Page:An Australian language as spoken by the Awabakal.djvu/339

 ' to be ' as a copula, or that they themselves are used as neuter verbs in the present tense. The latter view is more in accord- ance with the idiom of the language. There is, however, in the language, a general absence of connecting words ; there is no word for ' and,' the nearest word to it being urru or urrugan, ' with,' which is sometimes attached to words used as personal pronouns in the sense of 'also'; as, mullagurru, 'he also.' There are no relative pronouns, and we may almost say there is no verb 'to be,' used as a copula.

2. Adjectives as jyredicaies.

Adjectives follow the same rules as demonstratives; for instance, yily ul gai, ' I am sick '; killy dukkai, ' he over there is dead '; monno bundan bunyarra, 'this tomahawk is good.'

3. The icse of yiin a.

But we can say kiikulliyen gai, for 'I was here '; and killy dukkaien, ' he was dead.' We can also say dukkaianna, ' may you die,' or 'may you go to death '; dukkaiyuggan gai, 'I will kill myself,' or ' I will go to death.' These endings are from the verb yuna, which means 'to go.' The rule may be expressed thus : — Any word which is an adjective may be used in its plain form as a predicate in the present tense, and may, by adding the forms of the verb yiina, be turned into a true verb with all the tense-forms of a verb. The y of yuna is often omitted, and the forms ungan, unna are used ; also en or yen, as if the original root was ya. Yuna means not only ' to go,' but ' to live,' ' to move,' and ' to be.' The language has three verbs closely allied in form, ytina 'to go,' yuna ' to lie down,' and yana 'to sit down.' The first of these has the derived forms yugga, yunbale; the second, yunale; and the third, yangale.

4. Verbs of Motion and Adverbs of Place. Verbs of motion are very numei'ous, and so are adverbs of place; thus, speakers of the Minyug can be very exact in direct- ing others to go here or there. Bukkora goa, ' go past '; bunda- gal boa, 'go near'; duloa, ' go down '; wande, 'go up'; kaie, 'go in'; wombin kwe, 'come here'; kaga, 'come down'; dukkan kyua, 'go over'; kankyua junimba, 'keep to the right '; kankyua worrembil, 'keep to the left.'

5. Time. The language can be very exact in the expression of time. N u m- gerry is ' daylight'; karamba, ' mid-day '; ydn, ' sunset '; nobo, 'yesterday' or ' to-morrow.' The particles -bo and -jug are also used to distinguish foi-mer time from latter; so that nobo -bo is 'yesterday,' and nobo-jug 'tomorrow.'

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