Aversive case facts for kids

The aversive case is a special way some languages show that something is being avoided or feared. It's like adding a special ending to a word to say, "Watch out for this!" or "We're running away from this!" You'll find this interesting grammatical case mostly in Australian Aboriginal languages. Sometimes it's also called the evitative case (shortened to EVIT).

What is the Aversive Case?

The aversive case is a grammatical case. This means it's a special ending or change to a word that tells you its role in a sentence. For example, in English, we use "he" (subject) and "him" (object). The aversive case tells you that the word it's attached to is something people want to avoid or are scared of.

How Languages Use the Aversive Case

This case is used to show why an action happened. It tells you the reason someone did something was to get away from or protect themselves from something else.

For example, imagine you are running away from a big, scary dog. In a language with an aversive case, the word for "dog" would get a special ending. This ending would mean "because of the dog" or "to avoid the dog."

Let's look at some examples from real languages:

Avoiding Something in Walmajarri

In the Walmajarri language, spoken in Australia, the aversive case helps explain why someone is doing something.

Here's an example:

In this sentence, the word for "dust" is tjurtu-. The ending -karrarla is added to it. This tells us that the children ran into the cave specifically to avoid the dust storm. They didn't just run into the cave; they ran there because of the dust.

Showing Fear in Djabugay

The aversive case can also show what someone is afraid of. It marks the thing that causes the fear.

Here's an example from the Djabugay language:

In this sentence, the word for "snake" is Djama-. The ending -lan is added to it. This shows that the snake is the thing the speaker was afraid of. It's like saying, "I was afraid of the snake."

Avoiding Future Problems

Sometimes, the aversive case can be used with verbs to talk about avoiding something that might happen. It's similar to saying "lest" in old English. For instance, if you wanted to say "lest they be forgotten," a language with an aversive case might say something like "to avoid forgetting them." It focuses on preventing a negative outcome.

Languages with the Aversive Case

It's quite rare for a language to have a special, distinct aversive case. Often, one case might handle both aversive meanings and other jobs.

However, some Australian Aboriginal languages do have a clear aversive case. These include:

• Arrernte
• Djabugay
• Gumbaynggir
• Marri Ngarr
• Marrithiyel
• Walmajarri
• Warlmanpa
• Warlpiri
• Warumungu
• the Western Desert Language
• Yidinj

See Also

• Grammatical case
• Australian Aboriginal languages