A socio-linguistic interpretation of the social meanings of kinship terms in Shona urban interactions

This article provides an interpretive analysis of Shona native speakers’ use of kinship terms of address as forms of communicative resources to invoke social meanings in non-kin relations. Two types of data were used for the analysis of social meanings: (a) field notes from participant observations taken of naturally occurring interactions in public and private spheres over an 8-month period (from September 2001 to May 2002) in and around the city of Harare, Zimbabwe, and (b) transcriptions of semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted with 40 Shona native speakers of varying ages, gender, educational status, occupation and religious affiliation. I demonstrate that the current explanatory address system models are apparently inadequate in their representation of both the complexity and distinctiveness of social meanings. Hence, I advocate the use of more interpretive, ethnographic approaches for the discovery of social meaning.