Emotions in the Alamblak lexicon
Alamblak is spoken by people of the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. Emotion concepts in Alamblak are expressed by verbs and idiomatic expressions. Fifteen terms in seven sub-domains of emotions are described here. The sub-domains include concepts similar to the English concepts ‘happy’, ‘sad’, ‘shame’, ‘anger’, ‘fear’, and ‘desire/love’. Emotions that incorporate the concept of ‘wanting’ are conceptually close to the disposition of ‘desire’, therefore this study includes a description of four Alamblak terms in the two sub-domains of ‘desire’ and ‘dislike/diswant’. The three terms expressing ‘dislike’ or ‘diswant’ represent a rejection of desire; they contrast with negated desire terms that express a lack of desire. Seventeen body image expressions and conventional metaphors associated with these verbs are presented in the discussions of the emotions to which they refer. The body image expressions include the body parts ‘heart’ and ‘liver’, as well as the metaphysical component ‘thoughts/inner person’.