Article published In: Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages
Vol. 37:2 (2022) ► pp.247–290
‘My brother from another mother’
Mapping the kinship terminology of Malacca Creole Portuguese
Published online: 3 November 2022
https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.21008.sou
https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.21008.sou
Abstract
Studies in linguistics and anthropology have demonstrated that kinship systems and cultural practices change upon
contact with other languages and cultures; however, creole kinship systems are generally overlooked. This paper examines the
kinship terminology used by the Portuguese Settlement community in Malacca, Malaysia. The mapping of this kinship terminology is based
on the division into terms of address and terms of reference, using three theoretical frameworks (‘identity alignment’, ‘language
as an act of identity’, and ‘partial reciprocal diffusion’), while also taking into account Malacca Creole Portuguese, the
standard variety of Malay, Baba Malay, Chetti Malay, Dutch, and English. The findings point to the existence of parallel kinship
systems within the same language and indicate lexical connections to the other creole communities in Malacca (namely, Chettis and
Baba-Nyonya). Accordingly, the terminology is divided into two segments: one oriented to the Portuguese superstrate and one toward
the substrates and adstrates.
Keywords: Malacca Creole Portuguese, kinship, linguistics, anthropology, creolistics
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Historical background
- 2.1Malacca’s Portuguese Settlement
- 2.2Kinship and kin terms in Malacca
- 3.Theoretical framework
- 4.Methodology and results
- 4.1Parentage
- 4.2Offspring
- 4.3Siblings
- 4.4Grandparentage
- 4.5Of uncles, aunts, nephews, and cousins
- 4.6In-laws
- 5.Discussion
- 6.Conclusion
- Notes
References
References (107)
Ali, Mohamed, Haja Mohideen, & Shamimah Mohideen. 2008. Survival
of the minority Kristang language in Malaysia. Language in
India 8(7). 1–18.
Allard, E. 1964. Social
organisations of Eurasians in the Malaya Federation. Current
Anthropology 5(5). 422.
Anchimbe, Eric A. (2007). Linguabridity: Redefining
linguistic identities among children in urban areas. In Eric A. Anchimbe (ed.), Linguistic
identity in postcolonial multilingual
spaces, 66–87. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Ansaldo, Umberto. 2009. Contact
languages: Ecology and evolution in
Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Banks, D. J. 1974. Malay
kinship terms and Morgan’s Malayan terminology: The complexity of simplicity. Bijdragen tot de
Taal-, Land- en
Volkenkunde 130(1). 44–68.
Batalha, Graciete Nogueira. 1977. Glossário do dialecto macaense –
Notas linguísticas, etnográficas e
folclóricas. Coimbra: Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra.
1998. Introdução. In António da Silva Rêgo, Dialecto português de
Malaca e outros
escritos, 13–44. Lisbon: Centro Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses.
2005. Kristang (Malacca Creole
Portuguese) – A long-time survivor seriously endangered. Estudios de
Sociolingüística 61. 1–37.
2010. Vestiges of etymological gender
in Malacca Creole Portuguese. Journal of Pidgin & Creole
Languages 25(1). 120–154.
2011. The Creole Portuguese language
of Malacca – A delicate ecology. In Laura Jarnagin (ed.), Portuguese
and Luso-Asian legacies, 1511–2011. Culture and identity in the Luso-Asian world: Tenacities and
plasticities, 115–142. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
2018. Malacca Portuguese in the 19th
century – Evidence of a wider lectal range. Journal of Pidgin & Creole
Languages 33(2). 249–281.
Baxter, Alan N. & Augusta Bastos. 2012. A
closer look at the post-nominal genitive determiner in Asian Creole
Portuguese. In Hugo C. Cardoso, Alan N. Baxter, & Mário Pinharanda Nunes (eds.), Ibero–Asian
creoles: Comparative
perspectives, 47–80. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Bethencourt, Francisco. 2005. Low
cost empire – Interaction between Portuguese and local
societies. In Ernst van Veen & Leonard Blussé (eds.), Rivalry
and conflict – European traders and Asian trading networks in the 16th and 17th
centuries, 108–130. Leiden: CNWS Publications.
Borges, Robert. 2013. Linguistic
archaeology, kinship terms, and language contact in Suriname. Anthropological
Linguistics 55(1). 1–35.
Broeder, Peter & Guus Extra. 1991. Acquisition
of kinship reference: A study on word-formation processes of adult language
learners. International Journal of Applied
Linguistics 1(2). 209–227.
