Expressivity and performance. Expressing compassion and grief with a prosodic contour in Gunwinyguan languages (northern Australia)

In order to shed light on how emotions surface in language, this article addresses a gap in our empirical knowledge about ‘expressive’ linguistic resources. Expressive resources are classically defined as ‘symptoms’ or ‘indices’ of the speaker's emotional states at the time of speech, which suggests that they are essentially reflex – i.e. spontaneous and sincere. This article shows how actual expressive resources largely depart from this ideal type, by analyzing a case where they are performed and operate in a frame where sincerity remains largely irrelevant. Based on first-hand data, the study analyzes how expressivity combines with performance in a highly conventionalized prosodic contour used to express compassion in several Aboriginal languages of the Arnhem Land region in Australia. The form, semantics and pragmatics of this contour are described and analysed for the Dalabon (Gunwinyguan) and Kriol language (creole), and the study of how it is used shows that performance can channel elaborate communication around deep emotions such as grief. The article discusses how the performance of this ‘compassionate’ contour contributes to communication strategies that help the speakers deal with grief, and highlights how this performed linguistic tool channels emotional expression and management at the same time

Aspects of the Semantics of Emotions and Feelings in Dalabon (South-Western Arnhem Land)

International audienceThis article explores the Dalabon roots kangu ("belly") and yolh ("feelings"), used in Dalabon to form expressions that describe emotions. The semantics of compounds using kangu reveals a widespread metaphor whereby the belly is viewed as a more or less malleable receptacle of external impacts on the person. This metaphor is activated in ritual. On the other hand, the compounds using yolh show that not all emotions originate from external impacts; some stem from the person proper. This semantic division shows that the notion of autonomous self is part of the conceptual landscape of Dalabon speakers.Cet article présente une description sémantique des termes dalabons relatifs aux émotions, en particulier deux racines, kangu (" ventre ") et yolh (" sentiments "). Kangu est employé pour décrire des émotions relatives à l'environnement, notamment l'environnement social. Yolh, au contraire, est employé pour décrire des états intimes qui renvoient aux pulsions individuelles, propres à chacun, sans origine sociale. L'alternance entre ces deux racines indique que, malgré la très grande importance attachées aux interactions sociales et aux valeurs d'échange dans cette société, les pulsions purement individuelles ne sont ni réprimées ni dévalorisées. Au contraire, l'individu dans sa dimension radicalement autonome trouve sa place dans les pratiques et valeurs locales

Body-parts in Dalabon and Barunga Kriol: matches and mismatches

This article describes a number of body-part lexemes in Dalabon, a non-Pama-Nyungan language of the Gunwinyguan family (Australia), and their counterparts in Barunga Kriol, the local creole. The aim of this paper is a comparison between some aspects of the Dalabon body-part lexicon and their counterparts in Barunga Kriol. I discuss particularities of the Dalabon bodypart lexicon and of linguistic descriptions of the body in this language. Throughout the study of Dalabon and Barunga Kriol lexemes denoting the hand (or front paw) and its digits, the foot (or back paw) and its digits, the face, the nose and the nostrils, and finally, the head and the crown of the head, it is found that Barunga Kriol replicates some of the lexical structures of the local Aboriginal languages, but not all of them. In particular, a remarkable specificity of Dalabon, the fact that the head and the face are not labelled as such, and are preferably described as an assemblage of features, is only partially replicated in Barunga Kriol. The paper seeks to identify some of the factors explaining the matches and mismatches between Barunga Kriol and DalabonANU College of Arts & Social Sciences, School of Language Studies; ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, School of Culture, History and Languag

The Body in Linguistic Representations of Emotions in Dalabon (Northern Australia)

In the Dalabon language of Northern Australia (Gunwinyguan family, non-Pama-Nyungan), body-part words are used in expressions denoting emotions. For instance, kangu-yowyow(mu), literally ‘flowing belly’ (kangu ‘belly’+ yowyow(mu) ‘flow’) means ‘feel good, be nice’. This is cross-linguistically unsurprising: most languages in Australia and around the world make use of body-parts to describe emotions. However, these body-parts can play different roles. They are often involved in metaphors. Thes..

