Chapter I: The Social Organisation (2)

Besides the respect for seniority there is another important factor in the regulation of the social life, namely the respect for certain personal qualities. These qualities are skill in hunting and in warfare, generosity and kindness, and freedom from bad temper. A man possessing them inevitably acquires a position of influence in the community. His opinion on any subject carries more weight than that of another even older man. The younger men attach themselves to him, are anxious to please him by giving him any presents that they can, or by helping him in such work as cutting a canoe, and to join him in hunting parties or turtle expeditions. In each local group there was usually to be found one man who thus by his influence could control and direct others. Amongst the chief men of several friendly local groups it would generally happen that one of them, by reason of his personal qualities, would attain to a position of higher rank than the others. Younger men would be desirous of joining the local group to which he belonged. He would find himself popular and respected at the annual meetings of the different groups, and his influence would thus spread beyond the narrow limits of his own small community.

There was no special word to denote such men and distinguish them from others. In the languages of the North Andaman they were spoken of as er-kuro = “big.”

Such men might perhaps be spoken of as “chiefs,” but the term is somewhat misleading, as it makes us think of the organised chieftainship of other savage races.

The above statement is not quite in agreement with what has been written by Mr Man on the same subject, and what he says is therefore reproduced here. “Their domestic policy may be described as a communism modified by the authority, more or less nominal, of the chief. The head chief of a tribe is called maia igla, and the elders, or sub-chiefs, i.e. those in authority over each community, consisting of from 20 to 50 individuals, maiola. The head chief, who usually resides at a permanent encampment, has authority over all the sub-chiefs, but his power, like theirs, is very limited. It is exercised mainly in organising meetings between the various communities belonging to his tribe, and in exerting influence in all questions affecting the welfare of his followers. It is the chief alone, as may be supposed, who directs the movements of a party while on hunting and fishing expeditions, or when migrating. It is usually through his intervention that disputes are settled, but he possesses no power to punish or enforce obedience to his wishes, it being left to all alike to take the law into their own hands when aggrieved. The aryoto and eremtaga in each tribe have their own head chief, who are independent the one of the other. As might be assumed from the results of observations made of other savage races, whose sole or chief occupation consists in hunting or fishing, the power of the chiefs is very limited, and not necessarily hereditary, though, in the event of a grown-up son being left who was qualified for the post, he would, in most instances, be selected to succeed his father in preference to any other individual of equal efficiency. At the death of a chief there is no difficulty in appointing a successor, there being always at least one who is considered his deputy or right-hand man. As they are usually, on these occasions, unanimous in their choice, no formal election takes place; however, should any be found to dissent, the question is decided by the wishes of the majority, it being always open to malcontents to transfer their allegiance to another chief, since there is no such thing as forced submission to the authority of one who is not a general favourite. Social status being dependent not merely on the accident of relationship, but on skill in hunting, fishing, etc., and on a reputation for generosity and hospitality, the chiefs and elders are almost invariably superior in every respect to the rest. They and their wives are at liberty to enjoy immunity from the drudgery incidental to their mode of life, all such acts being voluntarily performed for them by the young unmarried persons living under their headship [29].”

Where Mr Man speaks of the “authority” of the chiefs it would be better to speak of “influence.” Of authority the leading men have little or none, but of influence they have a good deal. Should any one venture to oppose a popular chief he would find the majority of the natives, including many of his friends, siding against him. The words “chief” and “authority” seem to imply some sort of organised rule and procedure, and of this there is nothing in the Andamans. Mr Man also implies that in each tribe there is always one recognized headman, but in reality each tribe may possess two or three leading men in different parts of the country, each with his own following. In any case a man’s influence is largely confined to his own local group, for it is only at the annual meetings that the men of other groups come in contact with him.

The early officers of the Andamanese Homes (before the time of Mr Man) established a system of chieftainship in the islands by selecting a few of the more trustworthy and intelligent men, whom they dignified with the title of raja, and who acted as the intermediaries between the Officer in Charge of the Andamanese and the natives. This system has been continued to the present day, and the natives have adopted the title raja for these men, having themselves no word for a chief. Where a man is selected who is already respected and esteemed by the natives his influence is considerably increased through the position thus assigned to him. The natives themselves do not recognize that he has any authority over them, but if he be a man of generosity and tact, the majority will always support him, and his advice in any matters of moment will be readily followed.

Women may occupy a position of influence similar to that of the men. The wife of a leading man generally exercises the same sort of influence over the women as her husband does over the men. A woman, however, would not exercise any influence over the men in matters connected with hunting. They do have a good deal of influence in connection with quarrels either of individuals or of local groups.

There are certain men, and possibly sometimes women, who have an influence over their fellows owing to their being credited with the possession of supernatural powers. These men, called in Aka-J̌eru oko-ǰumu (literally “one who speaks from dreams”), will be described in a later chapter. As they are believed to have command over the powers that produce and cure sickness everyone tries to be on good terms with them, avoiding giving them offence in any way, and seeking their favour by presents of food or other things. It sometimes happens that a chief (the leading man of a local group) is at the same time a medicine-man or oko-ǰumu, but the two positions are entirely distinct and separate, and a man may be a medicine-man who possesses none of the qualities that are necessary for a head man.

