The Wiradyuri and Other Languages of New South Wales | Page 2

sound of the Spanish ñ is frequent. At the commencement of a
syllable or word I have given it as ny, but when terminating a word I
have used the Spanish letter.
T is interchangeable with d; p with b; and g with k in most words where
they are used.
As far as possible, vowels are unmarked, but in some instances, to
avoid ambiguity, the long sound of a, e and u are indicated thus: â, ê, û.
In a few cases the short sound of u is marked u. Y at the beginning of a
word has its ordinary consonant value.
The Wiradyuri Language.
Articles.
There are no articles, properly so-called, in the language. The
demonstratives "this" and "that" do duty for our "a" and "the." If it be
desired to definitely say that only one is meant, the numeral, ngunbai,
is employed.
In all the sentences illustrating the cases of nouns and other parts of
speech in this paper, the demonstratives are omitted. A native would
say, "Man [that over yonder] beat child [this in front]," the proper
demonstratives being inserted where illustrated by the brackets.
Nouns.
Number.--There are three numbers, singular, dual and plural. Wamboin,
a kangaroo. Wamboinbula a couple of kangaroos. Wamboingirbang,
several kangaroos.
Gender.--In human family different words are used, as mên or gibir, a
man; bullâdyeru or inar, a woman; birrengang, a boy; ingargang, a

young girl; yiramurung, a youth; megai, a maiden; burai, a child.
Among animals, word are used signifying "male" and "female"
respectively. Wille bidyur, a buck opossum; wille gunal, a doe opossum.
Nguruñ burramai, hen emu; nguruñ bidyur, a cock emu.
Case.--The cases are the nominative, nominative-agent, genitive,
accusative, instrumental dative and ablative.
The nominative simply names the person or thing under attention, as,
mirri or burumain, a dog; burrandang, a native-bear; wille or
womburan, an opossum; wagan, a crow; bulgang or burgan, a
boomerang.
The nominative-agent requires a suffix to the noun, as, gibirru
womburan dhê, a man an opossume ate. Bullâdyerudu dhurung bumê, a
woman a snake struck (or killed). Inarru wille dharalgiri, a woman an
opossum will eat. Burrandangu gurril dhara, a native-bear leaves is
eating. Mirridu wille buddhe, a dog an opossum bit.
Genitive.--Mêngu bulgang, a man's boomerang. Bullâdyerugu kunne, a
woman's yamstick. Burrandanggu bullung, a native-bear's head.
Dative.--Dhurrangu, to the creek (dhurrang). Ngurangu, to the camp
(ngurang).
Ablative.--Dhurrandyi, from the creek; ngurandyi, from the camp. In
this case, and also in the dative, the final g of both words is omitted
before applying the suffix.
The accusative is the same as the simple nominative, as will be seen by
the examples given under the nominative-agent.
Instrumental.--When an instrument is the remote object of the verb, the
accusative remains unchanged, but the instrumental case takes the same
suffix as the nominative-agent; thus, mêndu wagan burgandu bume, the
man hit a crow with a boomerang. Inarru burumain kunnedu bangabe,
the woman cut a dog with a yamstick.

In the above examples, as well as in the sentences illustrating the
nominative-agent, it will be seen that the agent suffix has euphonic
changes according to the termination of the word it is attached to. This
may be said of the suffixes in all the cases of nouns and adjectives.
Adjectives.
Adjectives take the same inflexions for number and case as the nouns
they qualify, and are placed after them. They are without gender.
Womboin munun, a kangaroo large. Womboinbula mununbula, a pair of
large kangaroos. Womboinmuddu mununmuddu, several large
kangaroos.
Burumaindu munundu womburan buddhe, a dog large an opossum bit.
Inarru bubadyallu burai bume, a woman small a child beat.
Womboingu munungu dhun, a large kangaroo's tail.
A big waterhole, dhâ-u munun. Dhâ-ugu munungu, to a big waterhole.
Dhâ-wadyi munundyi, from a big waterhole.
Comparison.--Nyila murrumbangbun-gan, this is vey good. Nyilangai
murrumbang wirrai, that is not good. If the articles compared be equal
in quality, a native would say, This is good--that is good, and so on.
Pronouns.
Pronouns are inflected for number and person, and comprise the
nominative, possessive and objective cases, a few examples in each of
which will be given. There are forms in the dual plural to express the
inclusion or exclusion of the person addressed.
Singular.
Nominative. Possessive. Objective. 1st Person I Ngadhu Mine Ngadyi
Me Ngunnhal. 2nd " Thou Ngindu Thine Nginnu Thee Nginyal. 3rd "
He Ngagwa His Ngagwaiula Him Ngunnungga.

Dual.
1st Person We, incl. Ngulli Ours, incl. Ngulliging Us, incl. Ngullinya.
We, excl. Ngulliguna Ours, excl. Ngulligingula Us, excl. Ngullinyuggu.
2nd " You Ngindubla Yours Nginnubulala You Nginyalbula. 3rd "
They Ngagwainbula Theirs Ngagwabulagu Them Ngunnainbula.
Plural.
1st Person We, incl. Ngeani Ours, incl. Ngeaniging Us, incl.
Ngeaninyagu. We, excl. Ngeaniguna Ours, excl. Ngeaniginguna Us,
excl. Ngeaninyaguna. 2nd " You Ngindugir Yours Nginnugir You
Nginyalgir. 3rd " They Ngagwainguler Theirs Ngagwagulaia Them