Avoidance language
An avoidance speech or mother-language ( English and French. Avoidance speech / mother-in-law language ) is a special linguistic register many Australian and also some Bantu and North American languages, which is only used when communicating with certain relatives (including the law) to whom contact is socially sanctioned even outside of the linguistic dimension. Avoidance languages are used to communicate with these relatives when absolutely necessary.
Concept history
The term mother-in-law language was coined and made popular in 1972 by the Australian linguist RMW Dixon when describing the Dyirbal language, which has such a register. Dixon later distanced himself from the term because it emphasized the importance of the mother-in-law too much and the rules for using the register are more complex and can also vary from language community to language community. Dixon preferred today the more neutral term avoidance speech , with the designations in-law language or mother-in-law language but have naturalized and are to be used as before.
Structural properties
The grammar ( phonology , morphosyntax , syntax ) of the avoidance language is largely identical to that of the normal language. The differences lie on the lexeme level : The avoidance language has a much smaller basic vocabulary than the normal language and is therefore much more unspecific. In the Yir-Yoront language belonging to the Pama-Nyunga languages, for example, the avoidance language has only one lexeme larr = olhth , which encompasses the entire semantic range of 'lie' (in normal language wun ), 'sit' (in normal language nhin ) , 'Fall' (in normal language tholhth ). Many expressions are also formed periphrastically . In addition, the avoidance language usually has a very high proportion of borrowed lexemes. The reason for both is to create as much indirect communication as possible.
literature
- RMW Dixon: The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland (= Cambridge studies in linguistics. 9). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1972, ISBN 0521085101
- RMW Dixon: Speech and song styles: Avoidance styles. In: Ders .: The languages of Australia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1980, ISBN 9780521294508 , Section 3.3, pp. 58-65
Individual evidence
- ^ RMW Dixon: Australian Languages. Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2002, p. 94