Aversive case
{{Short description|Grammatical case}}
{{nofootnotes|date=January 2020}}
{{refimprove|date=January 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=December 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2018}}
The aversive or evitative case (abbreviated {{sc|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:
{{interlinear|indent=3|abbreviations=AVERSIVE:aversive case
|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:
{{interlinear|indent=3|abbreviations=AVERSIVE:aversive case
|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:
References
- {{cite book|last=Dixon|first=R. M. W.|authorlink=R. M. W. Dixon|title=Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development|year=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-47378-0}}
{{Grammatical cases}}