Do Linguistic Properties Influence Expressive Potential? The Case of Two Australian Diminutives (Gunwinyguan Family) - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Article Dans Une Revue Anthropological Linguistics Année : 2019

Do Linguistic Properties Influence Expressive Potential? The Case of Two Australian Diminutives (Gunwinyguan Family)

Résumé

Although expressivity is indisputably a crucial function of language, expressive features have often been neglected in linguistic descriptions. After discussing how this lack can reflect the gendered structure of language documentation practices, this article addresses the lack in question by discussing the prevalence of emotional values over formal properties in Australian diminutives. The analysis recruits first-hand data from two Australian Aboriginal languages to explore the relationships between grammar and expressivity: how do grammatical properties of linguistic forms shape expressive resources? To shed light upon this question, the study compares the diminutives found in Dalabon and Rembarrnga, two neighboring languages of the Gunwinyguan family that share core grammatical structure and pertain to a "culturally unified" region. The comparison shows that in spite of many mismatching linguistic properties, the emotions that these diminutives can express remain remarkably stable, suggesting strong sociocultural constraints in this semantic domain.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
draft Ponsonnet_ExpressivityAustralianDiminutives_20190117.pdf (772.9 Ko) Télécharger le fichier
Origine : Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)

Dates et versions

hal-03807393 , version 1 (02-12-2022)

Licence

Paternité

Identifiants

Citer

Maïa Ponsonnet. Do Linguistic Properties Influence Expressive Potential? The Case of Two Australian Diminutives (Gunwinyguan Family). Anthropological Linguistics, 2019, 60 (2), pp.157-190. ⟨10.1353/anl.2019.0002⟩. ⟨hal-03807393⟩
23 Consultations
56 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More