Page:An Australian language as spoken by the Awabakal.djvu/330

 10 AN AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGE.

4. -go, -go-by, -gai.

The meaning of these is 'to, of, for.' The by maybe taken as a variation of bo, and, like bo, very little more than an ornament of speech. Go is suffixed to all kinds of nouns to denote 'to,' -go- by and sometimes -go to non-life nouns, in the sense of 'for,' and gai to life-nouns, in the same sense.

Examples of its use are: — Yilly cubbulgun killagoby kun- dalgob}^, 'where is the paddle of that canoe "? Gaio kindan junag bundango, 'I will make a handle for the tomahawk.' Gaio cuan kinan cubbogai biaggai gerriggai, ' I will make .spears for both the boy and the father.'

5. -gal, -jil, -gal-lo, -na-gal, -na jil.

The suffixes -go and -gal correspond to one another in the sense of 'to' and 'from." Inji-go we means 'where are you going to'? inji-gal we is ' where are you coming from'? gaikamgal, 'I come from there.' Jil is a variant-form seldom used. The life-nouns add -gal or -jil to the form in -na; as, paiganna-gal, 'from the man.' Sometimes -gal takes the form gal-lo, and then has the meaning, of 'in coming' or 'when coming,' This is appar- ently the agent-nominative added to a strengthened form in -gal.

6. -ba.

Ba is simply a locative form. Probably there is some connec- tion between it and -bo and -by. which may be regarded as little more than ornaments. It is sometimes found as a termina- tion to names of places. Its principal use as a noun-suffix is to strengthen the simple forms of life-nouns, and thus form a new base for the addition of the suffixes.

7. -ma, -bai-ma.

Ma is rarely used as a noun-suffix, l)ut, when so used, it has the meaning of 'in'; e.g., Avalo dulbagga ballunma, 'you jump in the river '; the longer form is used with life-nouns ; as, warre paigal-baima konno, ' carry this with the man.'

8. -a, -bai-a.

This takes the meaning of 'from,' 'out of.' Examples of its use : — bura junag bundanda, ' pull the handle out of the tomahawk '; bura monno cuan pagalbaia, ' pull that spear out of the man.' It often denotes possession ; as, gaiabaia cuan, ' I have a spear.'

9. -e, -ai, -ji, -bai

This is the converse of the particle -a ; it means 'into.' Ji is used with nouns ending in -in ; as, umbin -ji, ' in the house.' Ba-i has the i added to the strengthening suffix (ja ; as, pagalbai, ' in the man.'

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