Page:An Australian language as spoken by the Awabakal.djvu/93

 The dentals are t, cl, n, I. As in the case of the gutturals Jc aud q, so with the dentals t and d; it is often difficult to decide whether a native, in pronouncing a word, is using the one or the other ; so also with p and h in the next paragraph. The liquids n and I are really dentals, their sound being produced by the movement of the tongue on the teeth. In connection with the dentals t and d, it would be interesting to know if our natives ever cerebralise them in pronunciation ; for, if they do, that would be another link to connect them with the Dravidiaus; but the differ- ence of sound is too minute to be detected by an ordinary observer.

A variant of t is th, for our blacks say both Ippatha and Ippata; the th has the same sound as in the English words, 'thin,' ' breath.' It is possible that, in Australian, this th some- times takes the place of the absent s. In the Melanesian region also this sound of th is common, and is represented often by d. Some Australian tribes have also th sonant, as in the English words 'this,' 'that'; the Melanesians have a corresponding sound which is represented in Eijian by c. If we could revive the Anglo-Saxon characters for these simple sounds, such anomalies would cease.

The labials are p, i, and m ; the m, as in other languages, is only a b sound with the breathing allowed to escape through the nose. Some collectors of words have set down the sounds of/" and V as existing in Queensland, but I cannot admit them without further evidence ; they are not found in New South "Wales ; the natives here say Ucbiny for Waverley.

In addition to these elementary sounds, there are the conjunct sounds obtained by adding the aspirate h to some of the con- sonants. These are ph, bk, th, dh, kh, gh, and in each of them the aspirate is separatc^d, in pronouncing it, from the consonant to which it is attached, as in Sanskrit, or as in the English words, u^-7all, doy-Z/ouse, &c. Some of these combined sounds I have heard distinctly from the lips of a native, and I have no doubt that the others also exist.

The sibilants have no place in Australia. One vocabulary gives stha as an initial syllable, but that must be a mistake ; another gives dtha ; that also must be a mistake.

It ought to be noted here that in many Australian tribes, when a young man passes through the Bora ceremonies of initiation, one or two of his upper front teeth are knocked out, and this is a portion of the accustomed rites. The loss of these teeth must have had an important influence on the utterance of the dentals and sibilants in past time, and so on the language itself

Peculiarities. In some dialects, there is a tendency to insert the sound of y after t and k; as, tyala, 'to eat,' instead of tala. So also in English we sometimes he^v gijarden for garden and kyind for kina.

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