Fictive Kinship Names in Jordanian Arabic

Kinship names in Jordanian society are either real or fictive, both of which may be used reciprocally. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the fictive extension of blood kinship names and the fictive use of reciprocal kinship names in Jordanian Arabic. Reference is made to affect control theory to explain the fact that blood relations are fictively extended to non-relatives to promote solidarity and show respect, while reciprocal kinship names are used fictively to promote emotiveness. The paper proposes an extension of the definition of fictive kinship relations to include blood relations that are used reciprocally. Accordingly, any kinship term that is semantically invalid is being used fictively. Adapted from the source document