There does not appear to have been in the Andamans any such thing as the punishment of crime. We may distinguish two kinds of anti-social actions which are regarded by the natives as being wrong. The first kind are those actions which injure in some way a private individual. The second are those, which, while they do not injure any particular person, are yet regarded with disapproval by the society in general.

Amongst the anti-social actions of the first kind are murder, or wounding, theft and adultery, and wilful damage of the property of another.

No case of one Andamanese killing another has occurred in recent years. Quarrels sometimes occur between two men of the same camp. A good deal of hard swearing goes on, and sometimes one of the men will work himself up to a high pitch of anger, in which he may seize his bow and discharge an arrow near to the one who has offended him, or may vent his ill-temper by destroying any property that he can lay his hands on, including not only that of his enemy but also that of other persons and even his own. At such a display of anger the women and children flee into the jungle in terror, and if the angry man be at all a formidable person the men occasionally do the same. It apparently requires more courage than the natives usually possess to endeavour to allay such a storm of anger. Yet I found that the slightest show of authority would immediately bring such a scene to an end. A man of influence in his village was probably generally equal to the task of keeping order and preventing any serious damage from taking place. It was probably rare for a man so far to give way to his anger as to kill his opponent.

Such murders did, however, occasionally take place [30]. The murderer would, as a rule, leave the camp and hide himself in the jungle, where he might be joined by such of his friends as were ready to take his part. It was left to the relatives and friends of the dead man to exact vengeance if they wished and if they could. If the murderer was a man who was much feared it is probable that he would escape. In any case the anger of the Andamanese is short-lived, and if for a few months he could keep out of the way of those who might seek revenge, it is probable that at the end of that time he would find their anger cooled.

A man who is liable to outbursts of violent anger is feared by his fellows, and unless he has other counterbalancing qualities, he is never likely to become popular. He is treated with outward respect, for every one is afraid of offending him, but he never acquires the esteem of others. There is a special nickname, Tarenǰek, in the North Andaman, to denote such a man [31].

Quarrels were more likely to occur at the meetings of different local groups that took place in the fine weather, and such quarrels might occasionally end in the murder of some one. In such a case the quarrel would be taken up by the group of the murdered man, and a feud would be set up between them and the local group to which the murderer belonged. Such was one of the common causes of origin of the petty warfare that formerly existed in the Andamans, which will be referred to later in the present chapter.

Cases of theft seem to have been rare. It was left to the aggrieved person to take vengeance upon the thief, but if he killed him or seriously wounded him he would have to expect the possible vengeance of the relatives and friends. Adultery was regarded as a form of theft. I gathered that a man had the right to punish his wife for unfaithfulness, but if the punishment were too severe it would be an occasion for a quarrel with her relatives. It was difficult for the aggrieved husband to punish the man who had offended against him. If he killed him he would lay himself open to the revenge of the relatives. The most he could do was to vent his anger in violent words.

Women also occasionally quarrel with one another and swear forcibly at one another, or even get so far as to destroy one another’s belongings, or to fight with their fists or sticks. The men hesitate to interfere, and the quarrel can only be stopped by some woman of influence.

The frequent occurrence of serious quarrels is prevented both by the influence of the older men and by the fear that everyone has of the possible vengeance of others should he in any way offend them.

There are a number of actions which, while they do not offend any particular person, are regarded as being anti-social. One of these is laziness. Every man is expected to take his proper share in providing both himself and others with food. Should a man shirk this obligation, nothing would be said to him, unless he were a young unmarried man, and he would still be given food by others, but he would find himself occupying a position of inferiority in the camp, and would entirely lose the esteem of his fellows. Other qualities or actions that result in a similar loss of esteem are marital unfaithfulness, lack of respect to others and particularly to elders, meanness or niggardliness, and bad temper. One man was mentioned to me as being a bad man because he refused to take a wife after he had reached the age when it is considered proper for a man to marry. In recent times at least one young man has refused to undergo the privations connected with the initiation ceremonies. This was of course a case of gross rebellion against the customs of the tribe, but there was no way of punishing him or of compelling him to conform, save by showing him that he was an object of contempt and ridicule to others. Probably such a refusal to conform to tribal customs could not have taken place before the British occupation of the islands.

Another class of wrong actions consists in the breaking of ritual prohibitions. There are, for example, as will be shown in a later chapter, a number of actions which it is believed may cause bad weather, such as burning bees’-wax or killing a cicada. There is, however, no punishment that can be meted out to any one who does any of these things. The punishment, if we may call it so, is a purely supernatural one, and it strikes not only the offender but every one else as well. In the legends of the Andamanese there are one or two stories related of how one of the ancestors, being angry, deliberately performed one of the forbidden actions and thus brought a storm that destroyed many human beings [32]. There are other ritual prohibitions the non-observance of which is supposed to bring its own punishment on the offender, who, it is believed, will be ill.

The medicine-men (oko-ǰumu) are credited with the power to work evil magic, and by its means to make other people ill, and even to kill them. A man suspected of evil magic might be liable to the vengeance of those who thought that they had been injured by him, but though the practice was regarded as reprehensible it does not seem that the society ever acted as a whole to punish a man suspected of it.

