By R. H. Mathews, L.S., Corres. Memb. Anthrop. Soc., Washington,
U.S.A.
Synposis.—Introductory.—Orthography.—The Wiradyuri Language.—The
Burreba-burreba Language.—The Ngunawal Language.—Vocabulary of
Wiradyuri Words.—Vocabulary of Ngunawal Words.
The native tribes speaking the Wiradyuri language occupy an immenseregion in the central and southern portions of New South Wales. Fortheir eastern and northern boundaries the reader is referred to themap accompanying my paper to the American Philosophical Society in1898.[1] The western boundary is shown on the map with my article tothe Royal Society of New South Wales the same year.[2] Their southernlimit is represented on the map attached to a paper I transmitted tothe Anthropological Society at Washington in 1898.[3] The mapsreferred to were prepared primarily to mark out the boundaries of thesocial organisation and system of marriage and descent prevailing inthe Wiradyuri community, but will also serve to indicate thegeographic range of their language.
The Wiradyuri language is spoken over a greater extent of territorythan any other tongue in New South Wales, and the object of thepresent monograph is to furnish a short outline of its grammaticalstructure. I have included a brief notice of the Burreba-burrebalanguage, which adjoins the Wiradyuri on the west. A cursory outlineis also given of the language of the Ngunawal tribe, which bounds theWiradyuri on a portion of the east. The Kamilaroi tribes, whoselanguage I recently reported to this Institute,[4] adjoin theWiradyuri on the north.
In all the languages treated in this article, in every part of speechsubject to inflexion, there are double forms of the first person, ofthe dual and plural, similar in character to what have been reportedfrom many islands in Polynesia and Melanesia, and the tribes of NorthAmerica. Separate forms for “we two,” and “he and I,” were observed byRev. James Günther among the pronouns of the Wiradyuri natives atWellington,[5] but as he does not mention anything of the kind in theplural, we may conclude that he did not observe it.
The materials from which this paper has been prepared have beengathered by me while travelling through various parts of the Wiradyuricountry, for the purpose of visiting and interviewing the old nativemen and women who still speak the native tongue, from whom I noteddown all the information herein reproduced. When the difficultiesencountered in obtaining the grammar of any language which is purelycolloquial are taken into consideration, I feel sure that allnecessary allowances will be made for the imperfections of my work.
The initiation ceremonies of the Wiradyuri tribes, which are of ahighly interesting character, have been fully described by me incontributions to several societies and other learned institutions.[6]
It will be as well to state that in 1892, Dr. J. Fraser, from the MSS.of the late Rev. James Günther, published some gramatical rules and avocabulary of the Wiradyuri language. This forms part of a volumeentitled An Australian Language (Sydney, 1892), Appendix, pp.56–120.
Mr. E. M. Curr published several vocabularies collected in differentparts of the Wiradyuri territory.—The Australian Race, vol. iii, pp.363–401.
Orthography.
The system of orthoepy adopted is that recommended by the Royal
Geographical Society, London, with the following qualifications:
Ng at the beginning of a word or syllable has a peculiar sound,which I have previously illustrated.