Kinship Terms
Kinship terms are the most popular ways to refer to oneself and others. Anyone can be referred to using kinship terms, not just people who are related. For example, lovers referring to each other as anh (elder brother) and em (younger sibling) can sound incestuous in Western languages, but is perfectly normal (and expected) in Vietnamese. The Vietnamese kinship terms are quite complicated. While there is some flexibility as to which kinship terms should be used for people not related to the speaker, there is often only one term to use for people related by blood or marriage, for up to three generations. Some of the kinship terms are:
| Term | Reciprocal | Literal meaning | Non-kinship usage | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| cha | con | father | a priest | Many other terms are used, depending on the dialect: ba, bố, tía, thầy |
| mẹ | con | mother | mẹ is the Northern form, má is used in the South. Many other terms are used, depending on the dialect: u, bầm, mạ | |
| anh | em | older brother | an older man of the same generation; the man in a romantic relationship; a man (formal use) | Can be used to address any male regardless of status. e.g. By military personnel to those of lower ranks. |
| chị | em | older sister | an older woman of the same generation; a woman (formal use) | |
| em | anh or chị | younger sibling or cousin of the same generation | a younger person of the same generation; a child; the woman in a romantic relationship | |
| con | cha, mẹ, bà, etc. | one's child | a young child; a person at least one generation younger | |
| cháu | ông, bà, bác, chú, etc. | grandchild; niece; nephew; cousin of junior generations | a young child; a person at least one generation younger | |
| ông | cháu or con | grandfather | a middle-aged man | paternal and maternal grandfathers are differentiated as ông nội ("internal grandfather") and ông ngoại ("external grandfather"), respectively |
| bà | cháu or con | grandmother | a middle-aged (married) woman | paternal and maternal grandmothers are differentiated as bà nội ("internal grandmother") and bà ngoại ("external grandmother"), respectively |
| cô | cháu | father's sister | a female teacher, an older woman as old as one's father, a young (usually unmarried) woman (formal) | in some dialects, literal meaning is restricted to father's younger sister |
| chú | cháu | father's younger brother | an older man as old as one's father, a slightly younger man (formal) | in some dialects, literal meaning is restricted to father's younger brother |
| thím | cháu | chú's wife | ||
| bác | cháu | a parent's older sibling | a person older than one's parents | in some dialects, can also refer to father's elder brother or sister as well as mother's elder brother or sister |
| dì | cháu | mother's sister, stepmother | a woman as old as one's mother, | in some dialects, literal meaning is restricted to mother's younger sister |
| cậu | cháu | mother's brother | a man as old as one's mother, a close friend (Northern variety) | in some dialects, literal meaning is restricted to mother's younger brother |
| mợ | cháu | cậu's wife | in some dialects, used by the husband to refer to his wife, children to refer to mother, or parents-in-law to refer to a daughter-in-law | |
| dượng | cháu | the husband of cô or dì, stepfather | ||
| cụ/cố | cháu | great-grandparent | a very old person | |
| sơ | cháu | great-great-grandparent | ||
| họ | clan | they | third person plural for a group of people |
Kinship terms are "inherited" from parents if it is unclear what to refer to someone. For example, two cousins whose mothers are sisters will call each other using the kinship terms appropriate for siblings: the one whose mother is younger will have a lower rank (em) than the one whose mother is older (chị, anh) regardless of their ages. Sometimes, old people assume the rank of their children in referring to others (for example, in the case of calling a slightly younger woman cô or a younger man chú) . Spouses have equal rank in each respective side. If two people are related to each other in more than one way (for example, by marriage), the rank of the closest relationship is used. This hierarchy might lead to awkward situations where an older person refers to a younger person using a term usually used for older people, such as ông. In Vietnamese there is a proverb: Bé bằng củ khoai, cứ vai mà gọi (Small as a potato, but call by rank).
Singular kinship terms can be pluralized using the plural marker các, as in các anh. When speaking to an audience in a formal context, kinship terms are often strung together to cover common individual relationships: các anh chị em refers to an audience of roughly the same age, while các ông bà anh chị em refers to an audience of all ages.
Read more about this topic: Vietnamese Pronouns
Famous quotes containing the words kinship and/or terms:
“The spiritual kinship between Lincoln and Whitman was founded upon their Americanism, their essential Westernism. Whitman had grown up without much formal education; Lincoln had scarcely any education. One had become the notable poet of the day; one the orator of the Gettsyburg Address. It was inevitable that Whitman as a poet should turn with a feeling of kinship to Lincoln, and even without any association or contact feel that Lincoln was his.”
—Edgar Lee Masters (1869–1950)
“... the constructive power of an image is not measured in terms of its truth, but of the love it inspires.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 1, ch. 15 (1962)