Kinship Terminology in the Tamiang Language: A Malay Variety Spoken in Eastern Aceh, Indonesia1

This qualitative research examines kinship terms in the Tamiang language and the strategies of selection of the terms by its speakers. The data for this research were obtained through questionnaire, and interview from eight informants living in Bendahara Sub-District, Kejuruan Muda Sub-District, Karang Baru SubDistrict, and Seruway Sub-District, Aceh Tamiang Regency, the Aceh Province. Observation was also done on the use of some of the kinship terms directly by the people in the speech community. This observation took place while the authors were socializing with the speakers in the research location. The results showed that the kinship terms in the Tamiang language are based on consanguinity and affinity. The kinship terms in the language also refer to birth order. Then, the strategies of the selection of kinship terms in the Tamiang language are based on kinship, age, gender, and descent, especially in terms of a speech event. Viewed role relationships, the terms addressed to men/women in the third layer of vertical relationships are not different. The horizontal relationship indicating the position of siblings and wife/husband is equal. The horizontal role relationship of cousins in the Tamiang language is limited to the third order. This study is very urgent since the study on kinship terms in the Tamiang language has not been conducted 1 Some parts of the research results were presented at the 2nd English Education International Conference (EEIC) in conjunction with the 9th Annual International Conference, held on September 18-19, 2019 at Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. * Corresponding author, email: zulfadli.aziz@unsyiah.ac.id Citation in APA style: Aziz, Z. A., Safhida, M., & Mahmud, M. (2020). Kinship terminology in the Tamiang language: A Malay variety spoken in Eastern Aceh, Indonesia. Studies in English Language and Education, 7(2), 642-656. Received May 28, 2020; Revised July 15, 2020; Accepted August 8, 2020 http://doi.org/10.24815/siele.v7i2.16802 ©Syiah Kuala University. All rights reserved. Z. A. Aziz, M. Safhida, & M. Mahmud, Kinship terminology in the Tamiang language: A Malay variety spoken in Eastern Aceh, Indonesia | 643 comprehensively before. Complete terms used to address family members in the Tamiang language are provided in this study, and it can be one of the resources for further research in the same field of study.


INTRODUCTION
Each society group has social rules made based on the convention of the group concerned. Social rules are made for the common interests of various sides of life. Thus, the interaction system between individuals within each social group is different. This difference is evident in the use of kinship terms in the social group concerned. Historical linguistics explains that these terms can determine the degree of kinship between numbers of related languages (Sulistyono & Fernandez, 2019). Read (2015, p. 62) claims that "all societies have terms that are used to address and to refer to one's kin". The kinship system is usually used in a social system or social organization (Koentjaraningrat, 2013) to show relationships within the speech community. The system is mostly developed through having affinities due to blood and marriage relations (Salim, 1978). Machdalena (2014) argues that kinship occurs in a relationship among family members who can trace their origin from the same ancestry regardless of their use of the name of the father or the inherited surnames. In some research, kinship terms are also known as terms of address (Ulfa, 2017;Yusuf et al, 2019).
The Tamiang language, which is spoken in Aceh Tamiang District (at the border of the Aceh province and North Sumatra in Indonesia), uses some particular kinship terms. It is so unique in a way that people apply some differences and varieties in mentioning and addressing their blood relationship by using some kinship terms which are based on birth order in the family. The people in this speech community use specific titles to address their family members, the titles of which also function as addressing terms. This similar uniqueness can also be found in the Balinese language with the addressing of names based on caste (see Imran, 1985).
This unique condition has motivated us to conduct a study on the use of kinship terminologies within the community, as mentioned above, that uses Tamiang language, a local variety of Malay. For this purpose, two significant problems are investigated in the study. Firstly, it focuses on types of kinship terms used in the Tamiang language. Secondly, it investigates the strategies used in the selection of kinship terms in the Tamiang language, which are related to speech participants and their role relationships.

