Speaking to 'Relatives-through-Marriage': Aspects of Communication among the Bear Lake Athapaskans

Among the Northeastern Athapaskan-speaking Bear Lake Indians, affinal relatives speak to one another using a distinctive speech style. Particularly important is the use in direct conversation of an "affinal index," consisting of a shift from second person singular to second person plural pronominal forms. A cultural interpretation of the meaning of this speech style requires reference to norms of fundamental significance among the Bear Lakers. These norms result in a style of interaction characterizable as "indirect," and this indirectness is associated par excellence with the category 'relatives-through-marriage.'