Page:An Australian language as spoken by the Awabakal.djvu/368

 ��A^I ACSTRALIAX LANfil'AGE.

��Head Two lieads Heads

Two Three

Four

��1. 2. 3.

r^Iukarta kuli kuli

Mukartilla kuleg kuleg

Mukartanna kular kular

Kunna yammuli yammalaitye

Purlaitye neigeg ncigegi

Mankutye. niaalda luaalda I Puriaitye-pur- ■( kukar4cukar | kiggarug or

\ laitye j \ kukar-kar

��(C.)

[ABSTRACT.^

GEAMMAR

OF THE LANGUAGE SPOKEN BY

THE ABORIGINES OF YfESTERN AUSTRALIA.

��[Tills short sketch of the Grammar of the language of Western Australia is the only one that I can find anywhere. It is in " The Western Aus- tralian Almanac for 1S42," and is printed there as an appendix, ' com- piled by Chas. Symmons, Protector of the Aborigines, from material furnished by Mr. Francis F. Armstrong, the native interpreter.' Some portions of it are taken ' from the preface to Captain (Sir George) Grey's vocabulary. ' I have al^ridged the material of the Grammar, and adapted it to present uses. — Fd.]

��1. Nouns.

The cases are indicated by inflections, thus : —

The Genitive takes the sulfix -ak, which means ' of ' or 'belonging to '; some districts say -a g instead of -ak. Examples : — Kail a, 'fire,' kalla-r-ak, 'hot'j miki, 'moon,' mik-ag, 'moonlight '; d t a, ' mouth,' d t a - 1 a g, ' tongue '; g a b b i, ' water, ' g a b b i - lag, 'belonging to water'; budjor, 'ground,' budjor-lag, 'belonging to the ground'; mammarapak gidji, 'a man's spear'; yagoak bokn, 'a woman's cloak.'

The Dative; its sign is -a 1, sometimes -ak; as, gadjo allija gulag- al yogaga, 'I gave it to the child '; Pertli-ak bardiu, 'going to Perth.'

The Accusative ends in -in; as, gadjo yan-gorin gan-gau bru, ' I do not see the kangaroo.'

The Ablative affixes -al to the nominative case; as, gadj o boat-al Perth-ak bardaga, ' I went in a boat to Perth '; galata kai- bra-al watto bardaga, ' we vrent away in a ship'; balgun- al bumaga, 'she was killed by a gun '; durda cart-al bar- duk bardaga, ' the dog went away with the cart.'

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