LITERATURE REVIEW
In a general context, Schneider (1980) defines kinship as a cultural system in which a system of units (or parts) is defined in certain ways according to specific criteria. Blood relationship among people is referred to as kinship, and terms used to address the related members in a speech community is usually called kinship terms. The interests in kinship have originated since decades ago. Keesing (1975), for instance, defined the kinship terms as words that are used in society to identify relationships between one individual and others in a family and relatives. Wood and Kroger (1991) refer to the kinship terms as the establishment of the relative power and distance in a family and relative relations in society.
In communication, speakers are expected to use the language adequately based on the context and the interlocutors. Therefore, as a language user, one needs to consider to whom he or she speaks, what topic is discussed, and in what language the conversation takes place (Jucker & Landert, 2017). Once the audience has been identified, the speaker should be able to address them with appropriate terms. In some cultures, for example, Indonesian, it is considered impolite and inappropriate to call elder siblings' names without addressing them with appropriate terms, which are also emphasized when the gender of a person is specified (Yusuf et al., 2019). At the same time, such terms are showing the relation among the family members, for example, if they were born to the same parents or not. This is in line with Murphy's (2001) suggestion stating that kinship indicates a relationship based on the recognized connection between parents, children, siblings, and some distant relatives.
According to Murphy (2001), kinship terminology can be used as a system of linguistic categories for denoting kinds of relatives or as the system of names applied to categories of kin standing in relationship to one another. As a cultural terminology, the kinship terms describe familiar relationships. From the definitions and explanation above, it is clear that kinship terms describe people who have a kin relation. They are words that are employed by various communities in addressing and referring to people who are related by blood, by adoption, and through marriage.
Kinship systems may not be fixed all the time, and they can be changed (Ji et al., 2016). Fox (2001) points out that different systems have different ways of developing Kimeru kinship terms. For instance, in some systems, the men of the ego's parental generation on both mother's and father's side are called by using the same term. In some other systems, the father and his brothers are called by one term and the mother's brother by another. He further explains that the second type of system is linked to marriage customs. Thus, if one brother can substitute for another, then to the ego, a father's brother is a potential father.
In the Javanese kinship system, Geertz (1989) points out that the primary form of Javanese terminology system is bilateral and generation. That is, the kin terms are the same whether the linking relative is the mother or father. The same term calls members of one's generation; the same term also calls siblings and cousins and members of the parent's generation. It applies to all other generations. Javanese kinship terms are distinguished based on age and gender (Manns, 2014).
Understanding of classification of kinship terminology, as Fox (2001) puts it, may lead to an understanding of the kinship system of that culture. In English, for example, the terms father and father-in-law are classified separately under consanguine kin, those people who are related by blood, and affine kin, those who are related through marriage (Murphy, 2001), respectively. It tells a lot about the kinship system of the English culture, and what this means is that the ego's duties to these two individuals are different (Houlebrooke, 2014).
In every language, there are peculiarities concerning the system of addressing. Trudgill (1984, p. 140) asserts that the use of address forms in English, such as "sir, Mr. Smith, Frederick, Fred, and mate", gives a different connotation. Each form has implications of different styles, and the regulations on the use and frequency of use are very complex. The rules are different because it is based on differences in class, age, and region or, place. The form, 'sir', for example, is often used by English speakers in the United States as compared to English speakers in the United Kingdom. According to Yang (2010), such address forms typically have standard rules, but their use may vary according to different situations and conditions.
Concerning the term of reference, its selection is also influenced by several factors, such as kinship, age, position, situation differences (see Brown & Gilman, 1968). The use of terms due to kinship relationships is related to whether or not a speaker has blood ties with an interlocutor. Moreover, its use is occasionally combined between the kinship term and the position term. At times the term of reference is used by only calling the name of the addressee. Besides, the term of reference is used by combining the kinship term with the given name of the addressee. Suwarso (1990, p. 156) states that the kinship terms commonly used in Indonesian occur in various forms, such as bapak, ibu, kakak, adik, saudara, etc. Similarly, in Malay, kinship terms are used depending on different factors such as birth order, the total number of children in the family, or even local dialects used within the family (Yusoff, 2007).
Having attempted to examine various forms of kinship addressing used in Bengkulu Malay, Meylina (2014) discovered that the Malay speakers in Bengkulu commonly use titles (i.e., pak, mak, mamang) and title + first name only (i.e., Ayuk Sarah, Cik Ani). It was found that the title is generally used by Malay speakers in Bengkulu to address people within a nuclear and extended family. In contrast, title + first name is chosen to address people of older age, including friends and older colleagues at work. In contrast, unlike the western people, Malay speakers in Bengkulu rarely use the title with last name (i.e., Mr. Bush) or last name on its own. The present study predicts a certain degree of similarities and differences in the way the Malay speakers in Aceh Tamiang use kinship terms.

