« Toward a Comparative Typology of ‘Eating’ in Kanak Languages » par Anne-Laure Dotte & Claire Moyse-Faurie (2021)

Le dernier numéro de la revue Oceanic Linguistics est paru en ce mois de juin 2021 et comporte un article de Anne-Laure Dotte (membre permanente ERALO) et Claire Moyse-Faurie (directrice de recherche émérite au LACITO, CNRS) qui compare les différentes façons d’exprimer l’action de ‘manger’ dans les langues kanak. Canne à sucre ; sources de protéines ; tubercules; etc., il y en a pour tous les goûts !

Retrouvez ici l’article intégral sur le site de l’éditeur (pour les usagers UNC),
ou le preprint gratuitement sur HAL.

Résumé (en anglais) :

This paper aims to explore the diversity of expressions for food ingestion in some Oceanic languages, and intends to map out the convergences and divergences attested among these languages. Six main points are addressed: first, a brief historical and environmental survey will be presented; second, the parameters distinguishing ‘eat’ verbs among the Kanak languages will be compared with the differentiation made in other Oceanic languages.

In the notional domain under discussion, each Kanak language has its own food noun categories, depending on physical, nutritive or symbolic (cultural) criteria, and distinguished on the basis of the verb they combine with. Third, a typological perspective will show how Kanak is organized with respect to the contextual aspects incorporated into
the meaning that is expressed together with the basic action of eating. Then, we will discuss some frequent distinctions found in Oceanic languages to extend the comparison. Fifth, the role of possessive classifiers reserved for specific kinds of food nouns and their relation to different ‘eat’ verbs will be investigated; and finally, some remarks will be made on the diversity of constructions available for ‘eat’ verbs in Oceanic languages.

Mots-clés :

Kanak/New Caledonian Languages; Polynesian Languages; Comparative
Lexicology; Eating Verbs; Food Categories; Possessive Classifiers; Transitivity

Dotte, A., & Moyse-Faurie, C. (2021). Toward a Comparative Typology of ‘Eating’ in Kanak Languages. Oceanic Linguistics 60(1), 199-230. doi:10.1353/ol.2021.0006.