5 r. a b a S i a (Tbilisi) bgeraTSesatyvisobis erTi rigisaTvis qarTvelur ...

We will discuss those peculiarities of linguistic marking of the socio-cultural
behavior norms which is characteristic only for the Buddhist Sinhalese.
To this point, the following examples can be discussed:
a) Due to the gender peculiarity it is traditionally defined that men
don't have to drink in the society or in the family before women. If the women
see this fact it is considered to be offensive for them. Therefore on the social
events men usually take some alcohol in separate room. As for women the drinking
of alcohol is not allowed at all.
b) The peculiarity of religious ritual is that no shoes or head-covering
are permitted at the temple.
c) Ethnographic peculiarities of the rituals also variesi, for example, the
different rituals of wedding, funeral or New Year ceremonies.
d) The standard norms of socio-cultural behavior are determined by different
features, such as: age, caste, or rank. For example, it is prohibited for the
representative of lower caste to marry the higher one or conversely (although
Sri Lanka is a traditional country, there are many cases when this rule can be
broken). Another example of the social behavior norm is that youngers are to
worship the elders: grandparents and parents, everyday when they leave home.
Also a general rule- to speak elders standing is obligatory for the Sinhalese too.
From the above mentioned cases some norms of specific social behavior
can be linguistically marked in Sinhala language.
The following examples can be discussed:
1. In Sinhalese society there is the privileged institute of marriage between
so called “cross cousins” (children of a sister and a brother) ( in Georgian
cousins are not denoted by one word, but there are three different names: bizashvili
(uncle’s child) , mamidashvili (father’s sister’s child) and deidashvili
(mother’s sister’s child). In Sinhalese folklore there are many songs dedicated
to love stories of massinā ( male cousin) and nǃna (female cousin). The marriage
between parallel cousins (between sisters' children or between brothers’
children) is prohibited. The rules of privileged marriage and prohibited one are
linguistically marked in Sinhala. The terms denoting parallel siblings are different
from cross-cousin names such as: gnati sahoyura (male) and gnati sahoyuri
(female) in literal language while the spoken Sinhala variety uses the terms denoting
siblings such as: akka "elder sister", nangi "younger sister", malli
"younger brother" aiya "elder brother".
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