Byrne, John. 2011. The
Luso-Asians and other Eurasians: Their domestic and diasporic
identities. In Laura Jarnagin (ed.), Portuguese
and Luso-Asian legacies in Southeast Asia, 1511–2011: The making of the Luso-Asian world, intricacies of
engagement, 131–154. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Callaway, John. 1818. A
vocabulary; with useful phrases, and familiar dialogues; in the English, Portuguese, and Cingalese,
languages. Colombo: Wesleyan Mission Press.
[Hugo C. Cardoso (ed.) & Patrícia Costa (tr.)]. 2019. A
Ceylon-Portuguese and English dictionary. Lisbon: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa/Documentation of Sri Lanka Portuguese.
Cardoso, Hugo C. 2009. The Indo-Portuguese language of
Diu. Utrecht: Landelijke Onderzoekschool Taalwetenschap.
Cardoso, Hugo C., Alan N. Baxter, & Mário Pinharanda Nunes. 2012. Introduction. In Hugo C. Cardoso, Alan N. Baxter & Mário Pinharanda Nunes (eds.), Ibero–Asian
creoles: Comparative
perspectives, 1–14. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Chan, Kok Eng. 1970. The distribution of the
Portuguese Eurasian population in Malacca: A study of spatial continuity and
change. Geographia 61. 56–64.
Chen, Wenge, Derek Irwin, & Junjun Xing. 2020. Towards
a systemic functional model for characterizing Chinese loanwords in English: The case of
kowtow. Lingua 2481. 102977.
Chen, Xinren & Juanjuan Ren. 2020. A
memetic cultural practice: The use of generalized kinship terms in a research seminar attended by Chinese graduate
students. Lingua 2451. 102942.
Clements, J. Clancy. 2000. Evidência para a existência
de um pidgin português asiático. In Ernesto d’Andrade, Maria Antónia Mota, & Dulce Pereira (eds.), Crioulos
de base portuguesa – Actas do workshop sobre Crioulos de base lexical
portuguesa, 185–200. Braga: Associação Portuguesa de Linguística.
. 2009. The linguistic legacy of Spanish
and Portuguese – colonial expansion and language
change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dalgado, Sebastião Rodolfo. 1900 [1998]. Dialecto Indo-Português de
Ceilão. Lisbon: Imprensa Nacional [Lisboa: Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses].
David, Maya Khemlani & Faridah Noor. 1999. Language
maintenance or language shift in the Portuguese Settlement of Malacca in Malaysia. Migracijske
teme 15(4). 465–481.
De Albuquerque, David Borges. 2011. Esboço gramatical do Tetun
Prasa: Língua oficial de
Timor-Leste. Brasília: Universidade de Brasília master thesis.
Dickey, Eleanor. 1997. Forms
of address and terms of reference. Journal of
Linguistics 33(2). 255–274.
Dousset, Laurent. 2012. Understanding
human relations (kinship systems). In Nicholas Thieberger (ed.), The
Oxford handbook of linguistic
fieldwork, 209–234. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Edmonson, Munro S. 1957. Kinship terms and kinship
concepts. American
Anthropologist 59(3). 393–433.
Fernandes, Miguel Senna & Alan N. Baxter. 2001. Maquista
chapado – Vocabulário e expressões do crioulo português de
Macau. Macau: Instituto Internacional de Macau.
Fernando, M. Radin. 2004. Metamorphosis of the
Luso-Asian diaspora in the Malay
Archipelago, 1640–1795. In Peter Borschberg (ed.), Iberians
in the Singapore–Melaka area and adjacent regions (16th to 18th
century), 161–184. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Ferraz, Luiz Ivens. 1987. Portuguese creoles of West
Africa and Asia. In Glenn G. Gilbert (ed), Pidgin
and creole languages – Essays in memory of John E.
Reinecke, 337–360. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.
Fleming, Luke & James Slotta. 2018. The
pragmatics of kin address: A sociolinguistic universal and its semantic affordances. Journal of
Sociolinguistics 22(4). 375–405.
Fox, William Buckley. 1819. A dictionary in the
Ceylon-Portuguese, Singhalese, and English
languages. Colombo: Wesleyan Mission Press.
Grijns, Cornells Dirk. 1980. Some notes on Jakarta Malay
kinship terms: The predictability of
complexity. Archipel 201. 187–212.
