Page:An Australian language as spoken by the Awabakal.djvu/332

 12 AN AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGE.

Suffixes as Verbal Interrorjatives.

The intorrogatives seem to be the connecting link between the nouns and the verbs. This avisos from the fact that they take both the noun and the verbal suiiixes. For instance, while inji becomes inji-gun and inji-gun-ga, and these last terminations are verbal suffixes. The word minyug 'what'? may also take such forms as these: — minyugallela? 'what are you doing'? minyngen? 'what is the matter'? minyugoro? ' what is done ' ? In form, there is really no distinction between intciTogative and assertive sentences ; hence any interrogative may have also an assertive meaning; minyugallela gai, therefore, may mean 'I am doing something.' In this dialect, there is a grammatical distijiction between the imperative, the affirmative, and the nega- tive forms of speech ; but all these forms may be made interrogative by the tone of the voice.
 * when'? takes, at times, the forms inji-go and inji-gal, it also

S uffix-jjostjwsitions used with Xoitns and Pronouns.

It may be as well to ask, at this stage, if there are any pre- positions in Minyug. There is a large number of words denoting place ; most of them are sim})le adverbs, and some of them demon- stratives, and some occasionally have such a relationship to the noun that they can only be regarded as fulfilling the office of })repositions. They are not always placed before the noun, the Minyug having the greatest freedom with respect to the collo- cation of words. The word kam, which is among the demon- stratives, may also be regarded at times as a preposition. When a native says walokamkubbal kyua, which is, literally, 'you to scrub go,' Avhy should not kam be called a preposition? In the same way, kagga kubbal means 'out to the scrub.'

There are a fcAv Avords of this kind that have a limited inflec- tion ; e.g., balli or ballia means 'under'; juy, jua, junno are 'down,' 'into'; bundagal, bundagally, bundagalla, 'near.' Of these, the particular form used is that which agrees in termination with the noun qualified.

Every word in Minyug ends either with a vowel or a liquid, and there are certain euphonic rules to be followed in connecting the suffixes with each kind of ending. In the following tables examples will be given of each kind. In Table I., all the inflecting suffixes will be joined to mully. In Table II. will be found the singular personal pronouns, which contain some irregularities, and a life-noun ending in I, m, n, ng, ra, or a. It will, howevei", be unnecessary to give in full the declension of these.

In Table III., four non-life nouns are chosen, ending in -/, -n, -in, and -?•«, and the terminations given are those numbered 1, 8, 9, From these examples, all other forms can be understood.

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