the semantics of kin term usage¹

Abstract

Critics have argued that formal analyses of kinship terminologies are inadequate because they do not account for the social meaning communicated in the actual use of the terms. This paper describes an approach based on research in sociolinguistics and generative semantics which attempts to deal with this objection. The utility of this approach is demonstrated by an analysis of data on the usage of kin terms in a Turkish village. The results are (1) that the “interactive” social meaning conveyed by the contextual use of kin terms is determined by the power or solidarity relationships which exist between speakers and hearers and (2) that “conversational postulates” determine whether a literal or a conversationally implied interactive meaning is relevant.