Aversive case
The aversive or evitative case (abbreviated EVIT) is a grammatical case found in Australian Aboriginal languages that indicates that the marked noun is avoided or feared.
Usage
For example, in Walmajarri:
| Yapa-warnti | pa-lu | tjurtu-karrarla | laparnkanja | natji-karti. |
| child-ABS.PL | IND-they | dust-AVERSIVE | ran away | cave-ALL |
| The children ran into the cave because of the dust storm. | ||||
The suffix -karrarla indicates that the action (running away) was carried out in order to avoid the dust storm, tjurtu-.
The aversive may also be used to mark the object of verbs of fearing. For example, in Djabugay:
| Djama-lan | ŋawu | yarrnga-nj. |
| snake-AVERSIVE | I | be afraid-PAST |
| I was afraid of the snake. | ||
The aversive may be used on a nominalized verb, to produce an equivalent of English "lest". For example, "lest they be forgotten" could be encoded as "to avoid forgetting them".
Languages
Few languages have a distinct aversive case. Usually, a single case will be used both for the aversive and other functions.
Languages with a distinct aversive case include:
- Arrernte
- Djabugay
- Gumbaynggir
- Marri Ngarr
- Marrithiyel
- Walmajarri
- Warlmanpa
- Warlpiri
- Warumungu
- the Western Desert Language
- Yidinj
References
- Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-47378-0.