168 R. H. MATHEWS. 



Wiradhuri, but the Yota-yota people have apparently kept 

 their language distinct from those of their neighbours. On 

 this account it is important from a linguistic point of view, 

 and I consider myself fortunate in being the first to report 

 its grammatical structure. Considerations of space will 

 however, render it necessary to deal only with the funda- 

 mental elements of the language. 



Mr. E. M. Curr, gave vocabularies of some tribes in this 

 region in his work, 1 but he left the grammar of the language 

 untouched. 



The ceremonies of inauguration and the laws of inter- 

 marriage of this tribe, among others, are described in an 

 article I contributed to the Anthropological Society at 

 Washington, U.S.A., in 1898. 2 



Nouns. 

 Number. — Nouns have the singular, dual and plural. 

 Buttya, an opossum ; buttyal, a pair of opossums ; buttyau, 

 several opossums. Winyar, a woman ; winyandyal, a 

 couple of women ; winyanboga, several women. 



Gender. — There are two modes of indicating gender — by 

 using different words for the masculine and feminine, or by 

 adding words meaning male and female respectively. Yiyir, 

 a man. Winyar, a woman. Nunyunbunna, a girl. Nya- 

 woga, a maid. Dhuddhiwa, a girl. Who has just attained 

 puberty. Yiyirram, a boy. Malnega, a youth. Gudhupka 

 or yarka, a child of either sex. Bukka nhalma, a male dog. 

 Bukka nhana, a female dog. Baiamal nungea, a cock swan. 

 Baiamal nhana, a hen swan. 



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

 genitive, dative, ablative, instrumental and accusative. 



1 " The Australian Kace," Vol. in., pp. 570-589. 



2 " The Victorian Aborigines : their Initiation Ceremonies and Divis- 

 ional Systems/' American Anthropologist, Vol. xi., pp. 326 - 330, with 

 map showing distribution of the native tribes of Victoria. 



