Maung grammar: Texts and vocabulary 9783111586649, 9783111213156

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MAUNG GRAMMAR, TEXTS AND VOCABULARY

JANUA LINGUARUM STUDIA MEMORIAE NICOLAI YAN WIJK DEDICATA

edenda curai

C. H. VAN SCHOONEVELD INDIANA UNIVERSITY

SERIES PRACTICA 98

1970

MOUTON THE HAGUE • PARIS

MAUNG GRAMMAR TEXTS AND VOCABULARY

by

A. CAPELL and H.E. HINCH

1970

MOUTON THE HAGUE • PARIS

© Copyright 1970 in The Netherlands. Mouton & Co. N.V., Publishers, The Hague. No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publishers.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER: 70-120348

Printed in The Netherlands by Mouton & Co., Printers, The Hague,

FOREWORD

Maung is the language of Goulburn Island, North Australia. The present work represents the first presentation of the language at any length. The preliminary study was made by the first author during field work in North Australia in 1939 and again in 1942, together with shorter contacts over a number of periods in later years. It has also benefited by the work of missionaries in the area, including the Rev. S. Goldsmith, who probably made the first study of the language, but left only a few manuscript notes, and the Rev. L. Kentish, both of the Methodist Mission on the island. The latter also contributed to facilitate the author's study during his stay at Goulburn Island. Unfortunately Mr. Kentish was carried away by Japanese raiders during the Second World War and was lost. The second author is a nursing sister at the Mission, who, after undergoing training at the Summer Institute of Linguistics in Brisbane, carried on further study of the language. At my invitation Sister Hinch kindly agreed to collaborate with me on the production of the present volume. Much of the contribution, especially in the vocabulary, is hers, but she is not to be held responsible for my arrangement of the material, and in a few instances our interpretations have differed. The final decisions as to what was included are therefore mine, and Sister Hinch is not responsible for them, and least of all for any mistakes that have been made. I am very grateful to her for her collaboration, whereby the volume has been greatly improved and the vocabulary especially enlarged. My thanks are due not only to the help of the late Rev. L. Kentish, but to others who have collaborated in the analysis from time to time, including Mr. G.N. (now Associate Professor) O'Grady, of Victoria University, Columbia, Canada. Some aboriginal informants have also materially assisted; special mention may be made of Maqgiwa, who took part in the Summer Institute of Linguistics Workshop in Brisbane, in which much of the formalisation of the grammar was worked out. The bulk of the very strenuous work of typing and keeping my rather chaotic writings in order was done by my research assistant, Mrs. I. Wetherell, and without her constant care the work would probably not have been produced. A.

CAPELL

6

FOREWORD

I wish to acknowledge the assistance of Dr. A. Healey at the Summer Institute of Linguistics Workshop held at the University of Queensland in 1966. Attendance at this Workshop was made possible by a grant from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies. David and Kathleen Glasgow also gave considerable help in the phonemic analysis. H.E.

HINCH

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

5

List of Charts

11

PART ONE: GRAMMAR

0. Introduction

15

1. Phonemics 1.0. Sound System 1.1. Consonants 1.1.1. Description 1.1.2. Consonantal Phoneme Contrasts 1.1.3. Consonantal Variants 1.2. Vowels 1.2.1. Description 1.2.2. Vocalic Contrasts 1.3. Syllabic Structure 1.3.1. Syllable Structure 1.3.2. Distribution 1.3.3. Interpretation 1.4. Stress 1.5. Intonation 1.5.1. Basic Intonation Contours 1.5.2. General Levels of Pitch

17 17 18 18 19 21 22 22 24 24 24 25 26 27 27 27 30

2. Morphophonemics 2.0. Introduction 2.1. Consonantal Morphophonemics 2.1.1. Mutable Consonants

35 35 35 35

8

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2.1.2. Consonantal Dissimilation 2.1.3. Suffix Morphophonemics 2.2. Vocalic Morphophonemics 2.3. Changes Syntactically Determined 2.3.1. Syntacto-Phonemic Changes in Particles 2.3.2. Syntacto-Phonemic Changes in Verbs 2.3.3. Reduplication of Uninflected Roots 2.3.4. Vowel Final Word With Vowel Initial Word 2.3.5. Word Initial g

.

.

.

