Page:An Australian language as spoken by the Awabakal.djvu/89

 In the future tenses, tlie accent is alwa3's on the last syllable but one, whether the word consists of two syllables or of more as, tanun, ' shall or will eat' ; wiyanim, ' shall or will speak' b link i Hi nun, 'shall or will be in the action of smiting' bunniin, 'shall or will smite.' Present participles have the accent on the last syllable ; as, b u n k i 1 1 i n, ' now in the action of smiting'; wiyellin, 'now in the action of talking, speak- ing.' Past participles have their accent on the last syllable but one ;" as, b li n k i 1 1 i a 1 a, ' smote and continued to smite,' which, with a pronoun added, means ' they fought.' But the participial particle, denoting the state or condition of a person or thing, has the accent on the antepenultimate ; as, b u n t 6 a r a, ' that which is struck, smitten, beaten.' Thus, there are two accents — one the radical accent, the other the shifting one which belongs to the particles.

Emphasis.

The aborigines always lay particular stress upon the particles in all their various combinations, whether added to substantives to denote the cases, or to verbs to denote the moods or tenses. But, when attention is particularly commanded, the emphasis is thrown on the last syllable, often changing the termination into -0 li ; as, w a 1 1 a - w a 1 1 a, the imperative, ' move,' or ' be quick' ; but to urgently command would be w a 1 1 a - w a 11 - o u, dwelling double the time on the -oii. To emphatically charge a person with anything, the emphasis is placed on the particle of agency ; as, g a t 6 a, ' it is I ; ' g i n 1 6 a, ' it is thou.'

[The PnoxoLOGT of the Australian Langttages.

Of late years increasing attention has been given to the con- sideration of the Australian languages, and numerous vocabu- laries have been collected. But it is somewhat unfortunate that these collections of words have been made, in most instances, by those who did not appreciate the principles of phonology ; often the spelling of the words does not adequately represent the sounds to be conveyed. Enough, however, is now known to permit a general estimate to be made of the sounds in the languages or rather dialects, for — notwithstanding many tribal A'ariations in vocables and grammar — the Australian language is essentially one.

General Eeatures.

Looking at the language as a whole, and examining its features, we at once observe the prominence of the long vowels, a and u, and the frequency of the guttural and nasal sounds ; the letter r with a deeper trill than in English, is also a common sound.

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