B 505: Lecture on the Aborigines of Australia and papers on Wirradhurrei dialect, 1837-1840

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This material forms part of the Archdeacon James Gunther papers, 1826-1878, held by the State Library of New South Wales.

The following parts of the collection were selected for the Rediscovering Indigenous Languages project:

- Lecture on the Aborigines of Australia and papers on Wirradhurrei dialect, 1837-1840; call number B 505

- The Native Dialect Wirradurri spoken in the Wellington District, 1838; call number C 136

The Archdeacon William James Gunther (1839-1918) was born on 28 May 1839 at Wellington, New South Wales, and was son of Reverend James William Gunther and his wife Lydia, née Paris. Gunther (the elder) was a German-born missionary, who worked in the Mudgee district and died circa 1879. The Church Missionary Society mission appointed Gunther to its mission in Wellington in August 1837, and he stayed until the mission was disbanded in 1843. During this time, Gunter compiled lists of Wiradjuri words, phrases and executed studies on Wiradjuri grammar.

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Comparison of adjectives There is no comparative form of the adjective nor properly speaking a superlative tho certain terminations (as bang 'very' bambilang 'exceedingly', express a surperlative or rather a very high quality of the thing idea they do not imply a comparison with anything else. Hence comparisons on things are expressed in the following imperfect and an indistinct manner To say "this is bettr than that" is thus expressed, Nginna marong. narrai - ngannalla; literally "this is good, not that" "Nila marambang ngagguaingual" - literally, This very good, that also. To say: This very good, that also. To say: This is the best of all, Nilla marongbangan nirrai inguanna Nginnallal. This is good indeed, these are not like it"

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The Verb The study of the verb is attended [indecipherable] some difficulty on account of its many tenses and modifictions; it is however (?) conjugated in a very regular manner and [words crossed out] excepting the imperative [word crossed out] it is non-inflectional throughout all its tenses all, the persons both singular and plural having the same form. [word crossed out] [words crssed out] The conjugations may be reduced to about five nor do these vary much, and so far as they do vary, [words crossed out] they follow [word crossed out] strict rules [words crossed out] according to their terminations, [words crossed out] is the last syllable & the vowel of the penultimate syllable

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Last edit almost 2 years ago by shayes
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The following are the terminations of the present tense agreeably to which all verbs are classified into their respective conjugations Formations of Conjugations

1st Conjugation Aima & Ana
2. Conjg Uma
3. Conjg inga
4. Conjg arra
5. Conjg irra
Note The vowel of the penultimate syllable may be said to terminate [word crossed out] [words crossed out] the radical part of the verb, and is retained in all the tenses & modifications, whilst the remainder is liable to be thrown off. Those tenses of some conjugations where the a is modified into the
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the dipththong ai form in reality, no exception from this rule. In the formation of the tenses and modifications [words crossed out] [word crossed out] the letter "r" is changed into its relative liquid "l" and "n" for the sake of euphony into "m" [word crossed out] Assimilation. Thus euphony also demands the "a" terminating the root to be modified into the diphthong "ai"; "ny" on account of the influence of the preceeding "i" [words crossed out] becomes"dy"

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The Tenses

There are no less than ten tenses [indecipherable] in the language; besides those common to most languages, there are some peculiar [word crossed out] tenses, which supply show an adverbial signification. The following is an instance of conjugation 1 Note As the verbs are impersonally conjugated, it will suffice to carry the persons, Singular, Dual & Plural only, through the present tense 2 Note 2 A Verb of the fourth Declension is selected for an example, as that declension seems to be the most regular

Last edit almost 2 years ago by shayes
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