82 THE ABORIGINAL SPEECH OF TASMANIA. 



Thus we have accounted for every word of the son^ 

 — truly, I hope, plausibly at all events. 



We have yet to establish the meaning- of the groups 

 — that is, we have to explain the sentences. 



The key to this meaning is contained in the 

 " Phrases " quoted by Ling Roth from Milligan and 

 others. 



In these phrases, we observe that there is no sign 

 of any accidence. The words seem invariable in form 

 and widely applicable in meaning, as we have already 

 seen. The order of the words, supplemented, probably, 

 by gestures, would define the exact meaning. 



In this respect, we find an interesting parallel in the 

 syntax of the Chinese language. We cannot now enter 

 into this subject, except so far as to give a few speci- 

 mens. 



Take the sentence, " I will not give you any water." 



Milligan gives for this : — Noia meahteeang meena 

 neeto linah ; literally, " Not me give you stop water." 

 In the Chinese Mandarin speech, the sentence would 

 be : — Ngo moo ki, ki gni shoey ; literally, " Me not give 

 g-ive you water." 



In Milligan, the group mea'hteeang meena is inte- 

 resting; it is, taking the roots only, mi tien mi, and 

 seems analogous with " he gives," where " he " and the 

 final " s " in " gives " have the same meaning. The 

 Indirect Object is expressed in dififerent ways. In Tas- 

 manian we say " you stop," that is, " my giving stops 

 at you." In Chinese, we use the word " give " itself as 

 the index of the object to whom any action applies. " I 

 ■sing to you " would be rendered " me sing, give you " 

 (the benefit). 



We may now proceed with our own English version 

 of the song in its three forms : — 



M. is literally, — mighty, run, fire, heel, my, speedy, 

 foot, my, speedy, thou, come, run. bird, thou, very, great 

 man, man, very, great man, hero ! 



In plain English, " With might runs the bush fire ; 

 my heel, too, is speedy, and my foot is swift. Come 

 thou, and run with the speed of a bird ! Thou art a real 

 warrior, a man indeed, a warrior, a hero !" 