Children are reproved for improper behaviour, but they are never punished. During their years of infancy they are much spoilt, not only by their parents but by every one. During the period of adolescence every boy and girl has to undergo a somewhat severe discipline, to be described in a later chapter. This probation, if it may be so called, is enforced by a unanimous public opinion. The discipline lasts until the man or woman is married and a parent, or if childless as so many now are, until he or she has settled down to a position of responsibility.

Thus, though the Andaman Islanders had a well developed social conscience, that is, a system of moral notions as to what is right and wrong, there was no such thing as the punishment of a crime by the society. If one person injured another it was left to the injured one to seek vengeance if he wished and if he dared. There were probably always some who would side with the criminal, their attachment to him overcoming their disapproval of his actions. The only painful result of anti-social actions was the loss of the esteem of others. This in itself was a punishment that the Andamanese, with their great personal vanity, would feel keenly, and it was in most instances sufficient to prevent such actions. For the rest, good order depended largely on the influence of the more prominent men and women.

We have so far considered only the general regulation of conduct in the local group, without giving any attention to the more special regulations dependent on relationships by blood and by marriage. In all human societies there is a system of rights and duties regulating the conduct towards one another of persons who are related either by consanguinity or through marriage. In primitive societies these particular rights and duties occupy a position of preponderating importance, owing, no doubt, to the small number of persons with whom any single person comes into effective social contact. When a large proportion of the men and women with whom any person comes in contact are related to him, it is clear that relationship must count for a good deal in regulating the everyday life of the people.

Different societies have different systems of relationship. This means, not only that they attach different duties to particular relations, but also that they have different ways of reckoning the relationships themselves. The vast majority of primitive peoples have some one or other form of what is known to ethnologists as the “classificatory system of relationship [33].” This system is intimately connected with the existence of the social divisions known as “clans.” In the Andamans there are no clans, and the system of relationship is fundamentally different from all the classificatory systems.

To understand the Andamanese system it is necessary to examine the terms by which they denote the different kinds of relationship which are recognized [34]. In many societies having the classificatory system of relationship the terms which are used to denote relationship are also used as terms of address, just as we use the terms “Father” and “Mother.” In the Andamans this is not so. There are special words that are used as terms of address, but these do not imply any relationship between the speaker and the person spoken to. In the North Andaman those terms are Maia (= Sir) and Mimi (= Lady). These are used by younger men and women in speaking to older persons. For the rest, persons are addressed freely by their personal names. There are no terms of address that imply any relationship of consanguinity between the person speaking and the person whom he addresses. This is an important feature of the Andamanese system, distinguishing it from the systems of many other primitive societies.

The following is a list of terms used to denote relationship in the North Andaman. There seems to be very little difference in this matter between the four tribes of the North (Aka-Čari, Aka-Ko̱ra, Aka-Bo and Aka-J̌eru).

aka-mai his father
aka-mimi his mother
ot-tire his child
ot-otoatue his older brother
ot-otoatue-čip his older sister
ot-arai-čulute his younger brother
ot-arai-čulute-čip his younger sister
ot-e-bui or e-bui his wife (her husband)
e-pota-čiu his father-in-law
e-pota-čip his mother-in-law
ot-otone his son-in-law.

Aka-mai and aka-mimi. The words for “father” and “mother” are derived from the terms of address Maia and Mimi by the addition in each case of the prefix aka-. By itself the term Maia is used by any man or woman in speaking to a man older than himself or herself without implying any relation between them beyond that of respective age. The addition of the prefix aka- changes the word, giving it the meaning “the father of somebody.” Thus Maia Bora means “Mr Bora” or “Sir Bora,” if we may so translate it, but Bora aka-mai means “Bora’s father,” and aka-mai Bora means “his or her father Bora.” The Aka-J̌eru equivalent for “my father” is t’a-mai, the t’ being the personal pronoun “my,” after which the prefix aka- is contracted to a-. Similarly “thy father” is ŋ’a-mai and “their father” or “their fathers” is n’a-mai. The word aka-mimi is in every respect exactly parallel to aka-mai. These two terms are only used when it is necessary to refer to the actual father or mother of anybody. For example, if a man be asked Ačiu ŋ’a-mai bi? (Who your father is?), he will reply by giving the name of his own father.

The stem maia clearly relates to the social position of the father of a family. A man who is a father, or while not having any children, is married and occupies an equivalent social position to a father, is addressed by the term which shows his social position, Maia. When I call a man Maia, I do not imply that he is my father nor that he is related to me at all, but only that he is a father. On the other hand, the prefix aka- added to the stem makes a possessive form, so that aka-mai means “his father” and t’a-mai means “my father.” The word mimi is exactly parallel. By itself, the stem simply shows that the person addressed is a mother, while aka-mimi means “his mother.”

Ot-tire. The word “child,” when there is no reference to the child of some particular person, is translated e-tire, -tire being the stem and e- the prefix [35]. With a change of prefix from e- to ot-, a possessive form is made, so that ot-tire always means “his or her child,” with reference to some particular person understood. Thus Bora ot-tire would mean “the child of Bora,” while Bora e-tire or e-tire Bora would mean “the child Bora.” The phrase t’ot-tire (my child) is used by either a man or a woman to denote his or her child.

