By R. H. Mathews, L.S., Corres. Memb. Anthrop. Soc., Washington,
U.S.A.
Synposis.--Introductory.--Orthography.--The Wiradyuri Language.--The
Burreba-burreba Language.--The Ngunawal Language.--Vocabulary of
Wiradyuri Words.--Vocabulary of Ngunawal Words.
The native tribes speaking the Wiradyuri language occupy an immense
region in the central and southern portions of New South Wales. For
their eastern and northern boundaries the reader is referred to the
map accompanying my paper to the American Philosophical Society in
1898.[1] The western boundary is shown on the map with my article to
the Royal Society of New South Wales the same year.[2] Their southern
limit is represented on the map attached to a paper I transmitted to
the Anthropological Society at Washington in 1898.[3] The maps
referred to were prepared primarily to mark out the boundaries of the
social organisation and system of marriage and descent prevailing in
the Wiradyuri community, but will also serve to indicate the
geographic range of their language.
The Wiradyuri language is spoken over a greater extent of territory
than any other tongue in New South Wales, and the object of the
present monograph is to furnish a short outline of its grammatical
structure. I have included a brief notice of the Burreba-burreba
language, which adjoins the Wiradyuri on the west. A cursory outline
is also given of the language of the Ngunawal tribe, which bounds the
Wiradyuri on a portion of the east. The Kamilaroi tribes, whose
language I recently reported to this Institute,[4] adjoin the
Wiradyuri on the north.
In all the languages treated in this article, in every part of speech
subject to inflexion, there are double forms of the first person, of
the dual and plural, similar in character to what have been reported
from many islands in Polynesia and Melanesia, and the tribes of North
America. Separate forms for "we two," and "he and I," were observed by
Rev. James Günther among the pronouns of the Wiradyuri natives at
Wellington,[5] but as he does not mention anything of the kind in the
plural, we may conclude that he did not observe it.
The materials from which this paper has been prepared have been
gathered by me while travelling through various parts of the Wiradyuri
country, for the purpose of visiting and interviewing the old native
men and women who still speak the native tongue, from whom I noted
down all the information herein reproduced. When the difficulties
encountered in obtaining the grammar of any language which is purely
colloquial are taken into consideration, I feel sure that all
necessary allowances will be made for the imperfections of my work.
The initiation ceremonies of the Wiradyuri tribes, which are of a
highly interesting character, have been fully described by me in
contributions to several societies and other learned institutions.[6]
It will be as well to state that in 1892, Dr. J. Fraser, from the MSS.
of the late Rev. James Günther, published some gramatical rules and a
vocabulary of the Wiradyuri language. This forms part of a volume
entitled _An Australian Language_ (Sydney, 1892), Appendix, pp.
56-120.
Mr. E. M. Curr published several vocabularies collected in different
parts of the Wiradyuri territory.--_The Australian Race_, vol. iii, pp.
363-401.
Orthography.
The system of orthoepy adopted is that recommended by the Royal
Geographical Society, London, with the following qualifications:
_Ng_ at the beginning of a word or syllable has a peculiar sound,
which I have previously illustrated.[7] At the end of a syllable or
word, it has substantially the sound of _ng_ in "sing."
_Dh_ and _nh_ have nearly the sound of _th_ in "that," with a slight
initial sound of the _d_ or _n_ as the case may be.
_Ty_ and _dy_ at the commencement of a word or syllable, as _dyirril_
(a spear), has nearly the sound of _j_. At the end of a word, as
_gillaty_ (to-day), _ty_ or _dy_ is pronounced nearly as _tch_ in the
word "batch," but omitting the final hissing sound.
_w_ always commences a syllable or word, and has its ordinary sound.
_G_ is hard in all cases. _R_ has a rough trilled sound, as in
"hurrah!"
The sound of the Spanish _ñ_ is frequent. At the commencement of a
syllable or word I have given it as _ny_, but when terminating a word
I have used the Spanish letter.
_T_ is interchangeable with _d_; _p_ with _b_; and _g_ with _k_ in
most words where they are used.
As far as possible, vowels are unmarked, but in some instances, to
avoid ambiguity, the long sound of _a_, _e_ and _u_ are indicated
thus: â, ê, û. In a few cases the short sound of _u_ is marked _u_.
_Y_ at the beginning of a word has its ordinary consonant value.
The Wiradyuri Language.
_Articles_.
There are no articles, properly so-called, in the language. The
demonstratives "this" and "that" do duty for our "a" and "the." If it
be desired to definitely say that only _one_ is meant, the numeral,
_ngunbai_, is employed.
In all the sentences illustrating the cases of nouns and other parts
of speech in this paper, the demonstratives are omitted. A native
would say, "Man [that over yonder] beat child [this in front]," the
proper demonstratives being inserted where illustrated by the
brackets.
