n - University of Newcastle

-
6 AX AUSTRALIAN I~ANGUAGE. THE JIIXTUSG DIALECT. I
The adjective cluk kai, ' dead,' takes numerous forms ; thus :-
2, dukkai, dukkai-hint; 3.,touara-gun, dukkai-guilt, dnkkai-bin-
gnnt, clukkai-gun-bint; 4. dukkai, dukkai-bint.
Nouns ancl adjectives do not change their form to denote number.
The ~vord paigal may niean one 'man,' or any number of !men.'
With regard to the pronouns, some of them are singular, sollle
dual, some plural, and sonle of them indefinite so far as number is
concerned. The nunlber of a noun is generally known by the use
in the same sentence, or in the context, of a singular, dual, or
plural pronoun, or hy the scope of the sentence or other surrounding
circumstances.
3. GESDER.
Tliere are tn-o mays by which the fenlinine is distiuguished from
Ihe mascnline--either by a different word or by adding the termination
-gin, of mliich the zl is aln~ays short ; as :-
~lfasculbze. Fe~sinitle.
Iiobi, ' a blind man.' Alobi-gun, ' a blind u-omal~'
Yerubilgin, 'a inale singer.' Ykrubilgin-gun, 'a female sillger.'
ICi6on1, 'old man.' i\!errug, ' old woman.'
Gubbo, ' boy.' Yagari, ‘ &I. '
Koroman, male 'kangaroo.' Imarra, female 'kangaroo.'
I'BOA'O LrATS.
These are :-(1) Personal pronouns, (2) demon strati^-es, (3)
Inclefiuite pronoulls, (4) Numerals, ancl 5) Intei-rogatires.
Personal pronozcizs.
Si~zgzclcir. Gai, 'I.' TlT6, 'thou.' Nyuly, 'he'; nyan, slie.'
Pkcrnl. Gully, ' we.' Buly, 'you.' &mnaby, 'they.'
The Minyng has no siml>le dual, although there are compound
terms and phrases denoting the dual number ; such as, gulliw 6,
g ullibula, 'we two'; me gerrig, 'you two,' 'you and another.'
The personal fornls of hula are sometimes used as dual pronouns;
as, bulaily, 'they two,' i)ec~c., ancl buiaili-gun, 'they
two, fena. ; and even such phrases as TVB gerri g bnlail y and n k
gerrig bulaili-gun, 'you two,' are used.
D~no~zstratiues.
Besicles these, there is a peculiar class of words, which may be
called demonstratives. When used as predicates, they have the
general meaning of ' here,' ' there,' or ' yonder.' They are often
used as demonstrative adjectives, and then mean this,' ' tliat
'these,' 'those.' As such, they usually agree hi for111 \vitL tl~u nouns
which they qualify, that is, they take silnilar su~xes. Oft,en,
horn-ever, the noun is omitted, and then they become true l~t.t.~~llill
11ronouns, retaining whatever sudix they ~~oulil hare if the noun
were used. For example, the TI-orcl kully, used as a llreclicate,
meaus 'here'; as, paigal kully, 't~zllaliishere'; butpaigal kully
y ily ul means ' this man is sick '; and, onlitting l~iligal, k nll y
yilyul means 'he is sick '; kully thus means ' here '; 'tl~is ' 't,lic:';
'he here'; 'she here'; and 'it here.'
Such worcls are real clemonstratives, and must he carefully clis
distinguished from ordinary adverl~s of place; for, often ail aclrerll
of place is, as it \%-ere, pronlotecl to the rank uf a cleiuonstrativt.,
and in this \my it may collie to take the place of a personal 1)r~noun.
This nlay account for the fact tliat tl~e third l~ersona!
pronouns are so numerons, and hax-e little or 110 etymoiogic:~l tollnection
in Australia11 dialects. These c1emonstrati~-es are k u 11 y,
mullg, killy, kuncle, kanyo, mun, tam, kaka, ka, iuld k~l~a.
As these are soinetinles doubled or recluplicated and hare sonle other
rariations in £om, the followillg scheme may hc- convenient :-
Si~zyzclcc~r. I'l~wal.
I.-ICully, ku-kully, 'this '; ' tlie '; \
'he (she, it) here '; 'this here.' Xiu~yo ;
11.-Kulla-na-gun, this j; she here.. ,soaLr&rxx
111.-IConno, ko-konno, ' this '; 'it, here,' 11iiin.
IT.-Kully, ku-kully ; kukai ;
kullai, ku-kullai ; 'here.' I
I.--Mully mu-mully, 'that '; ' the ';
' he (she, it) there.'
11.-Blulla-na-gun, 'that '; ' she there.'
111.-&fonno, ' it there.'
IT.-Blully, mu-mully ;
mullai, mu-mullai ; 'there.'
I.-Killy, ki-killy, ' yo11 '; ' he ';
' he (she, it) yonclel-.'
1
li;imo, ka-k$luo,
soi)aetii~zes
!