"That's a great deal to make one word mean," Alice said in a thoughtful tone. "When I make a word do a lot of work like that," said Humpty Dumpty, "I always pay it extra."

Saturday 12 February 2011

Teknonymy

   
Teknonymy is the practice of referring to parents by the names of their children. It is used in the Korean language as well as in the Arab world and West Africa. Clifford Geertz found this in Balinese culture as well. I'm not sure I fully understand how it is used in Korean etc but as any parent knows the moment their child starts at nursery the parent loses their own identity and simply becomes X's Mum or X's Dad...

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