n - University of Newcastle

92 LT AUSTRALTAX L~GUABE.
Ana7ysis.-1. Pitil* is 'joy, peace, delight'; bali is the dual
pronoun, ' we two'; kakillbn, which is the verb 'to be' in state
of continuation, consists of three parts-ka, the root of the verb
'to be, to exist'; -hi, the sign of the infinitive, -]in, the sign of
continuation at the present time.
The negative form of this exan~ple would be keawaran bal:
pita1 korien, 'we do not love one another,' or 'we donot agree
the one with the other.' Here k ea waran is the denial in the
present tense, from keamai, the negative infinitive; the imperatirenegative
is kora; as,pital b611 kora, 'do not be peaceable',
where b&n is the present tense of the verb 'to be doing';
the last 11-ord, lrorien, in the aboriginal sentence, is the negative
adverb 'not'; thus, in this sentence there are ftvo negatives, both
of mhich are essential to express the negation.
2. The aboriginal phrase bfinnhnbanug, 'I shall sinite thee,'
shows at once the similarity of collstruction of this Australian
language rrith that of the Indians of America ; for, though I
map mite it sqarately, as bfinnh 11 ban u g, because I know the
words to be the verb and the conjoined dual proooun, yet it is
pronounced as one ~~ord, and nould be so considered by a
stranger. If 'cletermination' is to be expressed, the particle ma1
must be inserted; aq, bbanun wa1 banug, '1 shall and will
smite thee'; this mould be thus analgsed :-b6n, the root of the
verb 'to smite'; -nu 11, the particle denoting futurity; wal denotes
determination ; ba, is part of the vrrbal pronoiin bag, 'I,, while
the personal pronoun is gatoa, ' 1'; b i is the verbal pronoun
' thou'; -11ug is the pronoun ' him' ill the objective case; and the
termination -noun in the next example is part of bo unnoun,
the feminii~e proilonn 'her,' in the objecti7-e case. Thus, our
blacks carry out the dual beyond any know^^ language in the
world, IT-hether ancient or modern ; and they also conlplete their
dual by carrying it out to the feminine in the conjoined dual
ease, which the American Indians do not in the " second personal
f oi-m."
Nug is pronouuced n68 when applied to a person, but nhg
when applied to a thing. So likenike, bGn, 'to smite,' is accented,
and is pronounced like the English word boon, 'a gift'; but bun,
'to permit to be,' is unaccented, and rhymes with the English
n-ord bun, 'a little cake.'
Our blacks say xai ta bal i for ' I go with thee,' or ' we two
go now together'; but maita bag would mean 'I go by myself';
waits bali noa, 'he and Igo together'; waita bali bountoa,
'she and I go together'; to say ' I go,' emphatically, meaning no
other but myself, would be gatoa waita urn anun; whichwould
be construed thus :-ga ton is the personal pronoun 'I' ; waita
* Pita1 in this language is the nearest mord to express love.
THE KEY. 03
is 'to go or depart '; n TT ink n is the future tense of the ~erb of
motion, to come' or 'to go,' according as the vord wai ta, 'to go,'
or tanan, ' to come,' is attached to it. The Tahitians hare a
similarity of formin the expression haere, 'to come ' or 'to go,'
according as the particle m ai or at u is attached ; thus, h aere
mai, Lc~me,' haere atu, 'go.'
Mr. Elliot,inhis Grammar, shorrs that the 35afsachusetts dialect
hss numerous conjugations of its verbs ; and 4Ir. Reisberger has
divided the Delaware language into eight conjugatioils of rerbs.
In illy Gramnar, also, 1 hare traced out eight modifications of
the Australian verb as spoken at Lake Macqnarie ; and its tenses
arenot confined simply to the past, present, and future, but have
various modifications of each time; for installee, they have a
present with the termination -bn for theverb, and -1in for the participle;
aR, wiy-in bag, ' I speak' now; aipel-lin, 'speaking'
now; a definite past tense has the particle -IiB~ a; as, mi y a-k 6k 11,
' have spoken' this mori~ing ; nriy -ell i-lii.in, 'have beell spenking
' this morning ; and an iudefiuite past is wipa, 'told or spolie',
and wi y elli-ela, 'spalie,' both terminatingin CL. There are three
~arieties of the future; as, mi? elli koleg, 'to be about to speak';
where wiyelli is the bare form of the infinitive ~viyellilio,
' to speak,' and k o 1 a g is ' towards '; then there is also a definite
future ; as, wiya-liin, 'shall ora will speak' to-morrox morllii~g ;
and besides, an indefinite future, mi7 a ~lu n, ' shall o+ mill speak '
wme time or other. Thess peculiar tenses are not noticed ii~ the
Indian Grammars, and, therefore, it is presumed that they are
peculiar to the languages of the aborigines ol this land.
The South SeaIslanders make no change in the endings of the
verb; neither do the aborigines of Australia; for each tense-form
of the verb map be nlade available to any person, according to the
pronoun substituted. The chance of person is seen only in the
English translation, and not in the Australian mord ; thus, from
wiy elliko, 'to speak,' 'to communicate by speech or sound'applied
to the speech of man, the crowing of a cock, or the
striking of a clock--come wiy in bag, 'I speak'; nri y An bi, ' thou
speakest'; wiyinnoa, 'he speaks'; miyin bountoa, 'she
speaks'; wiyin gali, 'this speaks'; wigin ghen, 'we speak';
wiyin banug, 'I speak to thee'; miyiLn bali bulun, 'we two
speak to you two '; wiyellin bag, 'I am speaking'; wiyellin
banug, 'I am speaking to thee'; wipellbn bag, 'I spenk
and continue to speak,' 'I tell '; wiyellbn banug, '1 tell cc
thee'; wiyellin bali, 'me two tell one another,' 'we converse';
miyellilin bag, ' I am speaking and continue to speak,' 'I
am talk~ng '; wiyin gali- ko clock-ko, 'the clock strikes.'
Muk-kg-kg tibbin-to wiyin, 'the cock crows'; here mukkZki
is the nearest sound to express the cackling of fowls;
literally the sentence is, 'the bird says mukkgki.'