Ot-otoatue and ot-arai-čulute. I was unable to find in the languages of the North Andaman any words which could properly be translated “brother” or “sister.” The two words here given are used by the Andamanese to denote persons older or younger than the speaker, whether they be brothers and sisters or not. The derivation of ot-otoatue could not be ascertained, but the word means “he who was born before me,” and it is used in this sense to denote any person of the speaker’s generation who is older than himself. If it is necessary to emphasise the female sex of the person spoken of, the suffix -čip is added. An alternative word of exactly the same meaning is ot-areupu (fem. ot-arep-čip). The word ot-arai-čulute is formed from the stem čulu or čulutu meaning “following” or “after,” which always takes the prefix arai-. (This prefix conveys a reference to position in time or space.) The stem is found in such phrases as tio ŋ’arai-čulutu-bom, “I will follow you” (literally tio = I, ŋ’ = thou, čulutu = after, and -bom, verbal suffix), and tarai-čulik “afterwards” (t-arai-čulu-ik). The prefix ot- added in front of the usual prefix arai- determines the particular use of the word as referring to human beings. Thus the word ot-arai-čulute means, literally, “he or she who was born after me.” It is used in this sense by a man or woman to denote any person of the same generation who is younger than himself. The suffix -čip may be added to denote a female. Alternative words of the same meaning are ot-ara-liču and ot-ara-bela.

These words are not, properly speaking, terms of relationship, but serve only to denote the respective ages of two persons. I did not discover any terms whatever by which a man can distinguish his own brother or sister from any other man or woman of the same age.

Ot-e-bui. The stem -bui means “to marry,” as in n’ e-bui-om = they are married. “My husband” or “my wife” is simply t’e-bui or t’ot-e-bui.

E-pota-čiu and e-pota-čip. The derivation of these words was not discovered. They are the terms by which a man distinguishes his wife’s father and mother, and a woman her husband’s father and mother.

Ot-otone. The word and its meaning are somewhat doubtful. It was sometimes used by a man to denote his daughter’s husband, and perhaps also his son’s wife. I once heard it applied to a younger sister’s husband. It may be compared with the same word as used in the South Andaman to be mentioned presently.

So far as could be discovered, there are no words in the languages of the North Andaman for grandfather, grandmother, uncle, aunt, cousin, etc. The terms given above can be combined to describe relatives of this kind, as

T’a-mimi aka-mai my mother’s father
Ot-e-bui ot-arai-čulute his wife’s younger brother
Ŋ’ot-a-mai ot-arai-čulute thy father’s younger brother
T’ot-otoatue ot-tire my older brother’s child.

These compound terms are not often used, however.

The terms of relationship of the Akar-Bale tribe may be taken as representative of the tribes of the South Andaman. The following list contains all the more important of them.

da father
ab-atr father
in mother
ar-bua child
ar-kodire child (father speaking)
ab-atet child (mother speaking)
mama grandparent
ǰat grandchild
en-toaka-ŋa older brother or sister
ar-dotot younger brother or sister
otoni son-in-law
oten daughter-in-law
ab-i-ŋa consort (husband or wife)
aka-yat parent of child’s consort
aka-bua consort’s younger brother or sister
ep-taruo-ŋa step relative
ot-čat-ŋa relative by adoption
aka-kuam younger relative
ab-čuga older relative (male)
ab-čupal older relative (female).

Da and in. Da is the common term of address used when speaking to an older man to whom the speaker wishes to show respect. A man will speak of his own father as dege da, dege being the personal pronoun “my” as used before a word that has no prefix. The term In is the common term of address used in speaking to women. A man or woman will refer to his or her own mother as deg’ in. The use of these two terms as applied to parents is very similar to the use of aka-mai and aka-mimi in the North Andaman, with the difference that in Akar-Bale the stem da or in does not take a prefix to modify its meaning. While the use of the terms Da and In as terms of address does not in the least imply that there is any relationship between the person speaking and the person addressed, yet the phrase dege da would in general be understood as referring to the speaker’s own father.

Ab-atr. This is a word descriptive of the relationship of a father to his child. I never heard a man refer to his own father by this term, but it is heard in such phrases as deg’ in l’ab-atr = my mother’s father. It conveys a definite notion of the physiological relation between a father and his children, and might be translated “he who caused me to be conceived.” There is probably a feminine equivalent meaning “mother,” but it was not noted.

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 “female [36].” 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).

Mama. The word is translated above as meaning “grandparent,” but it has a wider meaning than this. It is used as a term of address to convey more respect than is conveyed by the terms Da and In, and is thus used in addressing any man or woman who is considerably older than the speaker. With the personal pronoun, dege mama, it may be applied by a man or woman to any of his grandparents, and also to his father-in-law and mother-in-law, and to other senior relatives.

J̌at. The word was explained to me by the natives as meaning “grandchild.” It seems to be a sort of reciprocal of mama, and is apparently applicable by any old man or woman to any child of the same generation as his or her own grandchildren.

En-toaka-ŋa and ar-dotot. These two words are used in exactly the same way as the words ot-otoatue and ot-arai-čulute of the North Andaman. They are not properly terms of relationship, but may be equally used in referring to non-relatives. En-toaka-ŋa means “he who was born before me,” and ar-dotot means “he who was born after me.” I was not able to discover any word by which a person could distinguish his own brother or sister from others of the same age. It is not certain, however, that such a word does not exist.

