a man may address his wife by her personal name though the wife should not take this liberty, but should speak of her husband as I gene if he has no children, or as the father of his child, "taman X" if there have been children of the marriage. For a wife to address her husband by name shows a great want of respect, and it would seem as if at the present time this custom is used by women to flout their husbands. I was told that there are no less than three women in the district of Veverau alone who address their husbands by name, thus showing that they do not respect them. There is little doubt that this is the result of external influence, and that in former times the usual signs of respect would have been enforced.

Though a man may speak of his wife by name, he usually calls her either ro gene; the mother of his child, "veve X"; or irananatuk, his children being iranatuk. Irananatuk was translated as meaning "my children," so that one of the ways of speaking of a wife is as if she were equivalent to her children. The explanation given by my informant was that the usage showed the superiority of the husband, the wife standing in a relation to her husband similar to that of his children, she being subject to his command while he is responsible for her behavior. It was clear that a distinction is made between irananatuk and iranatuk, and that it would not be right to apply the latter term to the wife. People often speak of a woman as amen followed by the name of the husband, "amen X." There are thus five different ways of referring to a wife: (1) by name, (2) as ro gene, (3) as the mother of her children, (4) as the children themselves, or (5) as the wife of her husband.¹

¹Riversn/an/an/an/an/an/a, , 1: 40–41 (Cambridge University Press, By permission).