This paper explores how emotions are expressed in the endangered
Gunwinyguan language Kunbarlang and compares these expressions to those in the
neighbouring Gunwinyguan language Bininj Kunwok, and neighbouring languages from
other language families, Mawng (Iwaidjan) and Ndjébbana (Maningridan). As well
as considering body-based emotion expressions and the tropes (metaphors and
metonymies) they instantiate, we consider the range of other (non-body-based)
expressions and tropes available in each language. These provide an important
point of comparison with the body-part expressions, which are limited to
expressions based on noun incorporation in the Gunwinyguan languages and,
correspondingly, a more limited range of tropes. By outlining and comparing the
linguistic tropes used to express emotions in these four languages in the highly
multilingual yet socioculturally unified context of western Arnhem Land, we aim
to shed further light on the relationships between linguistic figurative
features and conceptual representations of emotions.