Otoni and oten. These are masculine and feminine forms of the same word, and are used to denote a daughter’s husband and a son’s wife. Otoni is also applied to a younger sister’s husband, and oten to a younger brother’s wife. The derivation of the words was not discovered.

Aka-yat. This is the native name for the relationship subsisting between a person’s parents and his parents-in-law. My own mother or father is aka-yat to my wife’s father or mother.

Aka-bua. The word is derived from the stem bua, meaning “child.” It is applied by a man to the younger brothers and sisters of his wife, and by a woman to the younger brothers and sisters of her husband.

Ab-i-ŋa. The word is translated “consort,” and means either husband or wife. It is derived from the verbal stem -i- meaning “to marry” (on-i-re), ab- being the prefix, and -ŋa the verbal suffix.

Ep-taruo-ŋa. The word is used to denote a step-child, or a younger step-brother or sister.

Ot-čat-ŋa. The word means “adopted.” “My adopted child” is simply expressed as d’ot-čat-ŋa, while “my foster father” is dege da ot-čat-ŋa. The stem is -čat-, -ŋa being the verbal suffix and ot- the prefix.

Aka-kuam. In spite of several enquiries, I was unable to ascertain the significance of this word. I heard it applied on different occasions to a younger brother or sister, to a younger first cousin, and to the brothers and sisters of a wife. The only suitable translation would seem to be “my younger relative,” but it is not certain that it even implies any relationship at all. It is perhaps really a term denoting respective social status and is used by a married man to denote other married men who are somewhat younger than himself, and with whom he is on friendly terms.

Ab-čuga and ab-čupal. These are the masculine and feminine forms of one word. Mr Portman [37] gives them as meaning “married man” and “married woman.” I heard them used, however, with the personal pronoun. Thus a man applied the term ab-čuga to his older brother, his older sister’s husband, and to his father’s brother. In this usage these two terms seem to be in a sense reciprocal to aka-kuam. A younger married man will refer to older married men and women as his ab-čuga and ab-čupal, while they will call him aka-kuam.

In his work on the Andamanese, Mr E. H. Man gives a long list of terms of relationship for the Aka-Bea tribe [38]. It will be of some interest to compare the terms there given with those of the Akar-Bale tribe described above.

D’ab-maiola (D’ab-mai-ola). This is translated by Mr Man as “father.” In Aka-Bea the term Maia is the term of address corresponding to the Da of Akar-Bale and to the Mai of the North Andaman. The suffix -ola, added to this and other terms of address serves to convey additional respect, as Maia, Mai-ola, Čana, Čan-ola, Mama, Mam-ola. Thus ab-mai-ola corresponds to the aka-mai of the Northern languages.

Dia Maia. This is given by Mr Man as applicable to the following relatives:—my father’s brother, my mother’s brother, my father’s sister’s husband, my mother’s sister’s husband, my father’s father’s brother’s (or sister’s) son, my husband’s grandfather, my wife’s grandfather, my wife’s sister’s husband (if elder), my husband’s sister’s husband (if elder).

Dia maiola. My grandfather, my grandfather’s brother, my grandmother’s brother, my elder sister’s husband.

It must be remembered that these terms are not properly terms of relationship at all. Any man who is older than the speaker is Maia or Mai-ola to him, the latter implying a slightly higher degree of respect than the former. It is probable that the three different terms given above are not used by the natives with the very precise distinctions that are drawn by Mr Man. It may be noted that Mr Portman writes in this connection:—”Maia is an Honorific, equivalent to the English ‘Sir,’ and is used when addressing a male elder. A son calls his father ‘Sir,’ and uses no other word in speaking to, or of, him. A pronoun Dia maiola [39].” emphasises the relationship, as: My Father

D’ ab-čanola. Given by Mr Man as meaning “my mother.” It is the feminine equivalent of d’ ab-mai-ola, Čana being the feminine of Maia, and corresponding to the In of Akar-Bale and the Mimi of Aka-J̌eru.

Dia čanola. This is given as the Aka-Bea translation of the following:—my father’s sister, my mother’s sister, my father’s brother’s wife, my mother’s brother’s wife, my grandmother, my great aunt, my father’s father’s sister’s daughter, my mother’s mother’s sister’s daughter, my husband’s grandmother, my wife’s grandmother, my husband’s sister (if senior and a mother), my elder brother’s wife (if a mother). In its formation the term is the feminine equivalent of dia mai-ola, while in its use it is the equivalent both of this term and of dia maia. This serves to show that there is no real precise distinction between dia maia and dia mai-ola, such as Mr Man’s list would seem to imply. Dia čan-ola is not, properly speaking, a term of relationship. Any married woman senior to the speaker is entitled to be addressed as Čana or Čan-ola.

D’ ab-čabil. Mr Man gives this as translating “my father, my step-father.” The feminine equivalent would seem to be d’ ab-čanola, which is given for “my mother” and “my step-mother.” Mr Portman gives ab-čabil and ab-čana as the Aka-Bea terms for “married man” and “married woman [40].” The two words are the equivalents of the Akar-Bale ab-čuga and ab-čupal.