3. Morphology 3.1. Word Classes 3.2. The Concord 3.3. Cross Classing 3.4. The Article 3.5. The Noun 3.5.1. Nouns of Class I 3.5.2. Nouns of Class II 3.5.3. Nouns of Class III 3.5.4. Nouns of Class IV 3.5.5. Nouns of Class V 3.5.6. Nouns of Class VI 3.5.7. Number in Nouns 3.5.8. Gender in Nouns 3.5.9. Nominalisations. 3.6. The Adjective 3.6.1. Types of Adjectives 3.6.2. Comparison of Adjectives 3.7. The Pronouns 3.7.1. The Cardinal Pronouns 3.7.2. The Oblique Pronouns 3.7.3. The Possessive Pronouns . . . . . . . . 3.7.4. Demonstratives . 3.7.5. Interrogative Pronouns 3.7.6. The Relative Pronoun Substitute . . . . . . 3.7.7. Indefinite Pronouns . . . . . 3.8. The Verb . . . . . 3.8.1. Aspect, Mood and Tense 3.8.2. Verbal Roots and Affixes 3.8.3. Prefixial Elements of the Conjugation (a) Intransitive .. 3.8.4. Suffixial Elements of the Conjugation . . . 3.8.5. Derived Forms of the Verb . . . . . .

37 38 39 41 41 42 43 43 44

.

.

.

.

. .

. . .

.

. .

. .

.

45 45 45 47 47 48 48 49 50 50 51 52 52 53 55 55 55 58 59 59 60 60 63 64 65 66 66 67 68 73 77 80

TABLE OF CONTENTS

3.9. Particles 3.9.1. Adverbials 3.9.2. Emphasizers 3.9.3. Prepositions and Postpositions 3.9.4. Interjections 4. Syntax 4.1. Introducers 4.2. Equational Sentences 4.3. Sentences with Predicates 4.3.1. Predicate Only 4.3.2. Subject + Predicate 4.3.3. Subject + Predicate + Object 4.4. Subject and Object Slots 4.5. The Possessive Slot 4.6. The Descriptive Extension 4.7. Expansions of the Verb 4.8. Combination of Clauses 4.8.1. Juxtaposed Clauses 4.8.2. Overtly Combined Clauses 4.8.3. Conditions

9

86 86 88 88 89 90 90 92 93 93 93 94 94 97 98 100 100 100 101 102

PART TWO: TEXTS

Maung Texts 1. The Buffalo — a dialogue 2. The Buffalo — a story on the same theme 3. The Sandflies 4. Message to Irawala 5. Talk to the Village Council 6. A Prayer 7. Death and Burial 8. The Dugong 9. A Fight 10. A Kangaroo Hunt (i) 11. A Kangaroo Hunt (ii) 12. Garamalg 13. Jirwatfbad (Jinganar) 14. Djuddjud

PART THREE: M AUNG-ENGLISH VOCABULARY

107 107 110 115 118 121 122 123 126 129 131 132 135 136 139

LIST OF CHARTS

I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI.

Segmental Phonemes of Maung Phonetic Table of Australian Vowels Phonetic Table of Maung Vowels Word-Medial Consonant Clusters (CC) Word-Medial Consonant Clusters (CCC) Consonantal Morphophonemics of Maung Consonantal Dissimilation Suffix Morphophonemics Vocalic Morphophonemics Syntacto-Phonemic Changes in Maung Particles Syntacto-Phonemic Changes in Maung Verbs Word-Initial g in Maung Maung Verb Prefixes Compound Prefixes of Transitive Verbs Verb Classes Chart of Maung Derived Verbs

17 22 24 26 26 36 37 38 39 41 42 44 opp. 68 opp. 76 opp. 78 84

PART ONE

GRAMMAR

0. INTRODUCTION

0.1. Maung is the language of the Goulburn Islands, off the north coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory of Australia. The language is closely related to Jiwadja, which occupies the northwestern corner of the opposite mainland. There is, however, one outstanding difference between the the two: Maung has multiple classification of nouns, Jiwadja has no noun classes at all. In other points of structrure the two languages resemble each other rather closely, as they do also in vocabulary. An outline study of Jiwadja structure appeared in Oceania Linguistic Monograph, No. 7, "Some Linguistic Types in Australia" by the present writer. No Jiwadja vocabulary, however, was included. 0.2. Australian languages are subdivisible into two main groups — those which signal grammatical meanings by suffixes only, and those which use prefixes also — none of the languages use prefixes only. The prefixing languages occupy parts of an area which stretches from the southern edge of the Northern Kimberley Division of Western Australia, across Arnhem Land and terminates at Groote Eylandt, in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Not all the languages of this area have noun-classes, but all except a very few use prefixes, and some are structurally very complicated. Quite recently several languages to the south of this area (in the Barkly Tablelands) have been found to possess a system of noun classification, using the same basic morphemes as those of Arnhem Land, but working by suffixes and not prefixes. The information, gathered by Professor Kenneth L. Hale in 1960, has not yet been published. 0.3. The Maung language, dealt with in the present volume, belongs to the multiple classifying subgroup of the prefixing languages. The following diagram represents a typological delineation of Australian languages (AL): AL Prefixing A. No noun classes

