Cover not available

Article published In: Emotion, Body and Mind across a Continent: Figurative representations of emotions in Australian Aboriginal languages
Edited by Maïa Ponsonnet, Dorothea Hoffmann and Isabel O'Keeffe
[Pragmatics & Cognition 27:1] 2020
► pp. 83–138

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

The expression of emotions in Kunbarlang and its neighbours in the multilingual context of western and central Arnhem Land

 | The University of Sydney
 | University of Melbourne
 | The University of Sydney
Published online: 22 September 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/pc.00012.kee
Abstract
This paper explores how emotions are expressed in the endangered Gunwinyguan language Kunbarlang and compares these expressions to those in the neighbouring Gunwinyguan language Bininj Kunwok, and neighbouring languages from other language families, Mawng (Iwaidjan) and Ndjébbana (Maningridan). As well as considering body-based emotion expressions and the tropes (metaphors and metonymies) they instantiate, we consider the range of other (non-body-based) expressions and tropes available in each language. These provide an important point of comparison with the body-part expressions, which are limited to expressions based on noun incorporation in the Gunwinyguan languages and, correspondingly, a more limited range of tropes. By outlining and comparing the linguistic tropes used to express emotions in these four languages in the highly multilingual yet socioculturally unified context of western Arnhem Land, we aim to shed further light on the relationships between linguistic figurative features and conceptual representations of emotions.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Kunbarlang and neighbouring languages
  • 3.Documenting and describing emotion expressions in multilingual western Arnhem Land
    • 3.1Data and documentation
    • 3.2The dataset
    • 3.3Defining tropes
  • 4.Emotion lexemes in Kunbarlang and neighbouring languages
    • 4.1Emotion nominals
    • 4.2Emotion verbs
    • 4.3Emotion coverb constructions
  • 5.Non-body-based emotion verb-argument idioms in Kunbarlang and neighbouring languages
    • 5.1Experiencer object noun-verb idioms: emotions as agents/forces
    • 5.2Experiencer subject noun-verb idioms: emotions as patients
    • 5.3Idiomatic noun-incorporation/lexicalised compounds in Kunbarlang and Bininj Kunwok
    • 5.4Lexicalised agreement verbs in Mawng cognate to idiomatic noun incorporations in Kunbarlang and Bininj Kunwok
    • 5.5Non-body-based emotion verb-argument idioms summary
  • 6.Body-based emotion verb-argument idioms in Kunbarlang and neighbouring languages
    • 6.1Belly/guts: All languages
    • 6.2Heart: All languages
    • 6.3Nose/face: All languages
    • 6.4Head and brain: Kunbarlang, Bininj Kunwok, Ndjébbana
    • 6.5Back: Kunbarlang, Ndjébbana, Mawng
    • 6.6Throat/neck: Ndjébbana, ?Kunbarlang
    • 6.7Body, eyes, mouth and hair: Kunbarlang, Bininj Kunwok
    • 6.8Ears: Kunbarlang only
  • 7.Summaries of body-related and non-body-related emotion terms
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (55)
References
Aung Si. 2019. Flora-fauna loanwords in Arnhem Land and beyond – An ethnobiological approach. Australian Journal of Linguistics 39(2). 202–256. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baker, Mark. 1996. The polysynthesis parameter. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barwick, Linda. 2011. Musical form and style in Murriny Patha djanba songs at Wadeye (Northern Territory, Australia). In Michael Tenzer & John Roeder (eds.), Analytical and cross-cultural studies in word music, 316–354. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barwick, Linda, Bruce Birch & Nicholas Evans. 2007. Iwaidja jurtbirrk: Bringing language and music together. Australian Aboriginal Studies. 6–34.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berndt, Ronald. 