_Nouns_.
_Number_.--There are three numbers, singular, dual and plural.
_Wamboin_, a kangaroo. _Wamboinbula_ a couple of kangaroos.
_Wamboingirbang_, several kangaroos.
_Gender._--In human family different words are used, as _mên_ or
_gibir_, a man; _bullâdyeru_ or _inar_, a woman; _birrengang_, a boy;
_ingargang_, a young girl; _yiramurung_, a youth; _megai_, a maiden;
_burai_, a child.
Among animals, word are used signifying "male" and "female"
respectively. _Wille bidyur_, a buck opossum; _wille gunal_, a doe
opossum. _Nguruñ burramai_, hen emu; _nguruñ bidyur_, a cock emu.
_Case_.--The cases are the nominative, nominative-agent, genitive,
accusative, instrumental dative and ablative.
The nominative simply names the person or thing under attention, as,
_mirri_ or _burumain_, a dog; _burrandang_, a native-bear; _wille_ or
_womburan_, an opossum; _wagan_, a crow; _bulgang_ or _burgan_, a
boomerang.
The nominative-agent requires a suffix to the noun, as, _gibirru
womburan dhê_, a man an opossume ate. _Bullâdyerudu dhurung bumê_, a
woman a snake struck (or killed). _Inarru wille dharalgiri_, a woman
an opossum will eat. _Burrandangu gurril dhara_, a native-bear leaves
is eating. _Mirridu wille buddhe_, a dog an opossum bit.
_Genitive_.--_Mêngu bulgang_, a man's boomerang. _Bullâdyerugu kunne_,
a woman's yamstick. _Burrandanggu bullung_, a native-bear's head.
_Dative_.--_Dhurrangu_, to the creek (_dhurrang_). _Ngurangu_, to the
camp (_ngurang_).
_Ablative_.--_Dhurrandyi_, from the creek; _ngurandyi_, from the camp.
In this case, and also in the dative, the final _g_ of both words is
omitted before applying the suffix.
The accusative is the same as the simple nominative, as will be seen
by the examples given under the nominative-agent.
_Instrumental_.--When an instrument is the remote object of the verb,
the accusative remains unchanged, but the instrumental case takes the
same suffix as the nominative-agent; thus, _mêndu wagan burgandu
bume_, the man hit a crow with a boomerang. _Inarru burumain kunnedu
bangabe_, the woman cut a dog with a yamstick.
In the above examples, as well as in the sentences illustrating the
nominative-agent, it will be seen that the agent suffix has euphonic
changes according to the termination of the word it is attached to.
This may be said of the suffixes in all the cases of nouns and
adjectives.
_Adjectives_.
Adjectives take the same inflexions for number and case as the nouns
they qualify, and are placed after them. They are without gender.
_Womboin munun_, a kangaroo large. _Womboinbula mununbula_, a pair of
large kangaroos. _Womboinmuddu mununmuddu_, several large kangaroos.
_Burumaindu munundu womburan buddhe_, a dog large an opossum bit.
_Inarru bubadyallu burai bume_, a woman small a child beat.
_Womboingu munungu dhun_, a large kangaroo's tail.
A big waterhole, _dhâ-u munun_. _Dhâ-ugu munungu_, to a big waterhole.
_Dhâ-wadyi munundyi_, from a big waterhole.
_Comparison_.--_Nyila murrumbangbun-gan_, this is vey good. _Nyilangai
murrumbang wirrai_, that is not good. If the articles compared be
equal in quality, a native would say, This is good--that is good, and
so on.
_Pronouns_.
Pronouns are inflected for number and person, and comprise the
nominative, possessive and objective cases, a few examples in each of
which will be given. There are forms in the dual plural to express the
inclusion or exclusion of the person addressed.
_Singular_.
Nominative. Possessive. Objective.
1st Person I _Ngadhu_ Mine _Ngadyi_ Me _Ngunnhal_.
2nd " Thou _Ngindu_ Thine _Nginnu_ Thee _Nginyal_.
3rd " He _Ngagwa_ His _Ngagwaiula_ Him _Ngunnungga_.
_Dual_.
1st Person We, incl. _Ngulli_ Ours, incl. _Ngulliging_ Us, incl. _Ngullinya_.
We, excl. _Ngulliguna_ Ours, excl. _Ngulligingula_ Us, excl. _Ngullinyuggu_.
2nd " You _Ngindubla_ Yours _Nginnubulala_ You _Nginyalbula_.
3rd " They _Ngagwainbula_ Theirs _Ngagwabulagu_ Them _Ngunnainbula_.
_Plural_.
1st Person We, incl. _Ngeani_ Ours, incl. _Ngeaniging_ Us, incl. _Ngeaninyagu_.
