Kinship terms in Shehret and Mehri

This paper examines the semantics, patterning and morpho-syntax of kinship terms in Shehret and Mehri, two Modern South Arabian languages (MSAL) spoken in Southern Arabia. Comprising data and expertise from native speakers, field linguistics, and linguistic anthropology, this paper describes semantic patterning and interesting morphological blending shared by the two languages, as well as a preliminary discussion of the pragmatics of kin terms in both languages. Sets of terms for Mehri and Shehret repeat across degrees of relational distance, but pattern in complex ways depending on cross or parallel gender of intervening parent and generational relation in ways that differ from patterning in Arabic. Kinship terminology are highly salient and highly conserved lexemes, particularly in these speech communities where they play a daily role in conversation and identification, and as this paper emphasizes, are sources for insights into morphological processes that hold more broadly in the language and that may indicate future questions for historical linguistic research.