METHODS
The data for this qualitative research study were collected from empirical reality and consensus in the scientific society. The method employed in this research is a descriptive approach because it intended to describe the kinship terms and the selection strategy of kinship terms in the Tamiang language in a natural setting. The authors collected data from eight informants who were native speakers of the Tamiang language living in Bendahara Sub-District, Kejuruan Muda Sub-District, Karang Baru Sub-District, and Seruway Sub-District. The criteria of informants refer to Samarin (1988) with age classification (adolescent, adult, and elderly) and social status (ordinary people, noblemen, the rich, and ulemas, or scholars/interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam, including Islamic doctrine and law).
The data in this study were mainly collected by means of interviews. Before the in-depth interviews were conducted, a set of questionnaires had also been distributed to obtain the data containing a list of the kinship terms being investigated. The interviews were carried out individually with the eight informants so that the data could be gathered from different individuals separately. During the interviews, the informants were then verbally asked to confirm the answers in the questionnaire. In other words, the distribution of the questionnaire was accompanied by interviews, both focused and unfocused, which aimed to obtain in-depth information from the informants. As the data collection was progressing, we had an opportunity to also observe the use of some of the kinship terms directly by the people in the speech community. This observation took place while the authors were socializing with the speakers in the research location.

Kinship Terms Used in the Tamiang Language due to Consanguinity
Kinship is a social form and relation based on consanguinity (blood relation) and affinity (marriage relation). The two social relationships form a system that can be seen as patterns of behaviors and attitudes of community members. For a father, the Tamiang language uses some varieties such as ayah, abah, bapak, or engku; meanwhile, for a mother, me, mak, meu, mo, mamak, or ende are used. The kinship terms used for children in a family in Tamiang refers to the birth order (BO), and it consists of ulong/long/yong, ngah, alang/ayang, uteh, andak, ude, and encu/uncu. The terms are used concerning the birth order of the oldest to the youngest. The first-born child is always assigned as ulong/long/yong and the last-born child as encu/uncu. Table  1 below shows the relationship and the kinship terms of reference due to blood ties used in the Tamiang family.
The abbreviations that are used to shorten the usual basic kinship terms in presenting the findings in this study are B (brother), Z (sister), F (father), M (mother), D (daughter), S (son), H (husband) and W (wife). Other common abbreviations used for the relationship categories are combinations of these elements, such as MB for 'mother's brother' who is a matrilateral 'uncle'; MBD is used for 'mother's brother's daughter,' who is the matrilateral uncle's daughter or a matrilateral cross-cousin. Additional general abbreviations used by anthropologists in describing the kin categories are 'y' for younger, such as in yZ (younger sister), and 'e' for the elder. Table 1. Kinship terms based on blood relationships.

Relationship
Kinship Terms Generation to Ego Table 1 shows the relationship between the core family members. The relationship beyond the core family members is usually referred to as the third or second generation, which means that the third generation is those of two-generation above ego's father/mother, and the second generation is the consanguinity of one level above ego's father/mother. The kinship terms used for such categories are shown in Table 2 below. In the Tamiang language, when family ties outside the core family that is three generations above the ego, the kinship terms followed by birth order (BO) are not used, as in unyang, muyang munyang (FF), ancestor, munyang, muyang, datu (father from mother's father, the mother from father). Furthermore, family relations outside the core family, that is two generations above the ego, the kinship terms followed by birth order (BO) is used, such as datok, atok, BO (younger brother's father's father), andong, grandmother, grandmother+BO (grandfather's sister), and atok, atok+BO, unyang (grandfather's brother), as it is showed in Table 2 above.

Patrilateral ties
The family relationship with the father's side is the father's older brother/sister (FeB/FeZ) and father's younger brother/sister (FyB/FyZ). The kinship terms used for such relationships consist of uak+BO for FoB /FeZ, pakcik, pak+BO, bapo, ayah, encu/uncu for FyB, and makcik, mak+BO, ende, mecut, encu, or BO for FyZ. The use of the kinship terms is followed by birth order (see Table 3 below).

Matrilateral ties
The family relationship, which is one generation above the ego on the mother's side is a mother (M), mother's elder brother (MeB), mother's elder sister (MeZ), mother's younger brother (MyB), and mother's younger sister (MyZ). The kinship term used to address an M is me, mak, meu, mo, mamak, ende. Furthermore, the terms used for MeB, MeZ, MyB, and MyZ tend to be followed by the birth order, as indicated in Table 4.

Relation to the siblings
The ties with siblings are usually in the form of the relationship between an ego with an elder brother (eB) and elder sister (eZ), and BO or abang/kak+BO is used. Meanwhile, self-name is used to show the ego's relationship with either younger brother (yB) or younger sister (yZ). Table 5 summarizes the detail of kinship terms used to address the relationship among siblings in the Taming language.

