Abstract
In an age of political correctness, the concept of ‘mother tongue’ has become problematic and there are several reasons for this. Firstly, as anthropologists are well aware, the concepts of mother and other female figures are relative. While in the English language there are separate terms for ‘mother’ and ‘aunt’, one could cite examples of other languages where this distinction does not apply. In Shinzwani (spoken in the Comoro Islands), there is just one word mama for the female characters that we divide into two categories in English, mother and aunt. This is an example of the linguistic reflection of cultural differences in personal relationships (Ottenheimer 2006: 117).
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© 2012 Máiréad Nic Craith
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Craith, M.N. (2012). The Web of Family Relationships. In: Narratives of Place, Belonging and Language. Language and Globalization. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230355514_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230355514_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-30071-6
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-35551-4
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