D’ ar-odi-ŋa. This word is given by Mr Man as one of the equivalents for “my father.” It is parallel to the Akar-Bale term ab-atr, and is strictly a term of physiological relationship, meaning “he who caused me to be conceived.”

D’ab-eti-ŋa. This is translated by Mr Man as “my mother.” It is the corresponding term to d’ar-odi-ŋa, and refers to the physiological relationship.

D’ab-weǰi-ŋa or d’ab-weǰeri-ŋa. This also means “my mother,” and is only an alternative word for the above. The stems eti and weǰi or weǰeri seem to be two stems meaning the same thing.

D’ar-odi-re or d’ar-odi-yate. Given by Mr Man as meaning “my son” (if over three years of age, father speaking). It is the equivalent of the Akar-Bale ar-kodire.

D’ab-eti-re, d’ab-eti-yate, d’ab-weǰi-re, d’ab-weǰi-yate, d’ab-weǰeri-re, d’ab-weǰeri-yate. These are all given by Mr Man as translating “my son” (if over three years of age, mother speaking). They are equivalent to the Akar-Bale ab-atet.

The above words seem to be derived from three stems, -odi-, -eti-, and -weǰi- (or -weǰeri-), the stems -eti- and -weǰi- having exactly the same meaning, and belonging, perhaps, to different dialects. The words are formed by the addition of the prefixes ar- and ab-, and the verbal suffixes -ŋa, -re, -yate. Thus we have ar-odi-ŋa, “father,” and ar-odi-re or ar-odi-yate, “son.” Similarly we have ab-eti-ŋa, “mother,” and ab-eti-re or ab-eti-yate, “son” (mother speaking), while similar equivalents are made from the stem -weǰi-. The words given as meaning “son” may also be used to mean “daughter,” but when it is necessary to emphasise the female sex, the suffix -pail (meaning “female”) is added, as d’ar-odi-re-pail, d’ab-eti-re-pail.

Dia ota and dia kata. These are given by Mr Man as meaning respectively “my son” and “my daughter” (if under three years of age, either parent speaking). Ota and kata are the terms for the male and female genitals.

Dia ba. This is given by Mr Man as meaning “my daughter” (if over three years of age, either parent speaking). It is the phonetic equivalent of dege bua in Akar-Bale.

Dia ba-lola. Given as the equivalent of:—my grandson (either grandparent speaking), my brother’s grandson (male or female speaking), my sister’s grandson (male or female speaking). The same phrase with the addition of -pail, meaning “female,” is given as equivalent to:—my granddaughter, my brother’s granddaughter, and my sister’s granddaughter (male or female speaking).

D’ar-ba. According to Mr Man this term is applicable by a male or female to the son of a brother, a sister, a half-brother, a half-sister, or of a male or female first cousin. With the addition of -pail, meaning “female,” it is applicable to the daughter of any of the above.

Ad en-toba-re, ad en-toba-ŋa, ad en-toka-re, ad en-toka-ŋa. These terms are given by Mr Man as alternative equivalents for “my elder brother (male or female speaking).” The stem is -toba- or -toka-, with the prefix en- and the verbal suffix -re or -ŋa. The ad is a special form of the first personal pronoun, generally d’. With the addition of -pail, meaning “female,” the term is applicable to an elder sister. The word corresponds, both phonetically and in meaning, to the Akar-Bale en-toaka-ŋa.

D’ar-doati-ŋa. Given as meaning “my younger brother (male or female speaking).” With the addition of -pail, it is applied to a younger sister. Mr Man gives the word as being also applicable to a first cousin, if younger than the speaker.

D’ar-weǰi-ŋa or d’ar-weǰeri-ŋa. These are given by Mr Man as alternative terms for “younger brother,” and, with the addition of -pail, for “younger sister.” It is to be noted that the stem -weǰi- or -weǰeri- is the same that occurs in one of the terms for “mother,” but that the prefix is different, being in this case ar- instead of ab-.

Dia mama. This is given as meaning “my wife’s brother, or my husband’s brother (if of equal standing).”

Dia mam-ola. Given as the equivalent of the following:—my husband’s father, my husband’s mother, my wife’s father, my wife’s mother, my husband’s elder brother, my wife’s brother (if older), my husband’s sister’s husband (if older), my wife’s sister (if older and a mother), my husband’s brother’s wife (if older), my wife’s brother’s wife (if older).

Mama and Mam-ola are terms of address in Aka-Bea. Mam-ola implies a somewhat greater degree of respect than Mama, and this in its turn is more respectful than Mai-ola or Maia.

D’aka-kam. Mr Man gives this as a term applicable to the following relatives:—my younger brother, my younger half-brother. With the addition of -pail, it is applicable to a younger sister or half-sister.

Dia otoniya and dia otin. The first of these terms is given as meaning:—my son-in-law (male or female speaking), and my younger sister’s husband (male or female speaking). The second term is feminine, and is given as applicable to the following:—daughter-in-law, husband’s sister (if younger), husband’s brother’s wife (if younger), wife’s brother’s wife (if younger). The terms are thus equivalent, phonetically and in meaning, to the Akar-Bale terms otoni and oten.

