Terminological Model of Kinship of the Georgian Population of Tao-Klarjeti (Ethnocultural and Sociolinguistic Problems)

Abstract

Tao and Klarjeti are historical parts of Georgia. Today they are part of the Republic of Turkey and most of them are inhabited by Georgians. The Georgian population of these parts of southern Georgia has been cut off from its organic part – Georgia for centuries. Therefore, their ethnographic panorama has preserved many such ancient and traditional elements of culture, which have already disappeared in Georgia today. This also applies to traditional social life and lifestyle. In a diverse ethnic setting we have focused on the system of terms of kinship which has undergone terminological changes over time, but the basic paradigm and typological model of kinship terms have remained unchanged.

The terminological model of kinship in Tao and Klarjeti is studied on the basis of the formal method. As it is known, starting from the  60s of the last century the  formal – transformational, scalographic and componental methods started to develop. It is a semiotic system of signs – metalanguage on the basis of which linguistically different types of people in the world managed to read the intellectual products in the same way. The method was particularly focused on building of the paradigm models of kinship terms of various people, which prepared the basis for general typology.

In Tao and Klarjeti the large houses and the traditional system of lineage  laid the foundation for descriptive terminology. The big housing and the lineage – type social organization, called "sulale" by the Georgian population of Tao-Klarjeti, paved the Ego-related way for the grouping of a separate individuals.  They were divided into separate categories with the corresponding names. Rights and obligations in the social, legal and property spheres were differentiated according to kinship levels. The division of Sulale's members into kinship categories according to distance and the formation of differentiated forms corresponding to their rights and responsibilities made it necessary for such differentiated forms of kinship nomenclature to emerge. That is why the terms of  kinship reflects the legal norms existing among the members of the Sule. The fact is that there is a close relationship between the terms  of  kinship and norms of behavior. In relation to the Ego, some relatives behave differently and  some behave  similarly, e.g.  a group of individuals united under one term has similar rights and responsibilities, while those who are referred by different terms have different legal status in a relationship. Each Alter is biologically related to the Ego, but in relation to it one group has identical and the other group carries  different social status.

In parallel with the development of public relations, in the new socio-economic conditions, the patriarchal way of life in Tao was gradually subject to change, and the terminological types of kinship began to change as well.