Semantics of Hawrami Kinship Terms

The present study aims at exploring kinship terms and the different ways in which they are used to refer to and address relatives and non-relatives in Hawrami, an Iranian language spoken in Paveh, a border city in Kermanshah province. The relevant linguistic and cultural data are obtained primarily by one of the researchers as a native speaker of the dialect and through field works and interviews with native speakers. In addition to analyzing consanguineal and affinal terms, and words for step-relatives, some space is also devoted to discuss pragmatic aspects of the words, particularly in contexts where the terms are used to address relatives as well as non-relatives. Considering the fact that the authors came across no serious study of Hawrami kinship terminology, the present study might be one of the first preliminary steps to a better understanding of the cultural and anthropological aspects of this Iranian dialect.