Relation to the mother/father's cousins
The kinship terms used to address cousins either from the father's side or the mother's side in the Tamiang language apply some unique sets of principles. For the older cousins, abang+BO, abang, and bang+self-name are used; meanwhile, for the older nieces kakak+BO, kakak, kak+self-name is used. Addressing for younger cousins as dek+self-name is common.

Ego's relation to one generation below
The kinship terms used to address the family members of one generation under the ego are self-names or birth order (BO). Table 7. Kinship terms for one generation below the ego.

Kinship terms used due to marriage
Some terms of reference are formed due to the affinity of marriage, and it tends to follow the kinship terms used by the wife or husband. In the Tamiang language, the use of kinship terms as a result of the marriage relationship can be seen in Table 8. Furthermore, the terms used to address the family members because of marriage to one level above the ego can be in the forms of uak, uak+BO, mak/pak+BO, makcik, mak+BO, ende, father, pakcik, or pak+BO depending on the gender and lines. On the other hand, the use of reference terms for marriage related relatives on the same level as an ego is determined by gender and age or birth order. For the first older brother's wife, for example, the terms kak ulong/long/yong, kak+name is used. More details about these terms and usage can be found in Table 9 below.
Meanwhile, Table 10 shows the terms of reference used to address the wife's or husband's father, which are abah/abaih or bapak/pak. Meanwhile, to address a wife's or husband's mother, the term mamak/mak, ibu is used or depending on what the husband or wife uses. In Table 12, the term mak+the name of the first child is usually used to address a son's wife, or sometimes just only by calling her name. A similar pattern is used to address a daughter's husband who is addressed using pak+the name of the first child or simply his name. Besides, in-laws are usually greeted with besan, ayah+son's or daughter's name, or besan+name of their village.

