The Wiradyuri and Other Languages of New South Wales | Page 2

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: a, ê, ?. 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; bulladyeru 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. Nguru? burramai, hen emu; nguru? 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. Bulladyerudu 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. Bulladyerugu 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, dha-u munun. Dha-ugu munungu, to a big waterhole. Dha-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,