The Wiradyuri and Other Languages of New South Wales | Page 5

Yandêuk. 2nd " You Ngût Yours Ngûteûk. 3rd " They
Malugulik THeirs Ngugaty-guligaty.
Interrogatives.--Who, winyar? (singular)--winyarbula (dual) and
winyartukuli (plural). What, nganyu? which also has a dual and plural
form.
Demonstratives.--This, ginga, which has a dual and plural suffix. Malu,
that; kila, that near you. Munya, that farther away. Kigety, belonging to
that. Kigety-bulugety, belonging to those two. Kigety-guligety,
belonging to all those.
Verbs.
Verbs have the same tenses and moods as those of the Wiradyuri, as
will be demonstrated in the conjugation of the verb "to beat." In the
Burreba-burreba verb there are, however, no regular modifications of
the past and future tenses, such meanings being expressed by separate
words.
Active Voice--Indicative Mood.
Present Tense.
1st Person I beat Ngaty tyilba. 2nd " Thou beatest Ngin tyilba. 3rd " He
beats Malu tyilba.
Past Tense.
1st Person I beat Ngaty tyilbin.
Future Tense.

1st Person I will beat Ngaty tyilbên.
Imperative Mood.
Beat, tyilbak. Beat not, burreba tyilbak.
Conditional Mood.
Perhaps I will beat, Ngaty tyilbên mumbun.
In all the foregoing examples, the remaining persons and numbers of
the verb can be supplied by the table of pronouns.
Middle Voice--Indicative Mood.
Present Tense.
Singular. I am beating myself. Tyilbanyungbenggat.
The conjugation can be continued through all the moods, tenses, etc.,
the same as in the indicative mood.
Reciprocal.
We two (incl.) are beating each other, Tyilptyerrungal. We all (incl.)
are beating each other, Tyilptyerrungungur.
There are forms for all the persons and tenses.
Adverbs.
Yes, ngungui. No, burreba. To-day, gillaty. To-morrow, perbur.
Yesterday, dyelli-dyellik. By and bye, gillandam. Some time ago,
gillenadya. Long ago, yagaluk-wanda. Where, windyella? (singular);
windyellaubul? (dual); windyellat? (plural). How many, nyabur? Here,
kingga. There, nyua.
Numerals.

One, kaiapmin. Two, buletya.
Initiation Ceremonies and Marriage Laws.
The initiation ceremonies of the Burreba-burreba are the same in all
essential respects as those of the Wiradyuri tribes, which I have
described in detail elsewhere.[10] The social organisation is also
similar to the Wiradyuri, comprising two phratries, each of which is
subdivided into two sections, as exemplified in the following
synopsis:--
Phratry. A man. Marries Sons and Daughters. A Murri Ippatha Umbi
and Butha. Kubbi Butha Ippai and Ippatha. B Ippai Matha Kubbi and
Kubbitha. Umbi Kubbitha Murri and Matha.
Although marriages generally follow the above rules, yet in certain
cases Murri can marry Butha, and Kubbi may take Ippatha as his
spouse-- a similar liberty being allowed the men of phratry B. Again,
where there is no objection arising from nearness of kin, a Murri man
may marry a Matha woman, but her totem must be different from his,
and she must belong to a distant family. This applies to the men of
every section. By the strict letters of the foregoing table, it would
appear that the child of a brother can marry the child of a sister, but this
is rigorously forbidden--the table being construed to mean that a
brother's child's child marries a sister's child's child.
Each phratry has attached to it a group of totems, consisting of animals
and inanimate objects. Every man, woman, and child in the community
has his particular totem, which is inherited from birth. For further
information on this subject the reader is referred to numerous papers
contributed by me to different scientific societies.
The Ngunawal Language.
The native tribes speaking the Ngunawal tongue occupy the country
from Goulburn to Yass and Burrowa, extending southerly to Lake
George and Goodradigbee.

In a contribution to the Anthropological Society at Washington in 1896,
described the Bunan ceremony,[11] an elaborate type of initiation
practised by the Ngunawal in common with other communities. In
1900 I published an account of the Kudsha[12] or Kuddya, an abridged
form of inaugural ceremony which is likewise in force among the same
people. The social organisation regulating marriage and descent, which
I described in the last mentioned article,[13] also applies to the
Ngunawal.
The Ngunawal is one of an aggregate of tribes whose sacred songs I
have learnt and published, with the accompanying music, in an article I
communicated to the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland in
1901.[14] These are the first sacred songs of the Australian Aborigines
which have ever been set to music.
Nouns.
Number.--Nouns have three numbers. Mirri, a dog; mirribula, a couple
of dogs; mirridyimma, several dogs.
Gender.--Baual, a man; bullan, a woman. Words for "male" and
"female" distinguish the gender of animals, as, gurabun muddun, a bear,
male; gurabun dhuruk, a bear, female.
Case.--The principal cases are the nominative, causative, instrumental,
genitive, accusative, dative and ablative.
The nominative is the name of the sbuject at rest, and is without
flexion.
The causative, or nominative-agent, represents the subject in action, as,
bullanga gudha ngubumuiñ, a woman a child beat.
Instrumental.--Baualga burraingu nguburiñ dyuiñga, a man a wallaby
killed with a spear. Here the instrument, a spear, takes