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Theaversive orevitative case (abbreviatedEVIT) is agrammatical case found inAustralian Aboriginal languages that indicates that the marked noun is avoided or feared.
For example, inWalmajarri:
pa-lu
tjurtu-karrarla
dust-AVERSIVE
laparnkanja
ran away
natji-karti.
cave-ALL
Yapa-warnti pa-lu tjurtu-karrarla laparnkanja natji-karti.
child-ABS.PL IND-they dust-AVERSIVE {ran away} cave-ALL
The children ran into the cave because of the dust storm.
The suffix-karrarla indicates that the action (running away) was carried out in order to avoid the dust storm,tjurtu-.
The aversive may also be used to mark theobject ofverbs of fearing. For example, inDjabugay:
Djama-lan
snake-AVERSIVE
ŋawu
I
yarrnga-nj.
be afraid-PAST
Djama-lan ŋawu yarrnga-nj.
snake-AVERSIVE I {be afraid-PAST}
I was afraid of the snake.
The aversive may be used on anominalized verb, to produce an equivalent of English "lest". For example, "lest they be forgotten" could be encoded as "to avoid forgetting them".
Few languages have a distinct aversive case. Usually, a single case will be used both for the aversive and other functions.
Languages with a distinct aversive case include: