OF LANGUAGES. 



51 



becomes complete, when the sexual determinatives male or 

 female have been added. In some languages, as we have 

 already observed, the sound of the word is modulated in 

 order to convey the necessary distinction. In the Yoruba 

 language " elder consanguinity " is expressed by egmo, and 

 " younger consanguinity " by aburo, male is oJcuri and 

 female obiri ; egmo okuri is therefore elder brother, egmo 

 obiri elder sister ; aburo okiri younger brother, and aburo 

 obiri younger sister. Many examples of this mode of 

 nomenclature can be quoted from the most heterogeneous 

 languages. It exists among the Coreans in the East of 

 Asia as well as among many nations in Africa; it is 

 prevalent among the Polynesian islanders and on the con- 

 tinent of America. 



So long as persons of the same sex address each other no 

 difficulty arises, but immediately an individual oversteps 

 this sexual barrier, e.g., a brother speaks to his sister ; the 

 case is altered. Special terms become indispensable for 

 heterogeneous persons. The principle followed in this pro- 

 ceeding shows that persons of the same sex, when address- 

 ing each other, use identical expressions, but that heteroge- 

 neous persons use in this case dissimilar words. A Hawaian 

 man, e.g., calls his elder brother Kai kua ana, his elder sister 

 Kai Jcu vahina, his younger brother Kai kaina, and his 

 younger sister Kai Jcai vahina ; but a Hawaian woman calls 

 the same persons respectively Kai ku na na, Kai Jcu a ana, 

 Kai ku nana, and Kai kai na, 55 



This fact explains the peculiar phraseology occurring in 

 many concrete languages, in which certain terms are con- 

 fined only to one sex. A Chippewa man, when speaking to 

 a Chippewa woman cannot call her " friend" by the 



(55) In the same manner a Maori man calls the same relatives Tua Jcana, 

 Tu a hi ne, Te ina and Tuahina te ina, while a Maori woman names them 

 Tun ga ne, Tua kana, Tung a ne teina and Tcina. 