Aka-yakat. This is given as the relationship subsisting between a married couple’s fathers-in-law, and between their mothers-in-law. It is the equivalent of the Akar-Bale word aka-yat.

D’aka-ba-bula and d’aka-ba-pail. The meaning of the first of these is given as “my husband’s brother (if younger),” and of the second as “my younger brother’s wife.” The suffixes -bula and -pail mean “male” and “female” respectively. The term aka-ba is the phonetic equivalent of the Akar-Bale word aka-bua. The latter seems to be applied to the younger brothers and sisters of a man’s wife or of a woman’s husband, and to these alone. The use of these terms and of the terms otoni and oten, as recorded from the Akar-Bale tribe, may be compared with the usage stated by Mr Man, as there is some disagreement. In the following table the Aka-Bea terms are given as they are found in Mr Man’s list, while those of the Akar-Bale tribe are given from my own information.

Aka-Bea Akar-Bale

Husband’s younger brother aka-ba-bula aka-bua
Husband’s younger sister otin aka-bua
Wife’s younger brother aka-bua
Wife’s younger sister aka-bua
Younger brother’s wife aka-ba-pail oten
Younger sister’s husband otoniya otoni.

It will be observed that the Akar-Bale list is consistent and logical throughout. It seems probable that there is an error in Mr Man’s list, and that “husband’s younger sister” should be aka-ba-pail instead of otin, while “younger brother’s wife” should be otin instead of aka-ba-pail. This would make the Aka-Bea list consistent with itself and with the Akar-Bale list.

Mr Man gives, in addition to the terms discussed above, a number of compound terms, which we may examine briefly.

D’ar-čabil-entoba-re. This is given as applicable to any first cousin or half-brother who is older than the speaker. The feminine form is given as d’ar-čanol-a-entoba-yate.

D’ar-čabil-entoba-re lai-ik-yate. This is applicable to the wife of any first cousin or half-brother, if older than the speaker. As lai-ik-yate means “his wife,” this is a descriptive term. There is a similar term dia čanol a-entoba-yate lai-ik-yate for the husband of an older female cousin or half-sister.

D’ar-ba lai-ik-yate. This means “the wife of my ar-ba,” and is therefore applicable to the wife of the son of a brother or sister or cousin, and to the husband of a daughter of a brother or sister or cousin.

There are a few other similar compounds that need not be given.

In Mr Man’s list a step-son is given as eb-aden-ire. The word for adoption is ot-čat-ŋa, d’ot-čat-ŋa meaning “my adopted child” and d’ab-mai-ot-čat-ŋa “my adopted father.”

The system of terms of relationship of the Andamanese is of great interest as being fundamentally different from the systems of other uncivilized peoples. It is by no means easy to discover the exact usage of the different terms that are mentioned above. It is, however, possible to gain a general idea, probably accurate in essentials, of the way in which the Andamanese languages express the notions of kinship.

We may consider first the terms of address and the terms of relationship formed from them. The terms of address are:—

Aka-Jeru Aka-Bea Akar-Bale

Maia or Mai Da Maia Sir
Mimi In Cana Lady
...... Mama Mama or mamola.

The first of these is used in addressing males and the second in addressing females, while the third may be used either for males or for females and implies a higher degree of respect than the others.

In all the languages of the Great Andaman a man refers to his own father and mother by adding a personal pronoun to the words meaning “Sir” and “Lady.” In Aka-J̌eru a man speaks of his father as t’a-mai, and of his mother as t’a-mimi, the a- being a contracted form of the prefix aka-. This prefix is always used in this way in the Northern languages. It is not possible to say tičo maia, which would be the literal equivalent of dege da in Akar-Bale. In the Akar-Bale language the translation of “my father” and “my mother” is dege da and deg’ in, the dege being the personal pronoun “my” as used before a word that has no prefix. The same formation is present also in the A-Pučikwar and Aka-Ko̱l languages. For example in Aka-Ko̱l “my father” is tiye tao, and “my mother” tiye in. In the Aka-Bea language, according to the information given by Mr Man, the word maia (or maiola) may be used combined with a prefix, as in d’ab-maiola = “my father,” or it may be used simply with the personal pronoun as dia maia or dia maiola. According to Mr Man these last two terms are applied not to a man’s own father, but to the other persons whom he addresses as maia. This is contradicted by Mr Portman who gives dia maiola as the Aka-Bea for “my father.”

In the Aka-Bea and Akar-Bale languages (as also in A-Pučikwar and Aka-Ko̱l) a man always addresses his grandparent or his father-in-law or mother-in-law by the term Mama or Mamola. He is therefore able to refer to these persons by adding the personal pronoun to the term of address, as dege mama in Akar-Bale. This cannot, however, be regarded as properly a term denoting relationship, for a man may apply the term Mama to a man or woman to whom he is not related at all [41].

