244 R. H. MATHEWS. 
THE WOIWURRU AND BUNWURRU DIALECTS. | 
In a former article I defined the boundaries of the territory 
within which these dialects were spoken, together with a 
short conjugation of one of their verbs. I now wish to 
make a few remarks on their nouns. These dialects are 
named after their equivalents for the English word “‘ no,”’’ 
to which is affixed the native word “ wirru,”’ signifying 
“‘lip,’’ and hence speech. The names of the dialects there- 
fore mean, ‘* Wo-i speech”’ and “‘ Bin speech,”’ respectively. 
This peculiarity of naming a language after its negative 
adverb obtains among several tribes in Victoria, as well as. 
in New South Wales, already reported by me. 
The following information respecting nouns in the Wo-i- 
wurru are supplied for the purpose of comparison with other 
Victorian languages described by me in former papers. 
Number and gender are so nearly the same as in the Thagu- 
wurru and Wuddyawurru, that they will not be introduced 
here. Only a few of the cases of nouns need be illustrated: 
The nominative merely names the object under attention, 
and then the noun remains unchanged, as guli, a man; 
wangim, a boomerang; guang, an eel. 
Causative—Gulia guang bakunirra, a man an eel caught. 
Genitive—The possessor and the chattel are both declined 
guliagu wangimnuk, a man’s boomerang. 
Hverything over which ownership can be exercised is 
subject to inflection, by possessive affixes to the noun, for 
number and person, as, Wangimek, my boomerang, and so on. 
The remaining parts of speech follow substantially the 
same grammatical rules which have been reported by me 
among the adjoining tribes on the north and west. 
The records which I have preserved of the Wo-i-wurru 
grammar were gathered by me from “ Billy Bérak,” a 
member of the Yurundyeri sub-tribe, which formerly roamed 