We, excl. _Ngeaniguna_ Ours, excl. _Ngeaniginguna_ Us, excl. _Ngeaninyaguna_.
2nd " You _Ngindugir_ Yours _Nginnugir_ You _Nginyalgir_.
3rd " They _Ngagwainguler_ Theirs _Ngagwagulaia_ Them _Ngunnagulella_.
There are other forms of the objective case meaning "from me," "with
me," "towards me," etc., which have numerous modifications.
The extended forms of the pronouns given in the above table are not
much used as separate words, except in answer to interrogatives, or
assertively. _Ngulliguna_ might, for example, be given in answer to
the question, "Who killed the kangaroo?" "Whose boomerang is this?"
might elicit the reply, _Ngaddyi_.
In a common conversation, however, the pronominal affixes are
employed.
The third personal pronouns have several forms and are subject to much
variation, depending upon the position of the parties referred to.
Many of them are practically demonstratives.
_Interrogatives_.--Who, _ngandi?_ Who (agent), _nganduwa?_ Who (dual),
_nganduwanbula?_ Who (plural), _nganduwandugir?_ Who for,
_ngandigula?_ Whose is this, _ngangunginna?_ _Nganduga_ is equivalent
to "I wonder who?" or "I don't know who." Who from,
_ngangundiburrami?_ What, _minyang?_ What is that, _minyawanna?_ What
for, _minyangula?_ What from, _minyalli?_ How many (what number),
_minyanggulmañ?_
_Demonstratives_.--The following are a few examples:--This, _nginna_.
These (dual), _nginnabula_. This other one, _nginnagwal_. From this,
_nginnalidhi_. Belonging to this, _nginnagula_. With this,
_nginnadhurai_. That, _ngunnila_. That other one, _ngunniloagwal_.
That yonder, _ngunnainbirra_. A native will frequently state the
location of an article by its compass direction from a particular tree
or other well-known spot.
These demonstratives are very numerous--many of them being used as
pronouns of the third person, and are declined for number, person, and
case. They also vary according to the position of the object referred
to in regard to the speaker, and likewise change with the relative
position of the object to the person addressed.
In all parts of aboriginal speech, words are occasionally met with so
closely alike in pronunciation that it is almost impossible for any
one but a native to detect the difference.
_Verbs_.
The moods are the indicative, imperative, conditional, and infinitive.
The verb stem and a contraction of the necessary pronouns are
incorporated, and the words thus formed are used in the conjugation.
These are, however, modifications of the affixed particles in the past
and future tenses to express differences in time.
In the following conjugation of the verb "to beat" the present tense
is given in full. In the past and future tenses, one example in the
first person singular is thought sufficient, because any required
person and number in each tense can be obtained by following the
directions given in the text.
_Indicative Mood_--_Present Tense_.
Singular 1st Person I beat _Bumurradhu_.
2nd " Thou beatest _Bumurrandu_.
3rd " He beats _Bumurragwa_.
Dual 1st Person We, incl., beat _Bumurrali_.
We, excl., beat _Bumurraliguna_.
2nd " You beat _Bumurrandubla_.
3rd " They beat _Bumurragwainbula_.
Plural 1st " We, incl., beat _Bumurrani_.
We, excl., beat _Bumurraniguna_.
2nd " You beat _Bumurrandugir_.
3rd " They beat _Bumurragwainguler_.
_Past Tense_.
1st Person I beat just now _Bumulbêndhu_.
Singular, I beat this morning _Bumulngurrindhu_.
I beat yesterday _Bumulgwandhu_.
I beat, indefinite _Bumêdhu_.
I beat long ago _Bumulgridyu_.
_Dhu_, softened to _dyu_ in some cases, is a contraction of _ngadhu_.
_Future Tense_.
1st Person I will beat, indefinite _Bumulgiridyu_.
Singular, I will beat, soon _Bumulyawagiridyu_.
I will beat in the morning _Bumulngurrigiridu_.
Owing to the several inflections of the verb in the past and future
tneses, for immediate, proximate, and more or less remote times of the
performance of the action,[8] it is often found convenient, especially
when speaking in the dual or plural, to prefix a complete pronoun from
the table of pronouns. Thus, instead of saying, _Bumulbênli_, a native
frequently expresses it, _Ngulli bumulbên_. Again, instead of saying,
_Bumulgiriniguna_, he would use, _Ngeaniguna bumulgiri_. This leaves
the termination of the verb freer for the numerous inflexions.
_Imperative Mood_.
Singular Beat thou _Buma_.
Dual Beat you _Bumandubla_.
Plural Beat you _Bumandugir_.
_Conditional Mood_.
Perhaps I will beat. _Yama bumulgiridyu_.
_Infinitive Mood_.
To beat _Bumulli_.
_Reflexive_.
There is a reflex form of the verb, as when one does anything to
himself: