In Mali, the people who are ethnically Bambara speak a language known as
Bamanankan.  In Bamanankan, the word for breast, written "shin" but
pronounced like "sheen".  Breast milk is "shin ji" which is literally
"breast water" since water is "ji."  When a baby is nursing (either right
at that moment or just in general is not yet weaned) people say "A be shin
mi" which is literally "He/she is drinking the breast."

In kinship terminology, all children who nurse from the same woman are
called "shin kelen", literally "one breast" and are considered related to
each other and to the woman who nursed them, regardless of genetic kinship.
 A man may refer to his full brother (same mother, same father, nursed from
the same woman) as "shin ji" meaning breast milk.


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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email:
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Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352
http://www.prairienet.org/laleche/dettwyler.html

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