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Feelings of affection, sympathy, generosity and compassion one can feel towards others form a cluster of emotions with linguistic prominence in Australian Indigenous languages. This cluster also encompasses the sadness we feel when something bad happens to a loved one, i.e. sorrow or grief. Words and expressions for such painful emotions are often translated as ‘worry’ or ‘sorry’ in English.

Compassionate emotions and the abdomen

With respect to body parts, this cluster of emotions occurs fairly frequently in association with the belly (though such expressions are far less prevalent than expressions for anger). To give just a couple of examples, consider ŋoy-wuyun ‘belly/inside feel sorry, sympathise’, which also means ‘feel sorry, sympathise’ in Yolngu Matha (Arnhem Land); or ngaru yakurrjarrinyu ‘belly becomes bad’, which also means ‘become worried, concerned or sad, often for others’ in Walmajarri (Kimberley). Emotions from the compassion cluster are also well represented amongst other abdominal parts, namely the liver, abdomen and chest – perhaps less so with the heart, which leans toward the expression of love proper rather than sympathy and affection. The same abdominal parts can evoke the absence of compassion, for instance, being emotionally cold or ungenerous (which can be regarded as equivalent to lack of compassion). Djinang (Yolngu, Arnhem Land), for instance, has bir maṇbingi ‘chest hard’, with the emotional meaning ‘selfish’ in the sense of ‘ungenerous’.

Compassion and sorrow in other body parts

Compassion and concern for others are also present amongst expressions involving the eyes, though they rarely denote stronger forms of sadness like grief, unlike abdominal body parts. Body parts that tend to map onto social attitudes, such as the head, forehead and nose, are rarely used to express compassion and associated emotions. In fact, the nose seems specialized for the opposite attitude: being ungenerous, socially distant and so on. Amongst parts of the face, the eyes are the only ones that associate with compassion regularly. The ear and throat do not show a strong connection with compassion either, however they can both be used for homesickness, which is arguably also a feeling of lack or loss, akin to sadness or even grief. In Yir Yoront (Cape York), for instance, pin-warr ‘ear stop/cease’ means ‘be homesick, miss one’s home, miss a person’. In Arrernte (Central Australia), ahentye irrare-irreme is literally ‘feel lonely in the throat’, where irrare means ‘sad and lonely, especially for home or family, homesick’.

Metaphors: resistance and others

Some of the metaphors for compassion in Australian languages are reminiscent of those we find in English, where softness is linked to empathy and hardness to lack of empathy. In Diyari (South Australia), ‘heart soft’ means ‘tender-hearted’. But contrary to English, in Australian languages this applies to body parts beyond the heart: Diyari also has an expression ‘liver become-soft’ meaning ‘to be compassionate’. On the negative side, a body part’s hardness can describe lack of generosity, which essentially amounts to lack of compassion, like in Dalabon (Arnhem Land), where kangu-murduk ‘hard belly’ means ‘selfish’. Softness metaphors also occur with the eyes, as in Gupapuyŋu (Yolngu, Arnhem Land), where mel-yalŋgi ‘soft eyes’ means ‘sympathetic, considerate, helpful’.

Beyond hardness and softness, compassionate emotions attract a broad range of metaphors, most of which can apply to a range of abdominal parts. Openness is not uncommon, as in Djinang (Yolngu, Arnhem Land), where ḍurkḍurk inydji ḷapmiygi, literally ‘open one’s heart’ means ‘be magnanimous, have compassion’. Figurative representations of an abdominal body part being ‘reached’ can also be found, for instance in Dalabon: kangu-mang ‘take in the belly’ means ‘touch emotionally’.

References

Alpher, Barry. Yir-Yoront lexicon: Sketch and dictionary of an Australian language. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1991.

Austin, Peter. ‘The children are by fear on the centipede’: The expression of emotions and perceptions in the grammars of some Australian Aboriginal languages. Seminar presentation, University of Dusseldorf, Nov 2017.

Bowern, Claire and David Zorc. Yolngu Matha dictionary. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, AILEC 0778, n. d.

Henderson, John and Veronica Dobson. Eastern and Central Arrernte to English dictionary. Alice Springs, N. T.: IAD Press, 1994.

Lowe, Beulah. Gupapuyŋu-English dictionary. Darwin: Aboriginal Resource & Development Services Inc., 1994. Retrieved from https://ards.com.au/resources/downloadable/gupapuy%C5%8Bu-dictionary/.

Ponsonnet, Maïa. The language of emotions: The case of Dalabon (Australia). Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Co., 2014.

Richards, Eirlys and Joyce Hudson. Walmajarri-English dictionary. Berrimah, N. T: Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1990.

Waters, Bruce E. An interim Djinang dictionary. Darwin: Summer Institute of Linguistics, 1983.