1951. Ceremonial exchange in western Arnhem Land. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 7(2). 156–176. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berndt, Ronald & Catherine Berndt. 1970. Time for relaxation. In Stephen A. Wurm & Donald C. Laycock (eds.), Pacific Linguistic Studies in Honour of Arthur Capell, 557–591. Canberra: Linguistic Circle of Canberra.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bowern, Claire. 2014. Complex predicates in Australian languages. In Harold Koch & Rachel Nordlinger (eds.), The languages and linguistics of Australia: A comprehensive guide, 263–295. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, Reuben. 2014. The role of songs in connecting the living and the dead: A funeral ceremony for Nakodjok in western Arnhem Land. In Amanda Harris (ed.), Circulating cultures: Exchanges of Australian Indigenous music, dance and media, 169–201. ANU Press, Canberra. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016. The role of performance in western Arnhem Land song. PhD thesis, University of Sydney, Sydney.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, Reuben, David Manmurulu, Jenny Manmurulu, Isabel O’Keeffe & Ruth Singer. 2017. Maintaining song traditions and languages together at Warruwi (western Arnhem Land). In James Wafer & Myfany Turpin (eds.), Recirculating songs: Revitalising the singing practices of Indigenous Australia, 268–286. Canberra: Asia-Pacific Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coleman, Carolyn. n.d. Kun-barlang dictionary. Unpublished copy held at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sstudies. [URL]
Eather, Bronwyn, Jimmy Kalamirnda & Yurrbukka Community. 2005. A first dictionary of Na-Kara. Maningrida: Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation, Maningrida Arts and Culture.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ekman, Paul. 1992. An argument for basic emotions. Cognition and Emotion 6(3/4). 169–200. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. Universal facial expressions. Retrieved from: [URL] (Last accessed 28.02.2021).
Evans, Nicholas. 2003. Bininj Gun-Wok: A pan-dialectal grammar of Mayali, Kunwinjku and Kune, 21 vols. Pacific linguistics; 541., Pacific Linguistics, Canberra.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2004. Experiencer objects in Iwaidjan languages. In Peri Bhaskararao & Karumuri V. Subbarao (eds.), Non-nominative subjects, 169–192. Amersterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010. Dying words: Endangered languages and what they have to tell us. Chichester: Wiley–Blackwell.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Evans, Nicholas & Rhys Jones. 1997. The cradle of the Pama-Nyungans: Archaeological and linguistic speculations. In Patrick McConvell & Nicholas Evans (eds.), Archaeology and linguistics: Aboriginal Australia in global perspective, 385–417. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Evans, Nicholas & Hans-Jürgen Sasse. 2002. Introduction: problems of polysynthesis. In Nicholas Evans & Hans-Jürgen Sasse (eds.), Problems in polysynthesis, 185–201. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Evans, Nicholas & David Wilkins. 2000. In the mind’s ear: The semantic extensions of perception verbs in Australian languages. Language 76(3). 546–592. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Garde, Murray. n.d.. Bininj Kunwok pan-dialectal dictionary. Unpublished electronic file.
. 2006. The language of kun-borrk in western Arnhem Land. Musicology Australia (28). 59–89.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2008. Kun-dangwok: “clan lects” and Ausbau in western Arnhem Land’, International Journal of the Sociology of Language (191). 141–69. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Green, Rebecca. n.d. Ndjébbana dictionary. Unpublished electronic file.
