Türk Dillerinde Kuzen Terminolojisi

Abstract

The category of kinship, a universal phenomenon in identifying and addressing individuals with common family ties, is a terminological system in which anthropological differences specific to societies and cultures are also marked. The lexicalization of the concept of ‘cousin’, studied in this work, is directly related to the position of the relatives vis-à-vis one’s generation and descending generations in the Turkic system of kinship. The conventional Turkic system of kinship originally uses distinct terms for cousins from the paternal and maternal lines. Nevertheless, paternal cousins may be equated with siblings, nephews/nieces and grandchildren according to gender and age due to the patrilinearity. In some Turkic languages, this general tendency has changed due to various factors. The purpose of this study is to examine the conventional Turkic system of kinship based on the concept of ‘cousin’ and to comparatively examine its lexicalization process in the Turkic languages.