SDLP 110: Cultural Post 7

[Constantinos Beauclair-Kolomtsas]

Family seems to be patriarchal in Turkish society, as it is in most societies. What is interesting though is that it shows in th elanguage as well. For example, you specify whether you are referring to a paternal or maternal grandmother through the use of different words for the two designations. Meanwhile, for grandfather there is no specification and the same title is used for both. I believe this has to do with the importance of male patriarchs in the family. I was surprised by this since the two languages I know (English and Greek) do not provide such specification. Of course this is not to say that one way or the other is superior but the difference is intriguing. I only know that in Korean there is a similar use of words to specify maternal or paternal origin of family members.