Suffixing B. Noun classes

B.i. Two classes

B.ii. Multiple classes

16

INTRODUCTION

Jiwadja belongs to Group A., Maung to B.ii., but there is a body of vocabulary in common. If the lexical similarity seems to be less than the stress laid on it might imply, it must be remembered that the degree of vocabulary divergence from language to language is considerable in both groups of Australian languages, but amongst the prefixing languages in North and North-west Australia it is much larger than elsewhere. In fact, 8 % to 11 % agreement among these languages becomes noteworthy. The theoretically reconstructed 'Common Australian' element may reach nearly 90 % in parts of the Western Desert area: see Some Linguistic Types, map opposite page 12. The percentage of general agreement (not Common Australian only) between Jiwadja and Maung, taken over a vocabulary of some 600 words, is roughly 33%. In the parallel cases of Yilngali and Djamindjung in the Victoria River area of the Northern Territory it is about 52 %; in that of Ridarngo-Ngandi in the Roper River area it is 15 %. These figures are surprisingly high in this area of maximum divergence. 0.4. Concerning the typological and actual morphological resemblances between Jiwadja and Maung, a comparison of the following pages with the corresponding section of the Jiwadja grammar in Some Linguistic Types will give the historical linguist food for thought in dealing with a continent where diachronic study is impossible because no early stage of any language has been recorded and where, as a result, all historical restoration must rest entirely upon internal comparison and reconstruction.

1.

PHONEMICS

1.0. SOUND SYSTEM

The phonemic system of Maung is best described in terms of the twenty-three segmental phonemes tabulated below. There are also several contrastive intonation patterns. CHARTI

Segmental Phonemes of Maung

Stops Nasals Laterals Vibrants Fricatives Semi-vowels

Bilabial

Alveolar

Retroflex

Palatodental

Velar

b m

d n 1 r

4

dj nj

g

w

r

Front

High Mid Low

i

1 r

j Central

e

a

y

Back

3

u

In addition there is an extra-systematic glottal stop phoneme which occurs only in exclamations. The sound system presented in the above Table is that which is perfectly normal in the vast bulk of Australian languages and notes are needed on classes of sounds more than on individual sounds.

18

GRAMMAR 1.1.

CONSONANTS

1.1.1.

Description

(a) The plosive series phonemicised as /b/, /d/, /dj/, /d/ and /g/ are voiceless lenes — what are called in the British system of description 'devoiced' plosives, i.e. they have the tension of lenes but not the voicing. Some Australian linguists prefer to transcribe them as /p/, /t/, /tj/ or /ty/, /t/ and /k/, and this is perfectly acceptable because the two series do not usually exist together in Australian languages, and certainly not in Maung. They achieve a certain degree of voicing intervocalically and after homorganic nasals, but this is never phonemic. (b) The palatal series is here written in the form of digraphs partly for the sake of convenience, and partly because this form has been widely used in Australia over a long period and is generally understood by Australian linguists. They are, however, single sounds, phonemically [d^], [ny] and [ly] respectively. These sounds are called alveo-palatals because while the blade of the tongue makes contact with the front palate the tongue tip touches the lower front teeth — the normal formation of these sounds in the Australian languages. In Maung, however, there is a complication, noticed originally by Rev. Dr. C.M. Churchward when working in this area in 1946. He felt that dj and nj should be distinguished from d-j and n-j respectively. In his Mss. report he wrote: "In Maung at any rate, one must learn to distinguish between /n/ and /nj/, and between /n/ and /n/ before /j/ being alveolar. Note especially the following pronouns: /janad/ 'he'; /injanad/ 'she'; /anjanad/ and /adjanad/ 'it'. This distinction between /n/ and /nj/ (n + j) and between /d/ and /dj/ (d + j), which was obscured by the non-use of the letter /y/ appears not to have been noticed before". That is to say, a distinction should be made between a palatal plosive or nasal, and the alveolar sound plus a following /j/. One of the authors has also made a similar distinction, using [dj] and [nj] for the single sounds and [dy] and [ny] where two separate phonemes are involved. The distinction is important in the verbal forms: /gunjajan/ 'you see her' and /gunyajan/ 'he sees you'; /dy/, however, is an uncommon combination. On the other hand [addjanad] is right for 'it' (Class VI). The [dj] is the commoner, e.g., [gaddja] 'let us go together'; [addjarag] 'belongings'. Here /j/ will be used throughout. (c) Retroflex plosive, nasal and lateral are common to many Australian languages. (d) The varieties of r sound are: (1) rolled or flapped /r/; (2) fricative /r/ of Southern British 'run'; (3) flapped retroflex voiced vibrant [r] or /r/, e.g., [wafwararj] 'wild apple tree'. This is not a submember of d as in Gubabwiqu, cf. [guwadu] 'a woman's name', [guwafu] 'place name', [r] occurs word medially only, intervocalically and in consonant clusters. It contrasts within the syllable with /r/, but no minimal pairs have been found; e.g., /warawaraq/ 'a type of spear', /waramuijbig/ 'woman'. (e) The velar fricative /y/ is phonemic. Only one minimal pair and several

