Cover not available
Article published In:
Morphology and emotions across the world's languages
Edited by Maïa Ponsonnet and Marine Vuillermet
[Studies in Language 42:1] 2018
► pp. 256–293

Grammatical fear morphemes in Ese Ejja

Making the case for a morphosemantic apprehensional domain

| Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage (CNRS & Université de Lyon)
Grammatical morphemes dedicated to emotions have been little described so far, except for surprise, which may be instantiated in a mirative category. It has even been suggested that an equivalent grammatical encoding for other basic emotions does not seem to occur crosslinguistically. This paper examines three grammatical morphemes in the Amazonian language Ese Ejja (Takanan), namely the apprehensive, the avertive and the timitive, and argues that all three morphemes express fear or its milder version apprehension, i.e. an emotion triggered by an undesirable, (highly) possible event. The morphemes essentially diverge in their syntactic scope (main verb, subordinated verb, or NP), their perspective (that of the speaker or the subject), and the possible absence vs. obligatory presence of a precautionary situation, i.e. the precautions taken to avoid the (consequences of the) feared event. After describing these features in Ese Ejja, the article outlines a crosslinguistic framework for the study of these categories.
Keywords: fear, apprehensive, emotion, grammar, typology
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Three “fear” morphemes in a single languag
    • 1.2A rarum
    • 1.3Previous literature
    • 1.4Goals and organization of the paper
  • 2.Grammatical overview
  • 3.Semantic features of the apprehensional domain
    • 3.1Oxford English Dictionary
    • 3.2 Wierzbicka (1999)
    • 3.3 Lichtenberk (1995) and Verstraete (2005)
  • 4.The Apprehensive -chana
    • 4.1A main clause marker
    • 4.2Undesirability and (strong) possibility
    • 4.3Precautionary situation
    • 4.4Speaker’s perspective
    • 4.5Control
    • 4.6Origins
  • 5.The Avertive e-V kwajejje~kwanijje
    • 5.1A subordinate clause marker
    • 5.2Undesirability and possibility
    • 5.3Precautionary situation
    • 5.4Speaker’s or subject’s perspectiv
    • 5.5Origins
  • 6.The Timitive =yajjajo
    • 6.1An NP marker
    • 6.2Undesirability and high probability
    • 6.3Precautionary situation, fear symptoms and uncontrolled reaction
    • 6.4Speaker’s or subject’s perspective
    • 6.5Origins
  • 7.Summary and conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 19 April 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sl.00010.vui
References (66)
References
Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. 2002. Language contact in Amazonia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
2003. A grammar of Tariana, from Northwest Amazonia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008. The Manambu language of East Sepik, Papua New Guinea. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
2009. The Semantics of clause linking in Manambu. In R. M. W. Dixon & Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, (eds.), The semantics of clause linking: A cross-linguistic typology, 118–144. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Andrews, J. Richard. 2003. Introduction to Classical Nahuatl. Rev. edn. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
Angelo, Denise & Eva Schultze-Berndt. 2016. Beware bambai – lest it be apprehensive. In Felicity Meakins & Carmel O’Shannessy, (eds.), Loss and renewal: Australian languages since colonisation, 255–296. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Austin, Peter. 1981. Switch-reference in Australia. Language 57 (2). 309–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(ed.) 1988. Complex sentence constructions in Australian languages. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blake, Barry J. 2001. Case. 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boogart, Ronny. 2009. [A rethoric straks construction] Een retorische straks-constructie. In Ronny Boogart, Marijke Mooijaart & Marijke van der Wal (eds.), Woorden wisselen: Voor Ariane van Santen bij haar afscheid van de leidse Universiteit, 167–183. Leiden: Stichting Neerlandistiek Leiden.Google Scholar
Cáceres, Natalia. 2011. Grammaire fonctionnelle-typologique du ye’kwana, langue caribe du Venezuela. Lyon: Université Lyon 2. (Doctoral dissertation).Google Scholar
DeLancey, Scott. 1997. Mirativity: The grammatical marking of unexpected information. Linguistic Typology 1(1). 33–52. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dench, Alan. 1988. Complex sentences in Martuthunira. In Peter Austin (ed.), Complex sentence constructions in Australian languages, 97–139. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Derbyshire, Desmond C. 1979. Hixkaryana syntax. London: University of London. (Doctoral dissertation).Google Scholar
de Reuse, Willem Joseph. 1988. Siberian Yupik Eskimo: The language and its contacts with Chukchi. Austin: University of Texas at Austin. (Doctoral dissertation).Google Scholar
Dixon, R. M. W. 1977. A grammar of Yidiɲ. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2002. Australian languages: Their nature and development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009. The semantics of clause linking in a typological perspective. In R. M. W. Dixon, & Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (eds.), The semantics of clause linking: A cross-linguistic typology, 1–55. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
2011. The languages of Australia. Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ekman, Paul. 1992. An argument for basic emotions. Cognition and Emotion 6(3). 169–200. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Epps, Patience. 2008. A grammar of Hup. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Evans, Nicholas. 1995. A grammar of Kayardild: With historical-comparative notes on Tangkic. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fillmore, Charles J., & Beryl T. Atkins. 1992. Toward a frame-based lexicon: The semantics of RISK and its neighbors. In Adrienne Lehrer & Eva Feder Kittay (eds.), Frames, fields, and contrasts: New essays in semantic and lexical organization, 75–102. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Foolen, Ad. 2012. The relevance of emotion for language and linguistics. In Ad Foolen, Ulrike M. Lüdtke, Timothy P. Racine & Jordan Zlatev (eds.), Moving ourselves, moving others: Motion and emotion in intersubjectivity, consciousness and language, 349–68. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
François, Alex. 2003. La sémantique du prédicat en mwotlap (Vanuatu). Société de Linguistique de Paris. Leuven-Paris: Peeters.Google Scholar
