Some of the clearest examples of lexicalized categories are words used to refer to
people who are members of the same family, or kinship terms. All languages have
kinship terms (e.g. brother, mother, grandmother), but they don’t all put family
members into categories in the same way. In some languages, the equivalent of the
word father is used not only for “male parent,” but also for “male parent’s brother.” In
English, we use the word uncle for this other type of individual. We have lexicalized
the distinction between the two concepts. Yet, we also use the same word (uncle) for
“female parent’s brother.” That distinction isn’t lexicalized in English, but it is in other
languages. In Watam (spoken in Papua New Guinea), the English word uncle would be
translated as either aes (father’s brother) or akwae (mother’s brother). Speakers of
Mopan Maya (in Belize, Central America) lexicalize a distinction based on a different
conceptual arrangement. Each of the following words is (and is not) a translation of the
English word uncle.
suku’un: older brother and parent’s younger brother
tataa’: parent’s older brother and grandfather
It would seem that distinctions in age among “uncles” is important in Mopan Mayan
culture. Other distinctions among relatives can also be lexicalized differently in the
world’s languages. For example, in Norwegian, the distinction between “male parent’s
mother” (farmor) and “female parent’s mother” (mormor) is lexicalized, but in English
the word grandmother is generally used for both.