350 MATHEWS— LANGUAGE OF THE BIRDHAWAL TRIBE. [October 



Nouns. 



Nouns are subject to variation on account of number, gender 

 and case, the inflection being effected by means of postpositions. 



Number. — There are three numbers. The singular number de- 

 notes one; the dual, two or a pair; the plural number, more than 

 two. Ngurka, a native bear. Ngurkabulang, a couple of bears. 

 Ngurkawamba, several bears. 



Gender. — In the human family sex is distinguished by the em- 

 ployment of different words. Mawp, a man. Kurragan, a woman. 

 The gender of animals is distinguished by the words brangula and 

 yuggana, placed after the name of the animal. Ngurka brangula, 

 a male bear; ngurka yuggana, a female bear. 



For a few of the animals, a specific word represents the male, 

 without naming the creature, but in the case of the female, the ani- 

 mal's name must be stated, followed by the distinguishing word, 

 yuggana. When the name of any animal is mentioned, without 

 some word signifying the sex, the masculine gender is understood. 



Case. — The cases are indicated by inflections — the following 

 being the principal. 



Nominative : This case merely names the subject, and is without 

 flection. Gungarang, an opossum ; burru, a kangaroo ; buran, a 

 spear. 



Causative: This represents the subject in action, and is used 

 with a transitive verb. Mawpu gungarang bundan, a man an opos- 

 sum killed. Kurraganu kalkun mangan, a woman an eel caught. 



Genitive : A peculiarity of this case, which I was the first author 

 to report in any Australian language,^ is that the property and the 

 proprietor each take a suflix. Bagurdyu mawpa, a man's boom- 

 erang. 



Every object or article over which ownership can be exercised 

 is subject to inflection for person and number; as, bagurdya, my. 

 boomerang; bagurngunna, thy boomerang; bagurnga, his boom- 

 erang, and so on. The dual and plural contain " inclusive " and 

 " exclusive " forms in the first person. 



^"The Thoorga Language," Queensland Geographical Journal (1901), 

 Vol. XVIL, pp. 52-53. 