Conceptual representations and figurative language in language shift : Metaphors and gestures for emotions in Kriol (Barunga, northern Australia)

This article explores the correlations between linguistic figurative features and their corresponding conceptual representations, by considering their respective continuities and discontinuities in language shift. I compare the figurative encoding of emotions in Kriol, a creole of northern Australia, with those of Dalabon, one of the languages replaced by this creole, with a particular focus on evidence from metaphorical gestures. The conclusions are three-fold. Firstly, the prominent figurative association between the body and the emotions observed in Dalabon is, overall, not matched in Kriol. Secondly, although this association is not prominent in Kriol, it is not entirely absent. It surfaces where speakers are less constrained by linguistic conventions: In non-conventionalized tropes, and gestures in particular. Indeed, some of the verbal emotion metaphors that have disappeared with language shift are preserved as gestural metaphors. Thus, Kriol speakers endorse the conceptual association between emotions and the body, in spite of the lower linguistic incidence of this association. The third conclusion is that therefore, in language shift, conceptual figurative representations and linguistic figurative representations are independent of each other. The former can persist when the latter largely disappear. Conversely, the fact that speakers endorse a certain type of conceptual representation does not entail that they will use corresponding linguistic forms in the new language. The transfer of linguistic figurative representations seems to depend, instead, upon purely linguistic parameters.I am immensely grateful to speakers of Dalabon and Kriol speakers for their support with this project, as well as to Siva Kalyan for his help on a first version of this article. I would also like to thank Sarah Cutfield for sharing her data with me, in particular videos that crucially helped my analysis (Section 5.2). My thanks also go to the ASLAN project (ANR-10-LABX-0081) of Universite de Lyon within the program "Investissements d'Avenir" (ANR-llIDEX- 0007) of the French government operated by the National Research Agency (ANR), for funding this research project, including fieldwork

Barbara Glowczeswski & Rosita Henry, eds, Le Défi indigène. Entre spectacle et politique

Comme son nom l’indique, ce livre est un défi, non seulement un défi indigène mais aussi un défi anthropologique, car l’ouvrage se présente comme un manifeste pour une anthropologie plus proche de l’indigénéité. Cette anthropologie engagée, mise en œuvre tout au long du volume, est décrite et défendue par Barbara Glowczewski dans son introduction, nommée par Rosita Henry dans sa conclusion : il s’agit d’une « anthropologie de la décolonisation ». Elle consiste à porter l’attention non pas uni..

Éditorial

Quatre mains autour d’une table, des plantes, et beaucoup de vert : la couverture de ce nouveau numéro, une photographie confiée par A-Tena Pidjo, prise lors d’un atelier de confection d’un herbier, illustre l’article « Recherche de sens et stratégies de soins chez les Mwalebeng de Pouebo (Nouvelle-Calédonie) ». Pidjo et ses co-auteur·es, Catherine Sabinot et Edouard Hnawia, y racontent l’entrelacs des pratiques traditionnelles et contemporaines que tissent les communautés kanak de la région ..

On the correlation between Nd:YAG laser-induced wettability characteristics modification and osteoblast cell bioactivity on a titanium alloy

The factors responsible for modifications to the wettability characteristics of a titanium (Ti6Al4V) alloy bio-metal following Nd:YAG laser treatment and the effects thereof on the response of osteoblast cells were considered in this work. It was found that interaction of the Nd:YAG laser beam with the Ti6Al4V alloy resulted in the wettability characteristics of the bio-metal improving. Such improvements in the wettability characteristics of the Ti6Al4V alloy were found to be due to: an increase in the surface roughness; and increase in the surface oxygen content and an increase in the polar component of the surface energy. From the cell response tests it was determined that the osteoblast cell adhesion and proliferation on the Nd:YAG laser treated Ti6Al4V alloy samples was considerably greater than on the untreated samples. By isolating the effects of surface roughness it was possible to confirm or refute the existence of a correlation between wettability characteristics and osteoblast cell bioactivity for the Nd:YAG laser treated Ti6Al4V alloy. The findings indicated that the aspects of wettability characteristics: surface oxygen content and polar component of the surface energy play an important role in promoting cell proliferation, particularly when surface roughness was simultaneously increased. Thus it was possible to conclude that the wettability characteristics of the Nd:YAG laser treated Ti6Al4V alloy were correlated to osteoblast cell bioactivity