n - University of Newcastle

9 -4 AN AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGE.
The affines used in the language of the aborigines of this
colony show the nature of the verb, whether causative, declarative,
or active; whether personal, instrumental, self-active, or loco-
motive ; and whether negative, affirmative, privative, apparent,
or actual. It is only by a strict attention to the root-meaning
of the affixes, that they can be properly applied to express the
modified uses of the principal word to which they are joined,
whether that principal be a verb, a proper name of a person or
lace, or a common substanti\.e.
Ill.ust~atiz7e Sentences,"
to show the force of the variations of the conso-
nants in the suffix-forms of the verb.
SUFFIXES.
1. .b-illi-Po ; m., for the pzrrpose of-the root-meaning
of the cerb.
Exanzples :-1. Gatun tunbilliela noa barun talokan,
aud he divided unto them the property.' 2. Tiigun- billia
nura, 'show yourselves.' 3. Kapirrb wirri ban-billin, 'I
am perishing with hunger.'
Analysis :-1. Gat un, ' and'; tun, the root of the verb ' to ap-
portion, divide, ieparate, count '7-bil li e 1 a, the past participle
of billiko ; no a, 'he,' the verbal-nominative form of the pro-
noun ; barun, 'them'; t aloka?, ' property, goods.' - - . - d-~
2. Thgun, as a verb, 'to show'; as anoun, 'a mark for asign,'
'a chop on a tree to show the road '
3. Kapi:x& ' hunger '; the o makes the word an instrumental
case ; $ir?i is the root of the verb wirrilliko, ' for lnotion to
act,' as an instrument ; ban, 'doing, acting '; - billin is the form
of the present participle of that verb.
2. -b-ulli-7co; m., to be doiffy efectiaely lohat fhe verb
implies.
Ex.:--Minnug ballin bi? 'what object art thou effecting?
mhat are you doing ? mhat are you about' ? Tetti ballin ba&
'I am dying.'
* I have here omitted twelve panes of " The Key "; in them our authop
sets forth his theory that tbe vowels and consonants of the snffix-forms of
verbs and pronouns have each of them a determinate and essential meaning ;
a portion of this theory appears in the headings of the twenty sections of
" Illustratire Sentences " which now follow. These Illustrative Sentences I
pr~nt for the sake of the examples of analysis which they coutain ; and get
I do not think that that analysis is in every instance correct.-ED.
THE KEY. 95
-p-ulli-ko; m., to be doiqag zohat the cerb in~lies,
zuithozrt the idea of eflcct.
Ex.:-Up-ullin bag yirrigko wiyelliko, 'I amwriting';
lit., 'I am using the quill for-to " communicate, speak, say.'
Anal.:-Yir~ie, ' a. quill'; yirrigko, 'the quill as an agent' ;
urn-ullin Ea-yirrigko pen kakilliko, 'I am makingapen';
lif., ' I am cau~i~lg the quill to become a pen.'
3. -k-illi-Po ; m., to become, to coaze to be ifa some state.
Ex.:-1. Tetti kakulla noa, wonto ba prtkita moron
noa kat &a kan, ' he was dead, whereas now he is alive again.'
2. Wunal unni kakillin, ' this is summer season,' or ' this isbecoming
(now) warm.'
Awal. :-1. T et ti, 'dead, or death'; kaliulla, ' mas' in that
state; noa, the inseparable verbal pronoun ' he' ; wont o b a,
'whereas it is '; yakifi, 'at this time '; moron, ' alive';
-liat&a-kan, 'one 'who exists again'; tetti kaba noa, 'he is
actually dead'; lit., ' he (died and so he) is in a state of death.'
2. Wun a 1 means 'warm '; the aborigines have no word for time
in the abstract; unni, ' this '; kakillin, ' a state of being,' the
present participle form of the verb kakilliko, p.v. Wu~lal
nni kakullin, 'the summer is now coming '; lit., ' the varnlth
of its own power becoming to be in the present state '; a redupligate
form of the participle kakullin, 'becoming,' is lialrullilin,
'becoming and continuing to become'; cf. nest paragraph
for the difference in meaning between k akillall and kakullin.
4. -k-ulli-Po ; m., to 6~ilz.y into beiny any nct clojze by
one's OLC~ pozoer.
Ex.:-1. Boug-kullklin yuna bo ta Pirival to, gatun
pai-kullblin Thimon-kin, 'the Lord hath risen indeed, and
hnth appeared unto Simon.' Each of these acts is of the Lord's
onnpomer. 2. Punnal ba polog-kulli-gb1,is 'thewest;'.
- 3. Por-lrullitoara means 'that which is born '; lit., 'that which
has dropped itself of its own power,' 'that which has fallen of
itself.' 4. Poai-kullbun ba, ' as soouas it sprungup.' 5. Paikul-linlin
bara ba, ' when they will shoot forth.' -
Anal. :-2. Punnal, 'the sun'; ba. 'is being', a verbal particle;
olo& 'to sink'; -kulli, ' of his own power '; -&&I, ' the place
%6& action.' This phrase then means 'the place of the sun's
sinking of his own power.'
4. Poai, 'to shoot up, to grow up, to spring up as grass';
-kullA~n, 'has ... of its own power '; ba, equivalent to ' when.'
5. Pai, ' appear'; -kullini~n, 'willof their own power'; bara,
'they '; b a, equivalent to ' when.'
* Occasionally I still allow this phrase to stand.-See note, page 24.-ED.