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The forms discussed below are used
differently from situation to situation, family to family, dialect area to
dialect area. The categories discussed below are to give some
insight into the general use of these suffixes, rather than to legislate
usage. Essentially they are kinship terms but may be used with non-kin or
`fictive kin', i.e. Tamils (and Indians in general) prefer social
relationships that are kin-like, since the expectations of kin relationships
are known. Indians therefore often try to fit everyone into a kind of kinship
system, addressing fictive kin as if they were kin. When foreigners are
included in this system, they are also included into the expectations
pertaining to kin, i.e. sharing property, money, food, etc., accepting advice
about one's life, marriage prospects, sexual behavior, etc.
Vasu Renganathan
Sat Nov 2 21:16:08 EST 1996