Strategies of Selection of Kinship terms in the Tamiang language
The strategies of the selection of kinship terms are generally viewed from two viewpoints -i.e., speech participants' viewpoint and role relationship viewpoint. Concerning speech participants' viewpoint, it involves speech situations and speech events. About speech events, considerations on birth order are very likely to occur if speech participants are individuals from the same ties of kinship. For example, in a relationship between father and child, the birth order of children becomes a consideration in selecting the kinship terms.
In the Tamiang society, the role of birth order determines the selection of the kinship terms used. This fact not only applies to the mention of the family but also applies to the mention of the family whose nature of the relationship is vertical and horizontal. The unique terms of birth order in the Tamiang society consist of seven kinship terms -i.e. ulong/long/yong, ngah, alang/ayang, uteh, andak, ude, and encu/uncu. If the ego is the fifth child in terms of birth order in the family, the ego uses the following kinship terms to brother/sister: ulong/long/yong, ngah, alang/ayang, and uteh. However, if the ego is the oldest child in the family, the kinship terms based on birth order do not apply. In this case, ego only refers to the given name of brother/sister.
In terms of the husband's or wife's family, the kinship terms based on birth order also apply. The kinship terms based on birth order apply according to the wife's birth order in the family. Concerning the husband's family, the kinship terms based on birth order apply according to the husband's birth order in the family. Therefore, if a man is called ngah or abang ngah in his family, and then gets married to a woman called ude, the husband is also called ude, and vice versa. The role of birth order also applies to the family of biological father/mother as well as father/mother-in-law. As for the family of biological father/mother, the kinship terms to brother/sister of father/mother are based on birth order. To call uak, either from the father or the mother, is always followed by their birth order, for example, uak long, uak ngah, dan uak alang. This fact also applies to the family of father/mother-in-law, where the same kinship terms are also used just like in the nuclear family.
Birth order also applies to grandparents, either biological ones or those of the wife or husband. Grandfather/grandmother called andong, atok, unyang, munyang, datok, atu, and nek in the Tamiang language is also followed by birth order. It applies to both biological grandparents as well as grandparents of the husband/wife. Addressing male addressee does not manifestly differ in the life of the Tamiang people. The kinship terms related to birth order show that addressing the male addressee is not different from addressing the female one. In addition, the kinship terms in the Tamiang society to address men are unyang, munyang, atok, ayah, abah/abaih, bapak, engku, atok, datok. In contrast, those to address women are unyang, andong, mak, me, mo, mecut, and ende. However, there are kinship terms such as bang/abang, kak/kakak, makcik, and pakcik, which are not originally part of the Tamiang language.
The kinship terms in the Tamiang language do not have specific terms to show gender differences. The choice of kinship terms about gender is made arbitrarily. This fact means that there can be possible overlap in the use of the kinship terms. It means the kinship terms for men can also be used for women; for example, the choice of the terms munyang/unyang/moyang does not differentiate men from women. In addition to its relationship with speech participants in the selection of the kinship terms in the Tamiang language, the role relationship in the family also determines their selection. This role relationship is related to the vertical role relationship and horizontal role relationship. The role relationship concerning the vertical kinship relationship in the Tamiang society is shown in Figure 1 below. The horizontal kinship relationship in the Tamiang society is seen in terms of the position of ego to the side, either to the left side or to the right side. The relationship to the left side is presented as three layers, which includes brother/sister, wife/husband of brother/sister, and child of brother/sister. Then, the three-layer relationship to the right side includes younger brother/sister, wife/husband of younger brother/sister, and child of younger brother/sister.
The horizontal relationship, as mentioned above, is presented in Figure 2. It can be seen in Figure 2 that the horizontal relationship between ego and older and younger brother/sister is in a parallel position. Similarly, the relationship between the older brother's wife or older sister's husband and younger brother's wife or younger sister's husband is in an equal position. Thus, the selection of kinship terms to the horizontal relationship is the same. The horizontal relationship between ego and cousins is as follows. From the findings of kinship terms used in the Tamiang language due to consanguinity, it shows that the terms used are showing the family relationship. This is in line with Murphy's (2001) suggestion stating that kinship indicates a relationship based on family members such as parents, children, siblings. We also noted that the use of kinship terms was extended to some distant relatives. Our data also reveal that the use of kinship terms indicates differences in age and gender, consistent with the findings of Manns (2014) suggesting that Javanese kinship terms are used to distinguish similar aspects.
With regard to birth order, it was found that Tamiang language speakers use different kinship terms to address their family members. It is similar to Malay, where kinship terms are used depending on different factors such as birth order, the total number of children in the family (Yusoff, 2007). This similarity is well understood since the Tamiang language is one of the Malay varieties spoken locally in Aceh province. A similar result was discovered among the Malay speakers in Bengkulu, who use titles and title+first name only to address family members (Meylina, 2014). The use of appropriate kinship terms in the Malay speech community is regarded as essential to show respect and dignity. It is relevant to Jucker and Landert (2017) who assert that a language user needs to consider to whom he or she interacts and what topic is being discussed.
It was also found in the Tamiang language that the speakers use specific terms to address children in the family based on their birth order. Therefore, the first child, for instance, is addressed with ulong/long/yong by the people by the community. In contrast, the subsequent children are addressed with other specific terms (such as ngah, alang/ayang, uteh, andak, ude, encu/uncu for the second up to the seventh, respectively). This is also the case in the language spoken among people in Simeulue (Mahmud et al., 2003), in Batu Bara of North Sumatra (Jannah et al., 2019), and Bali (Imran, 1985). The finding of this study reveals that the selection of kinship terms in the Tamiang language is influenced by some factors, including kinship, age, and marital relationship. Brown and Gilman (1968) suggest that the proper selection of kinship terms where the factors of speakers' kinship, age, power, position, and situation with the interlocutors affect such selection.

CONCLUSION
Based on the data and information collected regarding the kinship terms in the Tamiang language, it can be concluded that the kinship terms are based on birth order. The birth order consists of seven orders, starting from the first child (the eldest) to the seventh one. The term addressed to the first child is ulong/long/yong, the second child ngah, the third alang/ayang, the fourth uteh, the fifth andak, the sixth ude, dan the seventh encu/uncu.
Concerning speech participants in a speech event, the selection of the kinship terms takes into account of birth order if the speech participants are in the same ties of kinship. Furthermore, with the role relationship, namely vertical relationship and horizontal relationship, the relationship of ego with other individuals in the level of the family has different kinship terms. The three-layer, vertical relationship has the terms ayah, abah/abaih, bapak, and engku for the first layer of men. Then, the first layer, the vertical relationship of women, is me, mak, meu, mo, mamak, and ende. The second layer, vertical relationship above ego, is atok for men and andong for women. The third layer relationship above ego has the terms unyang/munyang/moyang and buyut for men and unyang/munyang/moyang and buyut for women. Besides, the three-layer, vertical relationship below ego consists of cucu, cicit, and buyut, both for men and women. The horizontal relationship, namely the relationship of ego with older brother/sister and younger brother/sister is equal, including the position of older sister's husband/older brother's wife and younger sister's husband/younger brother's wife.
This study only covers the kinship terms used among family members of blood relationship and some relationship among those who get married with the bloodrelated family members in one variety of the Tamiang language. In the future, it is hoped that a more comprehensive study can be conducted with other varieties to compare the similarities and differences among these language varieties.