The aversive or evitative case (

abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

) is a

grammatical case A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers ( determiners, adjectives, participles, and Numeral (linguistics), numerals), which corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a nominal group in a wording. In va ...

found in Australian Aboriginal languages that indicates that the marked noun is avoided or feared.

Usage

For example, in

Walmajarri The Walmadjari (Walmajarri) people, also known as Tjiwaling and Wanaseka, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Name The two names reflect different Walmadjari preferences. Their western bands accept ...

: 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 ai ...

of verbs of fearing. For example, in

Djabugay The Djabugay people (also known as Djabuganydji or Tjapukai) are a group of Australian Aboriginal people who are the original inhabitants of mountains, gorges, lands and waters of a richly forested part of the Great Dividing Range including t ...

: The aversive may be used on a

nominalized In linguistics, nominalization or nominalisation is the use of a word that is not a noun (e.g., a verb, an adjective or an adverb) as a noun, or as the head of a noun phrase. This change in functional category can occur through morphological tra ...

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 Arrernte (also spelt Aranda, etc.) is a descriptor related to a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples from Central Australia. It may refer to: * Arrernte (area), land controlled by the Arrernte Council (?) * Arrernte people, Aboriginal Austral ...

* Gumbaynggir *

Marri Ngarr The Maringar are an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory. Country In Norman Tindale's estimate the Maringar had about midway along the Moyle River and its contiguous swamplands and various tributaries. Social organisation ...

* Marrithiyel *

Warlmanpa The Warlmanpa are an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory. Name and people The Warlmanpa were long missing from the map of Australian aborigines, – there is no direct mention of them in Norman Tindale's survey of Australian tri ...

Warlpiri Warlpiri may refer to: * Warlpiri people, an indigenous people of the Tanami Desert, Central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Au ...

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 and Alice Springs. Language Their language is Warumungu, belonging to th ...

*the Western Desert Language * Yidinj

References

* {{Grammatical cases Australian Aboriginal languages Grammatical cases

Case Case or CASE may refer to: Containers * Case (goods), a package of related merchandise * Cartridge case or casing, a firearm cartridge component * Bookcase, a piece of furniture used to store books * Briefcase or attaché case, a narrow box to ca ...