Note 21 — Chapter I · THE SOCIAL ORGANISATION

Ar-bua, ar-kodire and ab-atet. The Akar-Bale word for “infant” is ab-liga or ab-dareka. The latter word is the phonetic equivalent of the e-tire of the Northern languages. A parent often speaks of his or her infant son as d’ab-bula, and of his infant daughter as d’ab-pal, ab-bula and ab-pal being the terms for “male” and “female21.” The exact use of the term ar-bua is difficult to determine. The stem -bua may be used by itself without a prefix. Dege bua (my child) would refer, I believe, only to the child of the speaker. On the other hand, a man would use the term d’ar-bua as referring not only to his own child but also to the child of a brother or a sister, or even to a person who was not related to him at all. So far as it could be determined, it seems that a man or woman might apply this term (ar-bua) to any person of the same generation as his or her children, whether a relative or not. It thus means “a person of the same generation as my own children,” and describes, not relationship, but respective age. The word ar-kodire refers to the own child of a man, and ab-atet similarly refers to the own child of a woman. The two words together are thus equivalent to the ot-tire of the North Andaman, the Akar-Bale distinguishing between the offspring of a man (ar-kodire) and the offspring of a woman (ab-atet).