Say My Uncle in Your Language
November 5, 2011
If you are an English speaker, saying it is straight forward. If you speak Latin, however, it is not so fast.
That is because you would have to think a little more whether the uncle you are talking about is on your father or mother's side. If it is on your father's side, you would say Patrvus. If it is on your mother's side, you would say Avunculus.
Similar parallels exist for saying aunt. In Latin, your aunt on your father and mother's side are called Amita and Matertera, respectively.
Observing this difference started out of a quite interesting personal experience several years ago. This experience, which I still couldn't fathom, drew me to be more curious about cultures than I was before the experience.
Understanding different cultures is not an easy thing to do, especially for people who are trained in technical fields. Yet curiosity may lead to pondering about the relationship between cultures and languages. Does understanding languages help us understand cultures better? It may be very likely.
However, when you start to think about trying to understand cultures through studying languages, a logical question to ask might be how to parameterize languages.
One of the cardinal principles in understanding anything is to start simple. This approach can be used to study some basic terms in different languages. Two of such terms could be how you say my uncle or aunt in a given language. If distinctions exist for how you say my uncle or aunt on your father and mother's sides in your native tongue and if a native English speaker introduces you to his or her uncle or aunt, you are likely to get an incomplete sense of the introduction. To make the introductory information complete, you may start to ask if the person you are introduced to is on the father or mother's side of the introducer.
A quick review of these terms in various languages shows that while many languages don't have this distinction, there are also many other languages that have these distinctions at different levels. Some languages have distinctions for uncles while lacking for aunts. Some other languages have further distinctions depending on where the uncle is older or younger than the parent.
Some examples of those languages that don't have distinctions include Amharic, Cantonese, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Tagalog. Examples of those languages that have distinctions include Arabic, Bangla, Farsi, Hindi, Latin, Mandarin, Oromo, Turkish, and Vietnamese.
These comparisons elucidate both spatial and temporal differences. One of the most interesting findings from this exercise is the distinction in Latin but not in Italian, French, or Spanish. What could be the reason behind having this distinction in an older language, such as Latin, and not in those languages that are derived, at least partly, from Latin, such as Italian? Another interesting finding is when you have contemporary languages side by side where one has the distinction and the other doesn't. Examples are Oromo and Amharic in Ethiopia and Mandarin and Cantonese in China.
We learn from Europe's history that its renaissance is characterized as the rebirth or revival of values and wisdom after a long period of cultural decline and stagnation. So, is it possible to contemplate that the distinction in Latin was lost during the said cultural decline? Could this mean anything for understanding the evolution of cultures better? Does this also possibly imply that Europe's renaissance is an unfinished undertaking in as much as Latin is richer than several of Europe's contemporary languages, at least on two counts?
What appears clear is that at least faint clues of associations exist between cultures and languages. Whether there exist definitive associations between richer languages and more developed cultures may be hard to say. However, it may well be an interesting field of research for social scientists.
For this writer, these findings have been one of the fulfilling learning experiences that followed instinctive curiosities and an unfathomable personal encounter.
Note: Surveys of the equivalent terms for uncle and aunt in different languages are very much preliminarily at this point since they are gathered from encounters with individuals who speak the respective language. To make any corrections that you believe may be necessary or if you have comments, suggestions, or questions, please contact the editor.