PHONEMICS

19

analogous pairs have been recorded (1.1.2.[c]). Native speakers are insistent on its correct pronunciation where it is actually heard, and are not willing to have it treated as a free variant of /g/. Examples are: [yiab] 'fish' (Jiwadja /ja:b/); [qajiyi] 'my teeth' (Jiwadja do.). It does occur, however, in conditioned variation in [-ga] and [-ya], the suffix of movement towards the speaker: [gu-ma-nji-ya] 'bring it here'; [ji-ni-ma-nj-ga] 'he brought it here'. (f) /g/ and /w/ show signs of conditioned alternation, as in Jiwadja. By many speakers /g/ before /u/ at the beginning of a word is sounded as /w/: 'ground': /gunag/ or /wunag/; 'chest' /gumbil/ or /wumbil/. 1.1.2.

Consonantal Phoneme Contrasts

The phonemes posited are based on the following contrasts: (a) The stops /b/, /d/, /d/, /dj/ and /g/ contrast as follows: bababa dabaga dabadab djabaga gababa

'sit' 'that (far distant)' 'all broken up' 'she (far distant)' 'over there'

bul dud dudj djuga gula

'blunt' 'a large amount' 'stand up' 'article (class II)' 'you are eating'

maba mada maiababa madjar maga

'do it' 'article (class V)' 'marriageable' 'throat' 'that (class V)'

4ubidj judi mutfidj nudjiyi nugiri

'sensation' 'goanna type' 'stingray type' 'your tooth' 'you are hot'

bab walmad bad badj mag

'sit' 'rain' 'pick it up' 'pipe' 'message stick'

djub dud

'splash' 'a large amount' 'small' 'stand up' 'ant type'

yudbinj qudbinj tjudjbanj yudbun

'I 'I 'I 'I

WU{i

dudj wug

slept' hurried' licked myself bend myself'

The nasals /m/, /n/, /n/, /nj/ and /q/ contrast as follows : ma nawul nja rja

'do it' 'hole' 'take it' 'is that so?'

mulan nudjajig njunjug rjulam

'mouse' 'your bone' 'sacred' 'day'

gumatjuy

'you were bringing it'

wumi

'shellfish type'

GRAMMAR

gunadbi wunalaja gunjadbi

'I have you (sg.)' 'cry' 'you (sg.) have her'

guni muriin bunji

guyadbi

'you (sg.) have it (class IV)

wurjidjalg

mamam gojan

'mother's father' 'you see him'

yurum guwun

manman jinimanj jinimay

'father's mother' 'he took' 'he is able to take'

gudjun gubutij guwuy

yulamdju wandji wandja djaydju

'just morning' 'head' 'hair type' 'just a sacred site'

ganmin mariman rjanjmala maymay

'you give him' 'because' 'father (term of address)' 'ocean' 'casuarina tree' 'you (sg.) are hitting him' 'white clay' 'canoe' 'you hit him (past punct.)' 'you are' 'father's mother' 'I am eating it (class V) 'pant'

The velar consonants /g/ and ¡y/ contrast as follows: guniga guniya

'you carry it!' 'you must give him'

gigi niyi

'what? how?' 'mother'

baga bayab

'those men' 'float'

Ml jayil

'milk tree' 'currant'

waga wayaj

'at that place' 'flying squirrel'

magagur mayara

'pelican' 'many (class V)'

jinjalganj jinjalyan

'she drowned' 'turtle'

marga warya

'want to' 'flower'

The liquids and laterals /r/, /r/, /r/, /!/ and /}/ contrast as follows: raburabu rabi

'name of person' 'file'

muru muru

'grass type' 'flying fox type'

la¡a

'sister (term of address)'

wulubulu

lama

'spear type'

mu\u

'mother's grandmother' 'nose'

wararuba warawara warawara

'dugong hide' 'flutter' 'tree type'

djur djur

'joke' 'drop'

gala wajawaja

'mother's brother' 'young sprouts among mangroves'

bul wuf

'blunt, rounded' 'water hole'

21

PHONEMICS

(e) The alveolar, retroflexed stops and vibrants /r/, /r/, /d/ and /d/ contrast as follows: guwarandi nadjarawo gajadajan madjaçlabi

