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 terms 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

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: 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, D ...

. 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 ki ...

,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 lan ...

languages, Yukaghir, and

Ainu Ainu or Aynu may refer to: *Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East *Ainu languages, a family of languages **Ainu language of Hokkaido **Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands **Sakhalin Ainu la ...

; depending on definitions, the Yi languages 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 b ...

and

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, and

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