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

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

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..

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

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 ..

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. 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 Dalabon

Chapter 9 : Reflexive, reciprocal and emphatic functions in Barunga Kriol

International audienceThis chapter describes the reflexive, reciprocal and adverbial emphatic markers mijelp, gija and miself in Barunga Kriol, the variety of the Australian Kriol spoken in Beswick/Wugularr (Top End, Northern Territory, Australia). These markers are interesting because their distribution has evolved in recent years, resulting in further and neater distinctions. Firstly, a typologically rare distinction between two types of reciprocals has emerged, where transitive verbs and "semi-transitive" verbs receive distinct reciprocal marking. This distinction could result from contact with other Kriol varieties, and represents an interesting pattern of contact-induced change, where no actual form or function is borrowed from the source language. Secondly, the reflexive and emphatic markers, which were originally quasi-identical, have evolved to become two (or more) welldifferentiated items. Based on the analysis of these markers, this chapter examines the ways in which a creole can develop new categories, and questions the principles underlying these developments. Contact with neighbouring varieties of Kriol, as well as late substrate reinforcement, appear to have played a role in these innovations. In addition, this case study indicates that Kriol varieties can be influenced not only by their immediate substrates, but also by other Australian languages within a broader contact area, via contact between varieties

A preliminary typology of emotional connotations in morphological diminutives and augmentatives

International audienceThis article presents a preliminary typology of emotional connotations in evaluative morphology, starting with diminutives and augmentatives. I inventory the emotional meanings and connotations found in a sample of nineteen languages for diminutives, and nine languages plus a few additional regional studies for augmentatives. Given the small size of the samples, this typology can only remain preliminary, but it does highlight a number of points. Across languages and continents, diminutives can express positive emotions such as compassion, love and admiration, as well as negative emotions such as contempt. The emotional connotations of augmentatives are more limited, but display a blend of positive and negative emotions including contempt and repulsion, admiration and respect, endearment and compassion. Diminutives and augmentatives do not contrast sharply with respect to emotional valence (positive or negative), but while diminutives are anchored in intimacy, the emotions conveyed by augmentatives more often relate to broader social contexts