The aversive or evitative case (
abbreviated
An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing per ...
) is a
grammatical case
A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and Numeral (linguistics), numerals) that corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a Nominal group (functional grammar), n ...
found in
Australian Aboriginal languages
The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...
that indicates that the marked noun is avoided or feared.
Usage
For example, in
Walmajarri:
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
Object may refer to:
General meanings
* Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept
** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place
** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter
* Goal, an a ...
of
verbs of fearing. For example, in
Djabugay:
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 Warumungu (or Warramunga) are a group of Aboriginal Australians of the Northern Territory. Today, Warumungu are mainly concentrated in the region of Tennant Creek, Northern Territory, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs. Warumungu language call ...
*the
Western Desert Language
The Western Desert language, or Wati, is a dialect cluster of Australian Aboriginal languages in the Pama–Nyungan family.
The name ''Wati'' tends to be used when considering the various varieties to be distinct languages, ''Western Desert'' w ...
*
Yidinj
References
*
{{Grammatical cases
Australian Aboriginal languages
Grammatical cases
Case
Case or CASE may refer to:
Instances
* Instantiation (disambiguation), a realization of a concept, theme, or design
* Special case, an instance that differs in a certain way from others of the type
Containers
* Case (goods), a package of relate ...