'cut it up' 'whirlwind' 'look after yourself' 'wild turkey'

rjalari manjafi yiladi aijbadi

'leg' 'song' 'I put it in' 'expert'

warwag war warat] wadwadaba wadwatfaba

'away from' 'wild apple' 'hurry!' 'bird type'

warawara warawara bada madabada

'flutter' 'tree type' 'those men' 'marriageable'

(f) The semivowels and fricative /r/, /j/ and /y/ contrast as follows: jiraba jijalmu jiyara

'song type' 'his spirit' 'many (class I)'

wuyara wuragag wujaba

'many (class IV)' 'crow' 'ant heap'

miri M niyi

'oar' 'yes' 'mother'

gumi'radbi yawijabi guniyaba

'you are kneading it' 'my hair' 'you must give it to him'

jiridjiridj jijiyiba jiyijiyi

'slippery' 'his tooth' 'cockle heap'

(g) The semivowel and consonants /w/, /r/ and /y/ contrast as follows: muwaif muran guya

'sun' 'it (class V) went' 'you give him'

wuwija wuririg wuyiba

'its (class IV) hair' 'a little drop' 'mangrove worm' 1.1.3.

wuwudj ruyu muru

'urine' 'bird species' 'grass type'

Consonantal Variants

(a) Stops.1 The stop phonemes /b/, /dj/, /d/ and /d/ tend to be voiced in the pre-stop position and voiceless in the post-stop and word final position. Following the nasals they are voiced, and elsewhere they freely vary between voiced and voiceless. /g/ tends to be voiceless in both pre-stop and post-stop and word final positions, voiced after nasals, and voiced or voiceless elsewhere. 1

An interdental stop [41 occurs in just three words, where it is in free variation with [d]: [badiol, [badio] 'box', [mu(Jarao], [mudaraQ] 'pearlshell', [ga^ag], [gadaQ] 'carpenter's plane'.

22

GRAMMAR

(b) Nasals. In word initial position preceding /e/, /q/ tends to be fronted: [ge] [gen]

/qe/ /yen/

'I don't believe you!' 'I am shooting him'

(c) Semivowels. The /r/ phoneme is a non-syllabic retroflexed vocoid with approximately the same tongue position as the preceding vowel. 1.2.

VOWELS

1.2.1. Description The basic vowel phonemes are those given on the preceding Table (chart 1); the actual vowel sounds heard in most Australian languages are more numerous, and a Phonetic Table would take on the following shape:

CHART II

Phonetic Table of Australian Vowels Front

Central

Back

The symbols enclosed in ovals represent free variations; those in the triangles represent conditioned variants. The principles of conditioning operating in other areas of Australia are set out for the Western Desert language by W.H. Douglas in his Introduction to the Western Desert Language (Oceania Linguistic Monograph, No. 4, revised edition, University of Sydney, 1964), summarised and illustrated below. In general in Australia, the lax high front vowel varies freely between [i] and [e]; the back vowel between [u] and [o], and no semantic difference results. In Maung, the situation is different and rather unusual. In the first place, the dropping of [i] to [e] and [u] to [o] is almost absent, or at the most, very rare. The presence of the phonemes [e] and [o] is probably influencing this limitation, and those half-open vowels occur only in a minority of Australian languages. In the second place the vowel [a] is to be regarded as the fronting and raising of [a]; the [ae] which is usually in free variation with [e] wherever the latter occurs, is not heard; again in all probability [ae] and [a] if both were present would pass beyond the margin of safety and produce

PHONEMICS

23

ambiguity. These occurrences and failures to occur result in Douglas' four principles of variation being only partially applicable in Maung. The principles are: 1. Front consonants cause vowels to move forward; 2. Retrofiex consonants raise and retroflex vowels; 3. Alveolar consonants lower high vowels and raise low vowels; 4. Velar consonants pull vowels back. In the case of Maung, principle 1. does apply but within limits. Thus: /'bibidj/

f'bibidj]

/'gabi/

['rjabi]

'baby' T

In the latter type of example a final /i/ is short almost to the point of becoming [i ? ]. Principle 2. also holds good, in that all vowels tend to be retroflexed before retroflex consonants. /mulu/

[mulu]

'nose'

Principle 3. also generally holds good, e.g., /'luludj'

['luluidj]

'dog'

The fronting of /a/, however, does not rise beyond a point very close to cardinal vowel 4; here the symbol [a] will be used as more accurate than [ae]. Examples: /ijejan/

[gejan]

'I see him'

/rja'jalg/

[qa'jalg]

'language'

This leaves /e/ free to function as an independent vowel, without the free variation [ae] found in many of the languages: /merg/

[msrg]

'leaf'

/belmed/

[bslmed]

'type of spear'

/dadgen/

[dadgen]

'stone axe'

all independent of surrounding consonants. The same independence is enjoyed also by /o/ as in /gqjan/

