Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/197

 LANGUAGE. 123 CHAPTER X. LANGUAGE. I DO not intend in this chapter to endeavour to make the reader acquainted with native grammar, but merely to speak of those points of interest in the languages of the Aborigines which are worthy of notice. The Narrinyeri have a language, and do not, as an English farmer once told me he supposed they did, only make noises, like beasts of the field. They have a language, and a highly organised one too, possessing inflections which ours does not. Their nouns and pronouns have three numberssingular, dual, and plural. They not only have the cases which ours have, but several others in addition. The following is the declension of the noun korni, "a man":  SINGULAR. Nom. korni, a man. Gen. kornald, of a man. Da. kornangk, to a man. Ac. korn, a man. Voc. korninda, O man. Ab. kornil, by a man. Exative kornanmant, from a man. Ergative kornanyir or kornald, with a man. DUAL. Nom. kornengk, two men. Gen. kornengal, of two men. Da. kornungengun, to two men. Ac. Kornengk, two men. Voc. kornula, O two men. Ab. kornenggul, by two men. Exative kornungengun, from two men. Ergative kornungengun, with two men.