Relations and modes of address

When it comes to relations Arab society is When it comes to relations Arab society is distinctive from American society.distinctive from American society.

In the Arab society, relatives share names In the Arab society, relatives share names that show their belonging to each other by that show their belonging to each other by the ties of :the ties of :

Ailah familyAilah familyAshirah tribeAshirah tribeHomula clanHomula clan

Arabs names follow this order :

The person The person namename

Person’s Person’s father’s father’s

namename

Father’s Father’s father’s father’s

namename

Family Family namename

First name

Second

name

Third name

Last name

The phenomenon of relationships is sensit ive and complicated and any mistranslating wil l give a different image about the society.

Example:Example:

Cousin eight different references in Arabic

Uncle maternal and paternal uncle

Aunt maternal and paternal aunt

Tow types of relations come to our minds the blood relations which are the strongest followed by marriage relations .

According to Anne Fuller “ the blood bond is the significant kinship factor. The closer the blood ties, the greater the sense of identity between persons , since they partake most closely of the same essence”

Tribe

This word has a stereotypical image in the mind of western readers and this is what Is known as domestication.

Concepts like tribe or clan refer to many social structures and ideologies like:

blood relations that bear a very high significance in tying people together .

unifying terms that bring people together.

patriarchy is a very important force that belongs to this social system.

People who are not part of the tribe or clan considered as strangers.

The terms am and khal

These terms are used as a respectful term of address used by a younger person to address an older one , or it can also be used to refer to paternal uncle or a maternal uncle it also refer to father in law.

The way people address each other and the respectful honorific titles they give to each other .

Some kinship terms are used outside their kinship context as social terms of address as a way of respect like abu / um

Terms of address and titles serve social and political purposes. They also show degree of intimacy and solidarity among people.

Using religious terms is one of the prominent features in Arabic mode of address these terms might be ironically and sarcastically used and even used for purposes of insulting the addressee or to whom the title is given.

ya sahiba l- jalalh Ya tawil al-umr Tal umrak

Deleting some terms in translation or replacing them with terms deeply rooted in the target culture will cause a considerable amount of loss at various levels.

The type of relations that hold between people will distorted.

The social structure and the etiquettes of communication will be removed from the reality and the state of affairs of that culture.

The emotive meanings and overtones associated with such terms will be sacrificed.

Their functions might not be maintained if they are not appropriately dealt with.