ABSTRACT
Comparing the respective emotion lexica of Kriol and Dalabon suggests that while Kriol speakers have massively replaced Australian lexical forms with English-like forms, they have been able to do so without modifying the meanings expressed in Australian languages to the same extent. A number of linguistic studies concentrate on substrate etyma, that is, where lexical forms are borrowed from substrate languages rather than from the superstrate language. Words are crucial components of linguistic messages, and the fact that words package meaning into the same semantic categories is key to speakers articulating similar messages: working with the same components, speakers are more likely to produce the same wholes. The Dalabon emotion lexicon has been described in detail by Maia Ponsonnet, which includes an emotion glossary. Emotions are an extensive lexical domain in Dalabon, with more than 160 lexemes documented so far. The vast majority of Dalabon emotion lexemes are verbs and adjectives.