The next kind of words that we may consider are those that describe the respective social position of two persons. Such are the words ot-otoatue and ot-arai-čulute in Aka-J̌eru, meaning “he who was born before me” and “he who was born after me” respectively. These terms do not, strictly speaking, convey any idea of consanguinity, although they are commonly used to refer to a brother or a sister. Exactly equivalent terms are found in all the languages, for example the en-toaka-ŋa and ar-dot-ot of Akar-Bale. I was not able to discover in Aka-J̌eru nor yet in Akar-Bale any term to denote a brother or a sister. In Aka-Bea, however, Mr Man records the term ar-weǰi-ŋa or ar-weǰeri-ŋa. The stem -weǰi- or -weǰeri-, as we shall shortly see, is a verbal stem referring to the act of birth, -ŋa is a verbal suffix, and the prefix ar- conveys a reference to position in space or time. The whole word seems to mean “he or she who was born in the same womb as myself,” and is therefore strictly a word meaning “brother or sister.” It is possible that similar words exist in Akar-J̌eru and Akar-Bale, but I never came across them.

Other terms descriptive of social status are the Akar-Bale terms ab-čuga and ab-čupal which refer to married men and women particularly those older than the speaker. These also are not properly terms of relationship, though a man may refer to some of his relatives as d’ab-čuga, adding the personal pronoun to what is properly a word descriptive of the social position of the person in question. In Aka-Bea the equivalent terms are ab-čabil and ab-čana. It would seem that the term aka-kuam (aka-kam in Aka-Bea) is of the same kind, being applicable by an older married man to a younger. At any rate I was unable to discover that it conveyed to the natives any notion of relationship.

There are a certain number of terms that are descriptive of definite relationships. In the North ot-e-bui, and in Akar-Bale ab-i-ŋa are both of them derived from verbal stems meaning “to marry” and are used to denote a husband or a wife. In the North I did not discover any term descriptive of a father or a mother save those derived from the terms of address. In Akar-Bale and Aka-Bea there are such terms; ab-atr in Akar-Bale means “father” while the word for “mother” was not noted; in Aka-Bea a father is ar-odi-ŋa, and a mother is ab-eti-ŋa. These words are descriptive of the physiological relation between a parent and a child. A man’s adopted mother could not be his ab-eti-ŋa, for this term applies only to the woman from whose womb he issued. Similarly an adopted father or a step-father could not be ab-atr or ar-odi-ŋa. There are similar words for child, which also refer to the physiological relation of a child to its parent. In the North the stem -tire means “offspring.” The offspring of a plant, that is the young shoots, are denoted by the term era-tire, the prefix era- serving to convey a reference to trees and plants. The offspring of an animal or of a human being is e-tire. The word e-tire means “the child of somebody” without reference to any particular person as the parent. In the form ot-tire the word means “his or her child” with reference to some person understood. A man or woman cannot in strict accuracy apply the term ot-tire to his adopted child, though I believe that it might be used in this loose sense at times. An adopted child is “he whom I have adopted,” t’oi-čolo-kom. In Akar-Bale and Aka-Bea there are different terms for “child” according as the reference is to the child of a man or to that of a woman. Thus in Akar-Bale the child (in the physiological sense) of a father is ar-kodire, and the child of a mother is ab-atet. In Aka-Bea the physiological relation of a father and child is denoted by the verbal stem -odi-. This stem takes the prefix ar-. The word for father is formed by adding the verbal suffix -ŋa (ar-odi-ŋa). The word for child (father speaking) is formed by means of the verbal suffix -re or -yate (ar-odi-re or ar-odi-yate). We may translate d’ar-odi-ŋa as meaning “he who caused me to be conceived” while d’ar-odi-re or d’ar-odi-yate means “him whom I caused to be conceived.” In the same language the physiological relation of a mother and a child is denoted by the stem -eti-. This stem takes the prefix ab-. A mother is ab-eti-ŋa, and the child of a mother is ab-eti-re or ab-eti-yate, the verbal suffixes being used in a way similar to that in the case of the terms for father and child. In Aka-Bea there is also a stem -weǰi- or -weǰeri- which has exactly the same meaning as -eti- and can be substituted for it in the terms meaning mother and child, as ab-weǰi-ŋa = mother, ab-weǰi-re = child.

Other descriptive words used to denote specific relationships are e-pota-čiu and e-pota-čip and ot-otone in the Northern languages. The derivations of these words have not been ascertained. Similar terms in Akar-Bale are otoni and oten and aka-yat. In this language I did not discover any word descriptive of the relationship of father-in-law or mother-in-law. Finally there are such terms as ot-čat-ŋa (adopted) and ep-taruo-ŋa (step-relative).

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 status [42].

As, in the languages of the Andamans, there are few words serving to denote relationship, and on the contrary a developed system of terms denoting social status, so in the social organisation of the Andamans there are very few special duties between relatives, and the conduct of persons to one another is chiefly determined by their respective social positions. This will become evident as we proceed, and it will thus be shown that there is a close connection between the way the natives denote relationships and the way in which their social life is affected by questions of relationship.

We have already seen that in the Andamanese social organisation the family is of great importance. A family is constituted by a permanent union between one man and one woman. In one of its aspects this union is a sexual one. By marriage a man acquires the sole right to sexual congress with the woman who becomes his wife. At the same time it is the duty of a married man to avoid sexual relations with other women whether married or unmarried. Promiscuous intercourse between the sexes is the rule before marriage, and no harm is thought of it. The love affairs of the boys and girls are carried on in secret, but the older members of the camp are generally fully aware of all that goes on. What generally happens is that after a time a youth forms an attachment with some girl and a marriage between them results from their love affair.