n - University of Newcastle

The other consonants are sounded as in English.
Europeans often confound dmith t, because of a middle sound
which the natives use in speaking quickly ; so also they confound
f with j, from the saxe cause.
ACCENTS.
The language requires but one marked accent, which serres
for the prolongation of the syllable ; as, b 6 n, 'him' ; b 6 n, the
ro,ot of 'to smite.' The primitive sound is thus retained of the
rowel, which otherwise would be affected by the closing consonant;
as, bun, the root of the verb 'to be' accidental, rhymes with
the English word ' bun,' but b 6 n, ' to smite,' rhymes with
' boon.'
OETHOGRAPHT.
In forming syllables, every consonant may be taken separately
and be joined to each vowel. A consonant between two vowels
must go to the latter ; and two consonants coming together must
be divided. The only exception is Kg, which is adopted for want
of another character to espress the peculiar nasal sound, as heard
in ha n g e r, and, consequently, is never divided. The following
are general rules :-
1. A single consonant between two vowels must be joined to the
latter; as, Lu-ri, 'man'; pu-rig 'away'; wai-ta, 'depart.'
2. Two con~onants~oming together must always be divided;
as, tet-ti, 'to be dead,' 'death'; bug-gai, 'new.'
3. Two or more vowels are divided, excepting the dipthongs ; as,
gato-a,'itisI'; yu-aipa,'thrust out.' Ahyphenis the
mark when the dipthong is divided ; as, k 6 - u m a, 'may it
be ' (a wish) ; k a-a m s, ' to collect together, to assemble.'
4. A vowel in a root-syllable must have its elementary sound ;
as, b 6 n k i 11 i, ' the action of smiting ' ; t a, the root-form
of the verb, ' to eat.'
ACCENTUATION.
In general, dissyllables and trisyllables accent the first syllable ;
as, puntimai, 'amessenger'; piriwil, 'achief or king.'
Compound derivative words, belng descriptive nouns, have the
accent universally on the last syllable ; as, mi y e 1 1 i k 6 n, ' one
who speaks,' from w i y e 11 i, ' the action of speaking' ; so al~o,
from the same root, w i y e 11 i - g k 1, ' a place of speaking,' such
as, ' a pulpit, the stage, a reading desk.'
Verbs in the present and the past tenses have their accent on
those parts of the verb which are significant of these tenses ; as,
tat6n, 'eats'; wiyhn, 'speaks'; miy6, 'hath told.' This
must be particularly attended to; else a mere affirmation will
become an imperative, and so on; as, k b- u w a, 'be it so,
(a wish) ; k a - u w 6, ' so it is ' (an affirmation).
THE GEAJIXAR. 3
In the future tenses, the accent is xln~ays on the last s-yllable
but one, R-hether the ~vord coilsists of two syllables or of more ;
as, tbncn, ' shall or will eat' ; wiyBn~n, 'shall or mill speak';
b 6 n k i 11 i n il n, ' shall or will be in the action of smiting' ;
b 6 n n u n, ' shall or mill smite.' Present participles have the
accent on the last syllable ; as, b 6 n lr i l l in, ' now in the action
of smiting' ; m i y e 11 in, 'now in the action of talking, speak-
ing.' Past participles hare their accent on the last syllable
but one; as, b 6 n k i 11 i i l a, ' smote and continned to smite,'
which, with a pronoun added, means ' they fought.' But the
' participial particle, denoting the state or condition of a person or
thing, has the accent on the antepenultilnate ; as, b 6 n t 6 a r a,
'that which is struck, smitten, beaten.' Thus, there are two
act:ents-one the radical accent, the other the shifting one which
belongs to the particles.
EXPEASIS.
laced on the particle
[THE PHONOLOGY OF THE AUSTRALIAN LANGV~LGES.
late years increasing attention has been given to the contion
of the Australian languages, and numerous vocabuhave
been collected. But it is somewhat unfortunate that
GENERAL FEATURES.
king at the language as a whole, and examining its features,
once observe the prominence of the long ~owels, ci and 6,
e frequency of the guttura,l and nasal sounds ; the letter r
deeper trill than in English, is also a common sound.