Green, Ian. 1989. Marrithiyel: A language of the Daly River region of Australia’s northern territory. Canberra: The Australian National University. (Doctoral dissertation).Google Scholar
Guillaume, Antoine. 2014. (ms.) El idioma takana. esbozo de su fonología y su gramática. Lyon.Google Scholar
. 2018. The grammatical expression of emotions in Tacana and other Takanan languages. In Maïa Ponsonnet & Marine Vuillermet (eds.), Morphology and emotions across the world’s languages. Special issue of Studies in Language 42(1).Google Scholar
Haiman, John. 1980. Hua, a Papuan language of the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hammarström, Harald, Robert Forkel, Martin Haspelmath & Sebastian Bank (eds.) 2013. Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. [URL].
Harvey, Mark. 2001. A grammar of Limilngan: A language of the Mary River Region Northern Territory Australia. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.Google Scholar
Heath, Jeffrey. 1981. Basic materials in Mara: Grammar, texts and dictionary. Pacific Linguistics Series C 60. Canberra: Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University.Google Scholar
Hudson, Joyce. 1978. The core of Walmatjari grammar (Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies). Canberra: Humanities Press.Google Scholar
König, Ekkehard & Peter Siemund. 2007. Speech act distinctions in grammar. In Timothy Shopen (ed.), Language typology and syntactic description. Volume I: Clause structure, 276–324. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kuteva, Tania. 1998. On identifying an evasive gram: Action narrowly averted. Studies in Language 22(1). 113–60. DOI logo.Google Scholar
. 2000. TAM-auxiliation and the Avertive category in Northeast Europe. In Jocelyne Fernandez-Vest (ed.), Areal grammaticalization and cognitive semantics: The Finnic and Sami languages, 27–41. Tallinn/Paris: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, Fondation de la Langue Estonienne.Google Scholar
Lichtenberk, Frantisek. 1995. Apprehensional epistemics. In Joan Bybee & Suzanne Fleischman (eds.), Modality in grammar and discourse, 293–327. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2008. A grammar of Toqabaqita. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
López-Couso, María José. 2007. Adverbial connectives within and beyond adverbial subordination: The history of ‘lest.’ In Ursula Lenker & Anneli Meurman-Solin (eds.), Connectives in the history of English, 11–29. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Majid, Asifa. 2012. Current emotion research in the language sciences. Emotion Review 4(4). 432–43. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mayer, Mercer. 1969. Frog, Where Are You? New York: Dial Books.Google Scholar
Meira, Sérgio. 1999. A grammar of Tiriyó. Houston: Rice University. (Doctoral dissertation).Google Scholar
. 2004. Mental state postpositions in Tiriyó and other Cariban languages. Linguistic Typology 8(2). 213–42. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
New Tribes Mission. ms. Infant care and feeding – Cuidado y alimentación infantíl.
Olawsky, Knut J. 2006. A grammar of Urarina. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Overall, Simon. 2009. The semantics of clause linking in Aguaruna. In R. M. W. Dixon & Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (eds.), The semantics of clause linking: A cross-linguistic typology, 167–192. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Palmer, Frank Robert. 1986. Mood and modality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Plank, Frans. 2013. What exactly is …? A new feature: Call for contributions. Linguistic Typology 17(2). 267–268. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ponsonnet, Maïa. 2014a. Documenting the language of emotions in Dalabon (Northern Australia): Caveats, solutions and benefits. In Aicha Belkadi & Kakia Chatsiou & Kirsty Rowan (eds.), Proceedings of the conference Language Documentation and Linguistic Theory 41. 1–13.Google Scholar
. 2014b. The language of emotions: The case of Dalabon (Australia). Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Queixalós, Francisco. 2000. Syntaxe sikuani (Colombie). Paris: Peeters.Google Scholar
Schultze-Berndt, Eva, & Denise Angelo. 2017. Just you wait! Temporal expressions as the source of grammaticalised apprehensive markers. (Paper presented at the 12th Conference of the Association for Linguistic Typology (ALT), Canberra, 14 December 2017.)
Shipley, William F. 1964. Maidu grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Terrill, Angela. 2003. A grammar of Lavukaleve. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thompson, Sandra A., Robert E. Longacre & Shin Ja J. Hwang. 2007. Adverbial clauses. In Timothy Shopen (ed.), Language typology and syntactic description. Volume II: Complex constructions, 237–300. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
van der Voort, Hein. 2004. A grammar of Kwaza. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verstraete, Jean-Christophe. 2005. The semantics and pragmatics of composite mood marking: The Non-Pama-Nyungan languages of Northern Australia. Linguistic Typology 9(2). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2006. The nature of irreality in the past domain: Evidence from past intentional constructions in Australian languages. Australian Journal of Linguistics 26(1). 59–79. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vuillermet, Marine. 2012. A grammar of Ese Ejja, a Takanan language of the Bolivian Amazon. Lyon: Université Lumière Lyon 2. (Doctoral dissertation).Google Scholar
. Submitted. Source-Goal (a)symmetries in Ese Ejja. In Anetta Kopecka, Miyuki Ishibashi & Marine Vuillermet (eds.). Source-Goal (a)symmetries, Special issue in Studies in Language.
Vuillermet, Marine & Antoine Desnoyers. 2013 (ms). A hunting story – Yendo a cazar. Berkeley: University of California.Google Scholar
Wilkins, David P. 1989. Mparntwe Arrernte (Aranda): Studies in the structure and semantics of grammar. Australian National University. (Doctoral dissertation.)Google Scholar
Wierzbicka, Anna. 1992. Defining emotion concepts. Cognitive Science 16(4). 539–81. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1999. Emotions across languages and cultures: Diversity and universals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yallop, Colin. 1977. Alyawarra, an Aboriginal language of Central Australia. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.Google Scholar
Zariquiey, Roberto. 2018. The encoding of emotions in Kakataibo (Panoan): Morphological markers and prosodic patterns. In Maïa Ponsonnet & Marine Vuillermet (eds.), Morphology and emotions across the world’s languages. Special issue of Studies in Language 42(1).Google Scholar
Cited by (10)

