48G PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 



T is interchangeable with d ; p with h : and g with k. 



Ty and dy at the commencement of a word or syllable have 

 nearly the sound of the English j, or the Spanish cli. At the end of 

 a word or syllable, ty or dy is sounded as one letter, closely approach- 

 ing tch in the English word " watch," but omitting the final hissing 

 sound. 



Ng at the commencement of a word or syllable has a peculiar 

 nasal sound; at the end of a syllable it has the sound of 71 g in the 

 English word " sing." 



IS^OUNS. 



Nouns have number, gender, and case. 



Number. — There is no special declension for number, but the 

 noun is followed by words meaning two or several : — Nungo, a kan- 

 garoo ; nungo buiari, a couple of kangaroos; nungo imiaka, several 

 kangai'oos. 



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

 ployment of different words : — Nigar, a man. Nyumme, a woman. 

 Kibar, a boy. Ngundalgan, a girl. Yerrai, or gugangi, a baby of 

 either sex. 



The gender of animals is denoted by using words meaning "male" 

 and " female," placed after the creature's name, as Nungo kanaigan, 

 a male kangaroo. Nungo kandura, a female kangaroo. 



Case. — The principal cases are the nominative, causative, instru- 

 mental, genitive, accusative, dative, and ablative. 



Nominative. This case merely names the thing spoken of, and 

 requires no change in the noun, as, wandyi, a dog; guragai, an 

 opossum. 



Causative. When a transitrve verb is used, the noun takes a 

 suffix, as Nyummeu bakumbal marang, a woman a perch caught. 

 Wandyidyu guragai yindang, a dog an opossum bit. Nigardu nungo 

 buang, a man a kangaroo striick. 



Instrumental. Nigardu nganya bindaimang tuandu, a man at 

 me threw a boomerang. 



Possessive. Nigargundi tua, a man's boomerang. Nyimimegundi 

 wakk.Tr, a woman's tomahawk. 



Accusative. This case is the same as the nominative. 



The dative and ablative cases are declined by postfixes in a 

 sim.ilar manner. 



Adjectives. 

 Adjectives follow the nouns they qualify, and take similar 

 inflexions for number and case. 



Nigar bux'wai, a man large. Nigardu burwaidu nungo buang, a 

 large man struck a kangaroo ; and so on for the other cases. 



It will be observed that the suffixes of both nouns and adjectives 

 are subject to modifications, depending upon the terminal letter of the 

 word declined. 



Comparison. Nyam yunjrgo — nyam dharwi, this is bad — this is 

 good. Nyam dharruiunba, this is very good. 