Hancock, Ian F. 1975. Malacca Creole Portuguese:
Asian, African or European. Anthropological
Linguistics 17(5). 211–236.
Holm, John A. 1989. Pidgins and creoles. Volume 2:
Reference survey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2009. Atlantic features in Asian
varieties of Creole Portuguese. Journal of Portuguese
Linguistics 8(2). 11–22.
Horsten, Petrus Fredericus Marie. 1978. Kinship terminology as a
deictic system. An evaluation of ethnolinguistic
methodology. London: University of London dissertation.
Jones, Doug. 2010. Human
kinship, from conceptual structure to grammar. Behavioral & Brain
Sciences 33(5). 367–416.
Kaur, Jesan. 1999. Kreol
kristang di Melaka – Suatu kajian pembentukan kata dan etnografi. Kuala Lumpur: Universiti Malaya thesis.
Le Page, Robert B. & Tabouret-Keller, Andrée. (1985). Acts
of identity: Creole-based approaches to language and
ethnicity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lee, Eileen. 2012. Language
shift in the Kristang community: Process and product. In Shakila Abdul Manan & Hajar Abdul Rahim (eds.), Linguistics,
Literature and Culture: Millenium realities and innovative practices in
Asia, 68–88. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars.
. 2016. Linguistic
diversity and endangerment in Malaysia: The case of Papia
Kristang. In Martin Pütz & Neele Mundt (eds.), Vanishing
languages in context. Ideological, attitudinal and social identity
perspectives, 295–318. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Lim, Lisa & Umberto Ansaldo. 2007. Identity
alignment in the multilingual space: The Malays of Sri
Lanka. In Eric A. Anchimbe (ed.), Linguistic
identity in postcolonial multilingual
spaces, 218–230. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Lyon, Stephen, Mark A. Jamieson, & Michael D. Fischer. 2015. Persistent
cultures: Miskitu kinship terminological fluidity. Structure &
Dynamics 8(1). 1–16.
Ma’alip, Sa’adiah. 2000a. Peralihan
dan kehilangan Bahasa Kristang di Melaka: Satu andaian awal [conference
paper]. Persidangan Linguistic ASEAN 1, Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia.
. 2000b. Kata
panggilan kekeluargaan masyarakat portugis – Tinjauan di Perkampungan Portugis, Melaka. Jurnal
Dewan
Bahasa 44(10). 1077–1084.
Ma’alip, Sa’adiah & Rahilah Omar. 2017. Penggunaan
Kristang sebagai bahasa komunikasi dalam kalangan masyarakat portugis di Melaka. Jurnal Melayu
Isu Khas 121. 419–435.
Malekandathil, Pius. 2001. The
Portuguese casados and the intra-Asian trade: 1500–1663. Proceedings of the Indian History
Congress 621. 385–406.
Marbeck, Joan Margaret. 1995. Ungua adanza – An
inheritance. Lisbon: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
McConvell, Patrick. 2015. Long-distance
diffusion of affinal kinship terms as evidence of Late Holocene change in marriage systems in Aboriginal
Australia. In Peter G. Toner (ed.), Strings
of connectedness: Essays in honour of Ian
Keen, 287–316. Canberra: Australian National University Press.
McGilvray, Dennis. B. 1982. Dutch Burghers and Portuguese
Mechanics – Eurasian ethnicity in Sri Lanka. Comparative Studies in Society &
History 24(2). 235–263.
Mendes, Manuel Patrício. 1935. Dicionário
Tétum-Português. Macau: Tipografia Mercantil de N. T. Fernandes & Filhos.
Morgan, Lewis Henry. 1871. Systems of consanguinity and
affinity of the human family. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge.
Mufwene, Salikoko S. 2001. The ecology of language
evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nunes, Michael. 1996. To
what extent and for what purposes Kristang is still spoken in the Portuguese Settlement of
Malacca [Conference paper]. 8th International d’Études
Créoles, Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe.
O’Neill, Brian Juan. 2013. Kaza e Familia em Malaca
ignorada: Especificidades crioulas. In Manuel Lobato & Maria de Deus Manso (eds.), Mestiçagens
e identidades intercontinentais nos espaços
lusófonos, 123–143. Braga: Núcleo de Investigação em Ciências Políticas e Relações Internacionais.