['gojan]

/loglog/

flogbg]

'you see him' 'kind of lizard'

/oragab/

['orAgab]

'one (river)'

Principle 4 is valid for /i/ and /u/: /gunuga/

['gunogA]

'what? why?'

but the backing of /a/ to [ » ] is not found, e.g., /walidj/

['walidj]

'food'

/wamba/

[wambA]

'shark'

The vowel /a/ presents a little difficulty. It may be realised as [a] especially where long — though length is not phonemic — e.g., /ga:rug/

[ga:rug]

'large sack'

/garana:n/

[gArAna:n]

'oyster'

24

GRAMMAR

The variant [A] appears initially and finally, e.g., /aminj/ [Aminj] 'they said' /guliqgaI ['goliqgA] 'sign of question' The variant [a] discussed above occurs as stated there. The resulting phonetic chart of Maung vowels is therefore: CHART HI

Phonetic Table of Maung Vowels Front

Central

Back

High Mid Low

1.2.2.

Vocalic Contrasts

The vowels /i/, /e/, /a/, /o/ and /u/ contrast: gigi ge ga gz gu mirg merg marg mogo mur miriawd manbiri monmon munma

'what?' 'he goes' 'give me' 'you might shoot him' 'you might give him' 'large trevally' 'leaf' 'desire' 'hair belt' 'hurry' 'wallaby type' 'turtle type' 'chat' 'turtle type'

gili gel-ju gajan gojan gujag wilig weli wali wolg wulbaj

'flee' 'he hears' 'you (sg). see yourself' 'you see him' 'sickness' 'tickle' 'low tide' 'your turn' 'grease type' 'yam type'

1.3. SYLLABIC STRUCTURE

1.3.1. There are nine syllable patterns each having a vowel peak and differing by the number and position of the consonants. (V=vowel, C=consonant, — indicates syllable breaks).

25

PHONEMICS

V as in /a-wa-na/ 'they will go', /o-ra-gab/ 'one (class III)' VC as in /ad-ba-rag/ 'water hole', /sj-wej-wi/ 'place name' VCC as in /alg-gad/ 'fish type', /anq-gag/ 'hot' CCV as in /gju-gi/ 'I show him' CCVC as in /gwen/ 'you are piercing it' /gjud-djun/ 'I blame him' CCVCC as in /gwirg-bun/ 'you sew it' CV as in /ga/ 'give me', /ma/ 'do it', /gu-wa-na-ma/ 'you (sg.) will bring it' CVC as in /bab/ 'sit', /mun-mun-ga/ 'vine type' CVCC as in /girg/ 'all', /merg/ 'leaf', /a-walg/ 'berry type' Syllable patterns combine to form words of up to nine syllables: /a-ru-ni-wa-na-gadjbug-bu-nig/ 'he kept on calling us'.

1.3.2.

Distribution

The patterns V and VC occur only in word initial position. Other syllable patterns may occur in any position. Only /a/, and occasionally /e/ and /o/ occur as the vowel of V, VC VCC patterns. Elsewhere any vowel may occur in any position. In word-initial position all consonants except /y/, /n/ and /r/ occur preceding a vowel. The only word-initial consonant clusters are /gw/ and /gj/. In word-final position all consonants except /y/ and /f/ occur following a vowel. Word-final clusters of two consonants either consist of a liquid, lateral or semi-vowel, followed by a velar: lg

!g

rg

fg

ID

rD

rg

jg

or consist of /w/ followed by a consonant: wdj

wd

wd

wg

wn

wg

wl

All consonants occur in the intervocalic position. Word-medial clusters of two consonants are tabulated in Chart 1. All consonants except /y/ occur as the first consonant in a cluster, and all consonants except /n/, /f/, \\l and /I/ occur as the second consonant. Word-medial clusters of three consonants are tabulated in Chart 2. These medial CCC clusters may be described as combinations of word-final CC clusters followed by/b/, /dj/ or/g/.

26

GRAMMAR CHART IV

Word-Medial Consonant Clusters (CC) Second C \

First C

b

dj

d

4

g

m

n

nj

t)

w

j

r

1

Y

\ b dj dj d d g m nj n n Q w r t r l l

bdj

bg

djb djb db db gb mb njb nb nb Ob wb

ddj ddj gdj mdj md md njdj ndj nd ridj n4 gdj wd wdj

go mg mg njn njg njg njm ng ng nm nnj ug Og nm Og gm wg wn wg

rb fb

rdj idj

lb jb

ldj !dj

—

—

—

—

—

—

-

—

—

—

—

djg djm dg plosive unless Ci is nasal 2. lateral and alveolar nasal disappear and are replaced by Ci But if Ci is g, then g + l > n d ; i ) + b > g g

