Note 27 — Chapter I · THE SOCIAL ORGANISATION

The most noteworthy feature of these terms is that it is impossible by means of them to deal with relationships that are at all distant. Thus there is no term by which a man can describe his grandfather. In Akar-Bale the phrase dege mama might mean a grandfather, but it might equally refer to a father-in-law. It is true that the simple terms may be combined as Aka-J̌eru “aka-mimi aka-mai” = “his mother’s father,” or Akar-Bale “deg’ in l’ab-atr” = “my mother’s father,” but these compounded terms are apparently not often used by the natives. A second noteworthy feature is the existence of terms to denote physiological relationships (as opposed to merely juridical relationships) such as the Aka-Bea ar-odi-ŋa, etc. Finally there is the apparent entire absence, so far as could be determined, of any classification of relatives such as is characteristic of the classificatory systems of relationship. Where there does seem to be some sort of approach to such classification, as in the use of the Akar-Bale term dege mama, we find that it is really based not on relationships of consanguinity and marriage, but on respective social status27.