. 2003. Proto Maningrida within Proto Arnhem. In Nicholas Evans (ed.), The non-Pama-Nyungan languages of northern Australia: Comparative studies of the continent’s most linguistically complex region, 369–421. Canberra: Pacific linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Harvey, Mark. 2018. Disputation, kinship and land tenure in Western Arnhem Land. In Patrick McConvell, Piers Kelly & Sébastian Lacrampe (eds.), Skin, kin and clan: The dynamics of social categories in Indigenous Australia, 107–136. Canberra: ANU Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heer, Rolf De & Peter Djigirr. 2006. Ten Canoes. Australia: Vertigo Production.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kapitonov, Ivan. 2019. Aspects of Kunbarlang grammar. PhD thesis, University of Melbourne.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kövecses, Zoltán. 1995. Anger: Its language, conceptualization and physiology in the light of cross-cultural evidence. In John Taylor & Robert E. McLaury (eds.), Language and the cognitive construal of the world, 181–196. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2002. Metaphor: A practical introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005. Metaphor in culture: Universality and variation. New York: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McKay, Graham. 2000. Ndjébbana in Robert M. W. Dixon & Barry J. Blake (eds.), The Handbook of Australian languages, vol. 51, 155–354. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Miceli, Luisa & T. Mark Ellison. 2017. Language monitoring in bilinguals as a mechanism for rapid lexical divergence. Language 93(2). 255–287. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nordlinger, Rachel. 2014. Constituency and grammatic relations in Australian languages. In Harold Koch & Rachel Nordlinger (eds.), The languages and linguistics of Australia: A comprehensive guide, 215–262. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Noyce, Philip. 2002. Rabbit-Proof Fence. Australia: Jabal Films PtyLtd.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
O’Keeffe, Isabel. 2010. Kaddikkaddik ka-wokdjanganj ‘Kaddikkaddik spoke’: Language and music of the Kunbarlang Kaddikkaddik songs from western Arnhem Land. Australian Journal of Linguistics 30(1). 35–51. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016. Multilingual manyardi/kunborrk: Manifestations of multilingualism in the classical song traditions of western Arnhem Land. PhD Thesis, Linguistics. Melbourne: University of Melbourne.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ponsonnet, Maïa. 2013. The language of emotions in Dalabon (Northern Australia). PhD Thesis, SCHL, Linguistics. Canberra: Australian National University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014a. The language of emotions: The case of Dalabon (Australia). Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014b. Documenting the language of emotions in Dalabon (Northern Australia): Caveats, solutions and benefits. In Aicha Belkadi, Kakia Chatsiou & Kirsty Rowan (eds.), Proceedings of Conference on Language Documentation and Linguistic Theory Conference 41, 1–13. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016. Emotion nouns in Australian languages. In Peter K. Austin, Harold Koch & Jane H. Simpson (eds.), Language, land and story in Australia, 228–243. London: EL Publishing.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. Conceptual representations and figurative language in language shift: Metaphors and gestures for emotions in Kriol (Barunga, northern Australia). Cognitive Linguistics 28(4). 631–671. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2018. Do linguistic properties influence expressive potential? The case of two Australian diminutives (Gunwinyguan family). Anthropological Linguistics 60(2). 157–190. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2020. Difference and repetition in language shift to a creole: The expression of emotions. London: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ponsonnet, Maïa, James Bednall & Isabel O’Keeffe. 2019. The respective roles of culture and grammar in shaping emotion metaphors: The case of the Gunwinyguan family (Australian, non-Pama-Nyungan), International Cognitive Linguistics Conference 15 August 2019, Nishinomya, Japan.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Singer, Ruth. 2006. Agreement in Mawng: Productive and lexicalised uses of agreement in an Australian Language. PhD Thesis, Linguistics. Melbourne: University of Melbourne.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. Typologising idiomaticity: Noun-verb idioms and their relations. Linguistic Typology, 15(3), 625–659. . (Last accessed 26.01.2018).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016. The dynamics of nominal classification: Productive and lexicalised uses of gender agreement in Mawng. Boston/Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Singer, Ruth & Salome Harris. 2016. What practices and ideologies support small-scale multilingualism? A case study of Warruwi community, northern Australia. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2411. 163–208. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Singer, Ruth, Nita Garidjalalug, Heather Hewett, Peggy Mirwuma & Phillip Ambidjambidj. 2015. Mawng dictionary v1.0. Retrieved from: [URL] (Last accessed 13.02.2021).
Taylor, Luke. 1987. The same but different: Social reproduction and innovation in the art of the Kunwinjku of western Arnhem Land. PhD thesis, Australian National University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Teo, Amos. 2007. Breaking up is hard to do: Teasing apart morphological complexity in Iwaidja and Maung. Honours thesis, University of Melbourne.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thomas, Martin. 2015. Because it’s your country: Death and its meanings in West Arnhem Land. Life Writing 12(2). 203–223. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Walsh, Michael. 1987. The impersonal verb construction in Australian languages. In Ross Steele & Terry Threadgold (eds.), Language topics: Essays in honour of Michael Halliday, 425–438. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Yacopetti, Eleanor & Maïa Ponsonnet
2024. A semantic typology of emotion nouns in Australian Indigenous languages. Australian Journal of Linguistics 44:1 ► pp. 29 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 29 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue