BY HERMANN B. RITZ, M.A. 



49 



Now, the Tasmanian word-accent was quite fre- 

 quently on the third syhable from the -end — the ante- 

 jjenult, so that the change in the present case cannot be 

 (due to a Hnguistic habit of placing" the accent on the 

 penult. Thei"e are at least two obvious explanations of 

 this matter. The unstable character of the Aboriginal 

 speech may have extended the word-accent, and left 

 each speaker or family of speakers free to accentuate a 

 word at random or at will. Indeed, we find strong evi- 

 dence of such a state of things. For instance, H. Ling 

 Roth quotes for " foot " or " leg " the following words 

 — languna (p. ii.), lagarra (p. xi.), langna (p. xiii.), which 

 seems identical with langana (p.'xi.) with the accent on 

 the first syllable, luggana (p. xxvi.), leunia (p. xxx.), 

 langeneh (p. 1.). 



Again, the word buckelow may not be of English 

 origin at all. This seems the more plausible view, for 

 we find cognate words in the undoubtedly Aboriginal 

 vocabulary, e.g., wakella — mussel (p. iv.), wakellina — 

 sun or moon (p. v.), wakella — calf of leg (p. i.), ell of 

 which denote something '' round." 



The modulation of the voice in speaking is of the 

 same kind as that found in European lang'uages, for in- 

 stance in English as spoken by a North Briton, a 

 Welshman, or an Irishman. W^e find it most clearly 

 expressed in song and in the love of singing, and the 

 Tasmanian Aborigines afford good examples of it. H. 

 Ling Roth (pp. 134 ff.) gives a good account of the 

 music of the Aborigines ; but a better idea of it can be 

 gathered from hearing the songs themselves. This is 

 possible to us, owing to that wonderful device called 

 the gramophone. Mr. Horace Watson, of Sandy Bay, 

 an ardent and sympathetic student of Aboriginal life,, 

 had shown much kindness to Mrs. Fanny Cochrane 

 Smith, one of the descendants of the Aboriginal Tas- 

 manians, and, on one occasion she was delighted to- 

 please him by singing two native songs into a phono- 

 graph. The circumstances thus render the sincerity of 

 her performance unquestionable. The records are in 

 perfect order, and Mr. Watson, to help me in my study 

 of the Tasmanian speech, most generously gave me a 

 copy of each. I hope to have an opportunity to trans- 

 late and 'explain these records to the Royal Society ; for 

 the present I would only point out that the first song is 