36

GRAMMAR CHART VI

Consonantal Morphophonemics of Maung Second C First C

m

w

b w m

b

b

1

J

ddj

d

—

—

—

—

—

—

d r n

db rb nb

db rb nm

ddj ddj ndj

dj nj

djb njb

djb njm

_

_

njdj

njdj

4

4b

4b

g q

gb ijb

gb ijm

n

5

d rg ng

—

dj ndj

b

b w mb

d

g

g

—

—

—

mn

—

y

d rg rnj

•

rg rg ng

rg rg nfl

njij

d

—

g nd

g

—

g Q

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

+ +

+ + + + + +

mi say, do, be jama work layali stand yinjga talk wun- + ma 3 pi. O take mi say, do, be jama work larjali

+ + + +

+

+ +

+

-n P -0 P -0 P -0 P -0 P -n P -0 P -0

—

g >3

¡jadbin 'we say, do, be' r/addjama 'we work' ìjadatjali 'we stand' yargirjjga 'we talk' garbunma 'we take them' garbin 'we say, do, be' gaddjama 'we work' gargarjali

A list of abbreviations is given at the end of this section (p. 40).

_ —

nd

njdj

Examples of these processes are as follows: 1 rjadex. pi. qadex. pi. tjadex. pi. rjarex. pi. garin. pl. S garin. pi. garin. pi. gar-

1

—

gg

37

MORPHOPHONEMICS

1 in. pi. gar1 in. pi. gan2 sg. S gan2 sg. S ar1 in. S ninj3 II nurj3 IV ninj3 II nug2 sg. nug2 sg. Ü1 sg. S gab3 VI O nab 3 VI

+ + + + +

+ + +

+ + + +

stand yalju be crooked wun- + ma 3 pi. O take mi say, do, be wun + wana + ma 3 pi. O fut take wuyi worn out labgi heavy tjidjalg body lari limb mawur arm ab- + ma 3 VI 0 take rja- + ma 3 II S take liri hot

+ +

+ +

+ +

P -0 P -0 P -n P -0

-0 P -0 P

'we stand' gargalju 'we are crooked' ganbunma 'you take them' ganmin 'you say, do, be' arbunbanama 'we will take them' ninjbuyi 'she is worn out' nundagbi 'it is heavy' ninjqidjalg 'her body' nugari 'your limb' nugbawur 'your arm' yaba 'I take it' gagama 'she takes it' nadiri 'it is hot'

2.1.2. Consonantal Dissimilation Consonant final 3rd person Class VI object verb prefixes show consonantal dissimilation with the first consonant of a vowel initial stem, as shown in Chart VII. CHART VII

Consonantal Dissimilation Stem initial VC

3rd person VI object

C = rrd-, Jnirj-, nitjiwi-, duu{r,)m(a)aw-

Possessives uarg(nar-) (nuw-) Cnud-) iniìj-, nirjiwi(w)umaaw-

MORPHOLOGY

47

In the above list, the radical forms only are given; limitations of uses will be found, and morphophonemic changes play a considerable part. The term 'alliterative concord' is retained, because it gives the simplest and clearest picture of the resultant compounds; it has not seemed advisable to adopt Zellig S. Harris' suggestion that the prefixes should be treated as discontinuous morphemes, because to do so would unnecessarily complicate the already complicated picture on the side of morphophonemics. 3.3.

CROSS CLASSING 3.3.1.

Some noun roots possess in themselves only a general meaning, connected with some common idea, e.g., a long bone; they are capable of assuming the prefixes of various classes and thus taking the special meaning attached to that class. Examples: /-nimi/ expresses the idea of a 'long bone', something long and solid. In CI. I /(j)i-nimi/ has a 'human male' application, and means 'his backbone'; CI. II /ninj-imi/ 'her backbone'; in CI. IV /ma-nimi/ has a 'tree' application and means 'trunk of a tree'; in CI. VI /ad-imi/ has a 'food' application and means 'main radicle' of the potato plant or yam vine. Contrast /adinimi/, 'half thereof. Other examples are: CI. CI. CI. CI. CI. CI. CI. CI. CI.

