Emotional‘sprinklers’:
InterjectionsandevaluativemorphologyinAustralianlanguagesandelsewhere
TheUniversityofSydney
RogersRoom,WoolleyBuilding,24thFebruary2017
Organizer:MaïaPonsonnet,Linguistics,TheUniversityofSydney
[email protected]
Program
10-10.25am
MaïaPonsonnet(TheUniversityofSydney)
Introduction
10.30-11.10am
RuthSinger(UniversityofMelbourne/AustralianNationalUniversity)
andIsabelO’Keeffe(UniversityofSydney)
Ardaandfriends:interjectionsusedtoexpressemotionsatWarruwi
11.10-11.30amMORNINGTEA
11.30-12.10
AliceGabyandJohnBradley(MonashUniversity)
InterjectioncategoriesinYanyuwa:pity,antipathy,shameandempowerment
12.15-12.40
DavidNash(AustralianNationalUniversity)
MultiplecompassionateinterjectionsinWarlpiri
12.40-1pm
Discussant:MichaelWalsh(TheUniversityofSydney/AIATSIS)
1pm-2pmLUNCHBREAK
2-2.30pm
JoeBlythe(MacquarieUniversity)
ʔaʔu¿:asympatheticresponseinMurrinhpatha
2.35-3.05pm
NickEnfield(TheUniversityofSydney)
EmotiveinterjectionsinLao
3.05-3.20pmAFTERNOONTEA
3.20-4pm
MaïaPonsonnet(TheUniversityofSydney)
DiminutivesinGunwinyguanlanguages
4.05-4.30+pm
Discussant:JaneSimpson(TheAustralianNationalUniversity)
Generaldiscussion
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Abstracts
JoeBlythe,MacquarieUniversity–Tobeconfirmed
CompassionandsurpriseinterjectionsinMurrinhPatha
On the reaction token karra / karraya (approximately ‘Goodness!, Good grief!’) and the more
empathetic/sympatheticresponsetokenʔaʔu(approximately‘poorthing’/‘pobala’).
NickEnfield,TheUniversityofSydney
EmotiveinterjectionsinLao
Abstract
InthistalkIwillpresentadescriptionandanalysisofaselectionofemotiveinterjectionsinLao,aTai
languagespokeninLaos,Thailand,andCambodia.TheinterjectionsthatIwilldiscusshavemeanings
that combine reference to emotions or attitudes with reference to shifts in cognitive state (sudden
realization,vindicationofwarning).Theyplayanimportantroleinmanagingsocialaccountabilityin
languageuse,andtherebyinthesocializationofchildren.Wewilldiscussimplicationsfortheconcept
ofasystemofinterjections.
AliceGabyandJohnBradley,MonashUniversity
InterjectioncategoriesinYanyuwa:pity,antipathy,shameandempowerment
Abstract
This talk will outline three semantic classes of Yanyuwa exclamations, defined by whether they
express: (a) pity; (b) antipathy; (c) shame; or (d) empowerment. In the first class we find two
exclamatory particles. The first, warriya ‘poor thing’ expresses pity for one who has suffered
misfortune.Thesecond,kurda,expressessympathy,bothintermsofpityfortheunfortunate,butalso
allegianceincasesofdispute.Thesetwotermscontrastwiththeantipatheticexclamationyukurarru,
which likewise targets the object of misfortune, but with the opposite attitudinal valence (‘serves
him/herright!’).
The classes of exclamations in the field of shame are interesting for their sensitivity to kinship
categories. When people in a proscribed kin relationship encounter one another or interact in
particularways(e.g.withribaldjoking),theyandtheirwitnessesmustusetheappropriateformsto
acknowledgeand/orredresstheresultantshame.Forinstance,whenafatherjokinglyabuseshisson,
the son and any witnesses should exclaim lindiwirriji!, following which the father replies ngalamu!.
Lastly, we consider two ‘power words’ used in the performance of song, one positive (e.g. used in
healing)andonenegative(e.g.usedincursing,orcreatingduststorms).
DavidNash,TheAustralianNationalUniversity
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Warlpiricompassionateinterjections
Abstract
Men speaking the Warlpiri language use a handful of what could be termed compassionate
interjections. The appropriate one to use depends on the kin relation (or, more simply, the relative
subsection).Meggitt(1962:170)listedtheminhisethnography,callingthem‘asetofrelativeterms’.
I’llshowthereisaclineastowhichgeneralinterjectionattributestheexpressionshave,andthiscline
correlates with kin distance. Etymological information will be provided, mostly supporting what
Warlpiri men at Lajamanu told Meggitt (1962:170), that the expressions were borrowed from the
WesternDesert.
MaïaPonsonnet,TheUniversityofSydney
DiminutivesinGunwinyguanlanguages
This talk will compare diminutives in two Gunwinyguan languages (non-Pama-nyungan, Katherine
regionandArnhemLand):DalabonandRembarrnga(withsomeadditionalinsightsintoKunwinjku.
Unsurprisinglygiventheirrich,polysyntheticmorphology,eachoftheGunwinyguanlanguagesIhave
collecteddataforsofarhasoneorseveraldiminutivesoccurringwithhighfrequencyinemotionally
loadedspeech.However,inspiteofthisfrequency,noneofthepublicationsfocusingongrammatical
descriptions for these languages makes mention of these diminutives. These affixes were in fact
revealed more recently thanks to documentation methods designated to elicit emotional linguistic
resources. In this talk I will present the Dalabon and Rembarrnga diminutives and compare their
forms, morphological status, etymologies, morphosyntactic behaviors and emotional meanings. We
willexploredifferencesinetymology,denotationalmeaningandrespectivedistribution,butinspite
of these differences, the diminutives in Dalabon and Rembarrnga express the same emotional
categories.
RuthSinger(UniversityofMelbourne/AustralianNationalUniversity)
andIsabelO’Keeffe(UniversityofSydney)
Ardaandfriends:interjectionsusedtoexpressemotionsatWarruwi
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