A significant number of expressions allude to movements of the body parts, as well as to their postures or positions. These are most frequent with parts of the abdominals, especially the belly and the heart. They occur only marginally among most other body parts, and the throat does not seem to exhibit such metaphoric allusions to movement and posture at all.

Moving and turning

Many belly expressions associate movement with agitation and related negative emotions. Such a relatively intuitive metaphor is exemplified in Gupapuyŋu (Yolngu, Arnhem Land), where ŋoy-wandirri ‘belly run’ means ‘restless, disturbed, unsettled, uneasy’. Often, lack of movement represents calm, as in ŋoy-dharrad̪a ‘belly still, steady, straight, calm’, meaning ‘serene, calm, at peace’. More rarely, lack of movement can also serve to depict negative emotions, as in Ngankikurungkurr (western Top End), where minta ge yenim ‘belly doesn’t go’ means ‘be unhappy, irritated’. Such movement metaphors are mostly attested in association with the belly, and occasionally appear with some other abdominal parts.

 Movement is also present in metaphors that evoke a ‘turning’ body part. This is always negative, often mapping onto resentful attitudes towards others, as in Guugu Yimidhirr (Cape York) gambul yirnga ‘belly turn’, meaning ‘envious’. Many expressions allude to turning around oneself, with some depicting the body part as twisted or entangled, as in Djinang (Yolngu, Arnhem Land) nguy inydji garrpigi ‘belly tied up, twisted, coiled up, circling’, meaning ‘be angry, fearful, annoyed, upset’. Note that expressions describing the body part as tied up also imply that the body part cannot move. Such metaphors are also present with some non-abdominal body parts, like the head – as in Dalabon (Arnhem Land) kodj-dukkan ‘head tied up’ ‘be upset’ – and the forehead. We also found a number of movement or turning metaphors in nose expressions. These are inspired by behaviors that involve moving the face or head, as in Warlpiri (Central Australia) mulyu wariny-ka-nyi ‘nose move away, turn’ meaning ‘have bad feelings for others’.  

High and low

Finally, some expressions allude to the position or posture of a body part – high or low, vertical or lying, raising or falling. As one would expect, and as is the case in English, high/vertical is normally construed as positive, and low/lying as negative. These associations are practically universal, but their specific realizations – i.e. which body parts, and for which emotions – are not. For instance, Wik Mungkan (Cape York) has ngangk ench ‘heart fall’ for ‘feel sad because someone you love dearly is far away or dead’; Dalabon (Arnhem Land) has ngurlk-di ‘heart stands’ for ‘feel strong affection’. As illustrated here, in Australian languages (in English too, incidentally), these position and posture metaphors mostly occur with the heart. They are also attested with some other abdominal parts, but are relatively rare among belly expressions. They are not attested among any expressions featuring the head or facial parts in our corpus.

References

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

Haviland, John. “Guugu Yimidhirr.” In The Handbook of Australian Languages (vol 1), edited by Robert M. W. Dixon and Barry J. Blake, 27-180. Canberra: The Australian National University Press, 1979.

Hoddinott, William G. and Frances M. Kofod. The Ngankikurungkurr language (Daly river area, Northern Territory). Canberra: Pacific Linguistics, 1998.

Kilham, Christine, Mabel Pamulkan, Jennifer Pootchemunka, and Topsy Wolmby. Wik Mungkan-English interactive dictionary. AuSIL Interactive Dictionary Series A-6, Australian Society for Indigenous Languages, 2017. Retrieved from http://ausil.org/Dictionary/Wik-Mungkan/lexicon/mainintro.html.

Laughren, Mary and Warlpiri lexicography group. Warlpiri-English encyclopaedic dictionary. Electronic draft, October 2017, 2007.

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.

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