasēndē kaawu
puyun puyun
oki’ wēwēnē oki’ tuama
tētē nēnē =
= =
= =
= ipag susi
= ipag susi
oki’-nē-mahtuari =
oki’-nē-mahtuari =
= pahanakēn
= pahanakēn
= ipag
= pahanakēn
= ipag susi
= pahanakēn
= mahnuang
tuamamahnuang wēwēnē
= ito’ mui
= ito’ mui
= ito’
= ito’ mui
oki’-nē-mahtuari =
oki’-nē-mahtuari =
oki’-nē-mahtuari =
oki’-nē-mahtuari =
oki’-nē-mahtuari =
oki’-nē-mahtuari =
Chart 12
40
There is no special term given to cross relatives, they are occupied
with only one term. Relatives from father’s (FSi) and mother’s (MSi) are
generalized to be addressed as ito’ and mui subsequent with how ego’s
spouse addressing. What we can clearly see here is that they also serve a
bilateral relationship which shows no distinction is made between
patrilineal and matrilineal relatives. The same occurrence also happens on
cousins and niece and nephews. The terms which are addressed to them are
oki’-nē-mahtuari and pahanaken.
Based on the explanation above, we found that Tombulu lineal terms
are extended to apply to the parallel relatives. This can be explained by a
rule called the merging rule (Foley, 1997). As we can see that the speakers
of Tombulu call their spouse’s family members as what they are called by
his/her spouse. This process is called collateral merging.
We can simply describe the rules as follows:
HFB, HMB, WFB, WMB FB ito’
HFZ, HMZ, WFZ, WMZ MZ mui
HPaSiCh, WPaSiCh PaSiCh oki’-nē-mahtuari
HPaSiChCh, WPaSiChCh SiCh pahanaken
From the explanation above tells that the distant relatives of
Tombulu kinship terminologies are grouped together to be called by the
same term on the basis of collateral degree. Whether, members of the
nuclear family acquires a different term for each other.
41
Finally, we can see that terminologies like kasēndē, kaawu, katēndē,
mahayo, oki’, ipag, susi, mahnuang, penigien, kasungkung, kawulēng,
tina’asa, mahnuangē, and paipagē are used particularly only in the
relationship of affinal relatives. The other terminologies, ito’, mui,
pahanaken, oki-nē-mahtuari, tētē, nēnē, opo’, and puyun are served the
affinal relatives as the same as they served to lineal.
42
Chapter V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
4.1 Conclusion
Tombulu kinship terminologies exemplify the principles of Eskimo
terminology. It can be explained as follows:
1. The system is bilateral
We found that relatives from father’s side and mother’s side do not
occupied with different terms, but rather share same terms. We
discover that a father’s brother share the same term with mother’s
brother which is called ito’. This is clarified us that there is no
distinction between father’s and mother’s relatives.
2. The distinctions mark differences in sex, age, and generation.
Egos call their parents differently by separating father (male) as
ama’ and mother (female) as ina’. Another emphasizing on sex, is
that the appearance of the term tuama and wēwēnē. It shows to
differentiate addressing like children or grandchildren terminologies.
Individual term is used to address people with different ages. An
elder sibling is called as kaka’, whether the younger one is called as
tuari. Furthermore, parents’ elder siblings are called by a special
term which is not possessed by the other parents’ siblings. Terms
43
like ito’ and mui is addressed to younger siblings while tua’ used for
elders.
We clearly see that for each generation has their own terminology.
The distinctions are noticeable on the term of children as piniara
tuama and piniara wēwēnē and grandparents as tētē and nēnē.
3. Each nuclear family relationship receives a distinct term.
Terminologies used inside the nuclear family serves only to the
members. Ama’, ina’, piniara tuama and piniara wēwēnē are the
terms which can not be found on the addressing of other relatives.
The same way also occurs on the terminologies of affinity. In a
nuclear family, a husband is called as mahayo, a wife as kasende (or
kaawu), and a son-in-law as oki’ tuama.
4. More distant relatives are grouped into general categories.
Relatives from both father’s and mother’s sides are addressed with
some classificatory terms. In evidence, the relationship of parents’
siblings are all called by the term ito’ for males and mui for females
from both sides; all cousins share a term for oki’-nē-mahtuari; niece
and nephews with pahanaken.
As additions, Tombulu language specifies terminologies for the
relation among the joined families in marriage system and for the divorced
marriage system. They all serve only restricted to spouses, parents, and
siblings.
44
4.2 Suggestion
This analysis is examined through the study of sociolinguistics. But,
the linguistic aspects are many and it will give more chances to other
investigations to be carried out to reveal another fact about these Tombulu
language terminologies. The more we observed a language, then it will be
preserved longer.
The writer suggests that we have to preserve our own language
especially the ethnic language because it shows the existence of the people
who use it, describe the characteristics of them, and the uniqueness of the
language itself. With a good effort from us as researchers, we can
encourage others to do the same as what we have done, a research on
language. Moreover, we have to speak and apply the language in our own
daily life so that the language will not be vanished, in fact it will be
preserved.
We may have our own way to do the preservation, but all basis to the
capability that we are able to do it. At last, let’s work shoulder to shoulder
to support every effort of preserving a language for the sake of our next
generations.
45
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