Page:An Australian language as spoken by the Awabakal.djvu/348

 28 AX AUSTRALIAN LAXGUAGE.

(B.)

[ADSrUACT.]

GRAMMAll

OF THE LANGUAGE SPOKEN I3Y

THE NAERINYEEI TEIBE IN S. AUSTRALIA.

(By the late Bei: G, 2\tplin, Ahorti/tnea' Mlidonary, Point MacJeay, South Audralia.)

��[This fJrammar of the NaiTinyeri dialect is to be fouuil in a hook en- titled " The Folklore, Manners, Customs, and Languages of the South Australiai^f^borigines; Adelaide, 1879." I have re-arranged and condensed the material of the Grannnar, and adapted the whole to the sj-stem fol- lowed in this present volume. — Ed.]

��The Narrinyeri aborigines occupy a portion of the coast of South Australia, near Adelaide. Their territory includes the shores of Encounter Bay, Lakes Alexandrina and Albert, and the country to the east of the Murray, for about 20 miles from its mouth. The first attempt to master and commit to writing the grammar of this language was made in 1843 by the Rev. H. E. Meyer, a Lutheran Missionary. His sketch of the grammar is not free from blunders. Nor can the present efTort expect to be faultless, but it is approximately correct, being founded on a practical ac- quaintance with the language.

1. Letters.

The Narrinyeri have not the sounds of y, r, s,;~, but they have the sonant sound of tit, (here written cJh), as in the English words 'this,' 'thine,' 'breathe,' and the surd th, as in 'thin,' 'breath.'

2. General Principles.

There is no article, but the numeral 'one ' is used as a sort of indefinite article. Nouns, pronouns, and adjectives are declined Ijy the use of affixes, and have forms for the singular, dual, and plural numbers.

Number is indicated by a cliange of termination; for example: —

��'Man,: ' 3Ia)i.'

�'Eye:

�' Lip: ' Ear:

�Sing. INIay-u. Komi. Dual May-ula. Korn-egk. Flu. May-una. Korn-ar.

�Min-a.

]Min-ula.

Min-una.

�Muna. Yur-e. Mun-agge. Yur-illa,

�'Eye:

�' Eyehroiv:

�' Trouser:

�Sing. Pil-i. Dual Pil-agge.

�Pi-cha^ge. Pi-ko.

�Yerkocin-a. Y''erkoan-ula.

�� �