It is very interesting—and sad—to note that with the passage of time, a number of terms that werein use by the Assamese people to denote various relationships have begun to fade away. ‘Deuta’ and ‘Maa, denoting father and mother, respectively, have managed to survive, but both of these terms have also been facing a major threat from ‘Papa’ and ‘Mummy.’ One must place on record that, compared to most other communities, the Assamese word ‘Deuta’ has special significance. ‘Deuta’, it is said, is derived from ‘Devata, meaning ‘God’ or a divine being. While Bengalis use the word ‘Baba’ to mean father, most Marathis also use the same term, though they also have a word called ‘Vadila’ to mean father. Tamils call their father ‘Appa’, Telugu’s call ‘Tandri’, Malayalis ‘Acchan’, Bengalis and Odiyas call ‘Baba’, Bodos call ‘Bipha’ and/or ‘Apha, and so on. Hindi-speaking people, on the other hand, generally use ‘Pita’ and/or ‘Pita-ji’ to mean or address their father. How or from when the Assamese people started using the word ‘Deuta’ is not known. Dr. Bhabendra Nath Saikia, in his most famous novel ‘Antareep, presented a very interesting episode in which a Bengali gentleman, way back in the 1940s, highly appreciated the fact that the Assamese called their father ‘Deuta.’ Taking a close look at Assamese society, one will probably find that ‘Deuta’ apart, terms like ‘Pehi’, ‘Jethai’, ‘Momaideu’, ‘Dodaideu’, ‘Na-bou’, ‘Bor-maa’, ‘Jeth-peha’, ‘Bor-deuta’, etc., are also facing a kind of gradual extinction. In urban areas, children are beginning to grow up using just ‘Uncle’ and ‘Aunty’, in the process posing a threat to the traditional and culturally significant terms. ‘Uncle’ and ‘Aunty’ are such general terms that one cannot make out whether an ‘Uncle’ is a brother of one’s father, not to speak of identifying whether the term denotes the elder brother of one’s father or younger. Similarly, when one calls a woman ‘Aunty’, it is difficult to distinguish whether the latter is a ‘Maahi’ (mother’s younger sister), ‘Pehi’ (father’s younger sister), ‘Khuri’ (wife of father’s younger brother), ‘Bor-maa’ (wife of father’s elder brother), or ‘Jethai’( elder sister of father or mother). Once upon a time, there was a term called ‘Tawoi’, which meant a close friend of one’s father. Likewise, the term ‘Aamoi’ was used to denote the wife of a ‘Tawoi.’ All these and other beautiful and really meaningful terms, all denoting different kinds of relationships, are now on the verge of extinction. All that is probably required is proper documentation and research in this area before the next generation is left to use only ‘Papa, Mummy, Uncle, andAAunty.’