Dual marking and kinship terms in Afitti

Abstract

Afitti is part of the Eastern Sudanic branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family. It features dual and plural forms as part of its kinship terminology that have not been attested elsewhere in the language family. Kinship terminology in which possessive pronouns have merged with kinship terms is also known for a series of Eastern Sudanic languages. Nyimang, Afitti’s closest linguistic neighbor, features a dual form but it is limited to its verbal system. The dual in Nyimang supports the suggestion that Afitti’s kinship terminology with a dual form has a historical basis, since a regional influence of the Arabic system of duals can be largely ruled out. Morphological data on Afitti should further the analysis of its kinship terms in future studies.