[1] Analysed by British social anthropologist Alfred Radcliffe-Brown in 1940,[2] it describes a kind of ritualised banter that takes place, for example between a man and his maternal mother-in-law in some South African indigenous societies.
Two main variations are described: an asymmetrical relationship where one party is required to take no offence at constant teasing or mocking by the other, and a symmetrical relationship where each party makes fun at the other's expense.
[3] While first documented academically by Radcliffe-Brown in the 1920s, this type of relationship is now understood to be very widespread across societies in general.
In West Africa, particularly in Mali, it is regarded as a centuries-old cultural institution known as sanankuya.
Donald F. Thomson's article "The Joking Relationship and Organized Obscenity in North Queensland" gives an in-depth discussion of a number of societies where these two speech styles co-exist.