Parsons, Talcott. 1943. The
kinship system of the contemporary United States. American
Anthropologist New
Series 45(1). 22–38.
Pillai, Stefanie, Wen-Yi Soh & Yunisrina Qismullah Yusuf. 2015. Perceptions
about one’s heritage language: The case of the Acehnese in Kampung Aceh and Malacca Portuguese-Eurasians in the Portuguese
Settlement in
Malaysia. Kemanusiaan 22(2). 67–92.
Pillai, Stefanie, Adriana Phillip & Wen-Yi Soh. 2018. Revitalizing
Malacca Portuguese Creole. In Peter Pericles Trifonas & Themistoklis Aravossitas (eds.), Handbook
of research and practice in heritage language
education, 801–817. Cham: Springer.
Pinto, Paulo Jorge de Sousa. 2015. Entre capitães e casados: Um
balanço do ‘século português de Malaca’ (1511–1641). In Memorias
2011, 353–370. Lisbon: Academia de Marinha.
Pires, Ema Cláudia Ribeiro. 2012. Paraísos desfocados:
Nostalgia empacotada e conexões coloniais em
Malaca. Lisbon: Instituto Superior de Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa dissertation.
Pue, Giok Hun. 2016. Peranakan as plural identity:
Cases from Peninsular Malaysia. Regional Journal of Southeast Asian
Studies 1(1). 67–93.
Ramachandran, Sudesh Nicholas. 2000. Language maintenance and
shift among the Portuguese Eurasians in the Portuguese Settlement. Kuala Lumpur: Universiti Malaya thesis.
Read, Dwight W. 2006. Kinship Algebra Expert System
(KAES) – A software implementation of a cultural theory. Social Science Computer
Review 24(1). 43–67.
2015. Kinship
terminology. In James D. Wright (ed.), International
encyclopedia of the social & behavioral
sciences, 61–66. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
. 1965. A comunidade luso-malaia de Malaca
e Singapura. Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra.
. 1998. Dialecto português de Malaca e
outros escritos. Lisbon: Centro Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses.
Sarkissian, Margaret. 1997. Cultural
chameleons: Portuguese Eurasian strategies for survival in post-colonial Malaysia. Journal of
Southeast Asian
Studies 28(2). 249–262.
Schuchardt, Hugo. 1883. Kreolische
Studien 3: Ueber das Indoportugiesische von Diu. Sitzungsberichte der
philosophisch-historischen Classe der Kaiserlichen Akademie der
Wissenschaften, 103(1), 3–17.
. 1884. Kreolische
Studien 6: Ueber das Indoportugiesische von Mangalore. Sitzungsberichte der
philosophisch-historischen Classe der Kaiserlichen Akademie der
Wissenschaften, 105(3), 882–904.
Scully, Valerie & Catherine Zuzarte. 2004. The
Eurasian heritage dictionary:
Kristang–English/English–Kristang. Singapore: SNP International.
2012. Measuring substrate influence –
Word order features in Ibero–Asian creoles. In Hugo C. Cardoso, Alan N. Baxter, & Mário Pinharanda Nunes (eds.), Ibero–Asian
Creoles: Comparative
perspectives, 125–148. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Smith, Raymond. T. 1963. Culture and social structure in
the Caribbean: Some recent work on family and kinship studies. Comparative Studies in Society
&
History 6(1). 24–46.
Swadesh, Morris. 1956. Some
limitations of diffusional change in vocabulary. American
Anthropologist 58(2). 301–306.
Tabouret-Keller, Andrée. 1997. Language
and identity. In Florian Coulmas (ed.), The
handbook of
sociolinguistics, 315–326. Oxford: Blackwell.
Tan, Chee Beng. 1988. The Baba of Melaka – Culture and
identity of a Chinese Peranakan community in
Malaysia. Selangor: Pelanduk.
Thomaz, Luiz F. F. R. 2000. Early Portuguese
Malacca. Macau: Macau Territorial Commission for the Commemorations of the Portuguese Discoveries.
Tomás, M. I. 2004. O
Kristang de Malaca – Processos linguísticos e contextos sociais na obsolescência das
línguas. Lisbon: Universidade Nova de Lisboa doctoral dissertation.
Tomás, Maria Isabel. 2009. The role of women in the
cross-pollination process in the Asian-Portuguese varieties. Journal of Portuguese
Linguistics 8(2). 49–64.
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Tan, Raan-Hann & Silvio Moreira De Sousa
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
