Kinship Terms: Universality and Ethnolinguistic Saliance

Abstract

The article attempts to examine the characteristic features of kinship terms in Armenian, English and Russian. Kinship terms make up a solid system with closely interconnected constituents. Kinship terms, which can be found in all languages, act as universalities. However, being universalities kinship terms may be different in different languages in terms of ethnolinguistic salience. The existence of certain kinship terms in a given language is, of course, connected with the kinship relations existing in the given society. Language affects the world perception of the language bearers. It reflects the notions and phenomena that are of prime importance for the speakers of the given language.