Cited by ten other publications

Kasia M. Jaszczolt
2023. Understanding Human Time, DOI logo
AnderBois, Scott
2022. The Discourse Particle Wal in Yucatec Maya: Uncertainty and Negativity across Sentence Types. International Journal of American Linguistics 88:3 ► pp. 235 ff. DOI logo
de Hoop, Helen & Gijs Mulder
2022. Claiming common ground with utterance-final particle hoor in Dutch. Linguistics in the Netherlands 39 ► pp. 88 ff. DOI logo
Martinez, Jesus Olguin
2022. Contact-Induced Language Change: the Case of Mixtec Adverbial Clauses. Journal of Language Contact 15:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Olguín Martínez, Jesús & Alonso Vásquez-Aguilar
2022. The contribution of amazonian languages to the typology of purpose clauses. LIAMES: Línguas Indígenas Americanas 22 ► pp. e022018 ff. DOI logo
Persohn, Bastian
2022. An Emergent Apprehensional Epistemic Adverbial in Spanish. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 15:2 ► pp. 405 ff. DOI logo
Dobrushina, Nina
2021. Negation in complement clauses of fear-verbs. Functions of Language 28:2 ► pp. 121 ff. DOI logo
Smith-Dennis, Ellen
2021.  Don’t feel obligated, lest it be undesirable: the relationship between prohibitives and apprehensives in Papapana and beyond. Linguistic Typology 25:3 ► pp. 413 ff. DOI logo
Alba-Juez, Laura & J. Lachlan Mackenzie
2019. Chapter 1. Emotion processes in discourse. In Emotion in Discourse [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 302], ► pp. 3 ff. DOI logo
Grossman, Eitan & Stéphane Polis
2018. Swimming against the typological tide or paddling along with language change?. Journal of Historical Linguistics 8:3 ► pp. 388 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 18 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.