Page:An Australian language as spoken by the Awabakal.djvu/98

 12 AN AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGE.

to the accusative; as, g^^iii"^^> 'belonginp; to us two'; gearun-ba, * belouging to us,' 'ours'; bounnoun-ba, ' belonging to her,' ' hers ' The othei* singular pronouns add the particles to a variant form of the root-word ; as, c m m o -u m b a, 'belonging to me,' 'mine'; giro-umba, ' belonging to thee,' 'thine.' But time and place require -kal, and-kalin; as, bugeai-kal, 'belonging to the present ' period of time now becoming ; E n g 1 a n d -k a 1, 'a man belonging to England,' 'an Englishman'; E ngland -kalin, 'a woman belonging to Eng- land,' 'an Englishwoman'; untikal, 'hereof,' 'belonging to this jjlace.'

4. The Dative case shows the ultimate object to which an action tends; as, for a person to possess and use a thing in any way ; it is expressed by adding - n ii g to the interrogative pronoun and to names of persons only, but -ko to all other nouns, and to the abstract action, which is thereby formed into a supine or a con- struct infinitive ; as, b xi n k i 11 i k o, 'for-to smite.'* But motion towards a person or thing, as opposed to motion from the place where the person or thing is, requires the following particles according to the various terminations of the nouns; viz., - t a k o, - k a k 0, - 1 a k o, - a k o, - r a k o ; that is, the particle - k o, pre- ceded by a syllable, the consonant of which varies according to the termination of the noun to which it is affixed ; the personal pronoun requires -kink o, and place takes -kako; see table of declensions.

5. The Accusative case, which marks direct action on the person, not merely towards the per.-^on, is the object of a transitive verb. The personal pronouns have distinct particles ; see their declension. But names of persons have the terminating particle - n ii g added; so also the interrogatives of person, place, and thing ; as, g a n - n u g ? ' whom ?' or ' who is the direct object ?' w o n - n u g? ' where ?' o?' ' where nt?' min-nug? 'what?' or 'what object?' so also, T h r e 1 k e 1 d - n u g is the objective or accusative case. All other common substantives, not derivatives, are placed before the active verb without any change from the simple nominative ; nor can error arise therefrom ; because when they are lised as agents, the sign of that case will be attached ; as, k a r a i b u w a, 'smite the kangaroo ; butkaraito tia bunkulla, 'the kan- garoo struck me,' equivalent to, ' I was struck by the kangaroo.'

(5. In the Vocative case, the particle a - 1 a or e - 1 a, calling for attention, is ])refixed to the form of the nominative, not the agent-nominative, case ; as, ala piriwal! 'Oking!' equivalent to 'May it ])lease your majesty.'

7. Ablative case. Certain postpositions are used to indicate this case; as, (I) k a i, meaning 'from,' 'concerning,' 'about,' 'on account of,' used only to proper names and pronouns ; but for


 * See footnote, page 24.

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