I : /i-mawur/ 'a man's arm' II : /ninj-mawur/ 'a woman's arm' IV: /u-mawur/ 'arm of a river' V : /ma-mawur/ 'arm of a tree', 'branch' VI: /a-bawur/ 'arm' or 'trendil' of vine I : /i-qidjalg/ 'human body' (male) II : /ninj-qidjalg/ 'human body' (female) IV: /u-gidjalg/ used in /wuburg urjidjalg/ 'body of night', 'midnight' VI: /ag-idjalg/ 'body of food trees', i.e., 'fruit'

Some are not used so fully, e.g., root /-jiyi/, in CI. I /i-jiyi/ 'man's tooth'; /wu-jiyi/ 'crack in the ground'; /ma-jiyi/ 'splinter of wood'. Root /-umbuli/, in CI. I /j-umbuli/ 'human face'; in CI. V /m-umbuli/ 'end of a stick'. Root /-wadbadi/, in CI. I /iwadbadi/ 'having close-cropped hair'; CI. IV /u-wadbadi/ 'bare (of ground)'; CI. V /marj-adbadi/ 'leafless (of trees)'; CI. VI /ag-adbadi/ 'tuberless (of root plants)'. This last word gives a series of adjectives rather than nouns. Before the noun-classes themselves are illustrated, it is fitting to discuss the article. 3.4.

THE ARTICLE 3.4.0.

The word here accounted an 'article' is rather a marker of a noun and a noun adjunct, and does not correspond in its uses to those of the in English. It is a defining word

GRAMMAR

placed before nouns and frequently also before adjectives. In the first instance it serves to mark the noun as such, rather than to mark any definiteness attaching to it; in the second instance it serves as a ligative, strengthening the relationship between the noun and the preceding adjective. It varies for class according to the following scheme: CI. I :dja CI. II : djida CI. Ill: bada CI. IV: da CI. V : mada CI. VI: da The appropriate form should be learnt along with each noun, unless the noun is specifically treated as indefinite: /qanmarjula andjila/ 'I am carrying a spear', or rather 'I am spear-carrying', 'I carry spears'. It is used (1) before definite nouns: /dja ganimalgbanj/ 'my father'; /dja qadiqan/ 'my brother'; (2) before an adjective coupled with a noun, or any other word functioning as an adjective: /dja gargbin dja arargbi/ 'a or the big man'; /mada gargbin mada walg/ 'a or the big tree'. To the native mind the addition of the adjective makes the idea definite, so that the article is used; to the European mind this is not necessarily so; hence the ambiguity in translation; (3) it is used before a verbal form as a relative pronoun or to form verbal nouns. For these see 3.5.9. Class forms of the article can contribute much to meanings: /balanda/ 'white-man' (Dutch'Hollander'by way of Malay): /dja balanda/ 'the white man', but /gigi da balanda/ 'what is the English for (a given word)? 3.5. THE NOUN

3.5.0. The noun in Maung may be simple or derived. For the purposes of classification the distinction is irrevelant. The following paragraphs will show details of the groupings of nouns within the simple overall pattern given in 3.2.2. 3.5.1.

Nouns of Class I

3.5.1.1. Class I is predominantly the class of male living things. Hence it contains most of the names of things that have life, looked at apart from questions of sex. Class II contains feminine living objects. Hence in Class I the following groups are found: (i) Names of male persons: arargbi 'man'; bunji 'father'; gaju 'elder brother'; mawidj 'younger brother'; wulgu 'elder son'; warwag 'younger son'; marijun 'small boy'; maryidjbu 'sorcerer'; gjugan 'headman'.

MORPHOLOGY

49

(ii) Names of living creatures: (a) animals: luludj 'dog'; wundarug 'opossum'; ajay 'kangaroo'; marun 'bandicoot' ; mulan 'mouse'; jinjalyan 'turtle'; arugin 'snake' and others; (b) a few birds: 2 rjugrjug 'owl'; guragag 'crow'; marwadi 'eaglehawk'; garganj 'chickenhawk'; djuddjud 'fish hawk'; gajurggajurg 'kookaburra'; tjalayaju 'white cockatoo'; garag 'black cockatoo' — and with these go jimidjig 'feather, wing' and gujadjug 'egg'; (c) fish and sea creatures: gjab 'fish; muqlidj 'variety of sting-ray'; mawurja 'a small black and red mangrove crab and other varieties'; (d) insects: mundamunda 'blowfly'; molg 'common fly'; mirjiwururu 'caterpillar'; widu 'maggot'; minarj 'louse'; wog 'black ant'; jinjin 'white ant'; rjili 'mosquito'. (iii) Names of objects closely connected with human beings are included: manburwa 'clothing'; marwi 'hairbelt'; alamba 'forehead band'; jaijali 'bag worn at waist'; some utensils are included, but spears and wooden objects are subsumed under CI. V. (iv) Some parts of the body are grouped in CI. I: umburiuri 'eyebrow'; umbuluni 'eyelash'; -jigi 'tooth'; narjadam 'cheek'; -layararu 'jaw', 'chin'; madjar 'neck'; molirg 'shoulder'; jilari 'his spine'; gungabam 'calf of leg'; -jayig 'bone'; murgadj 'fat'; waja 'penis', 'male person' — but see notes s.v. Class V for other words of this meaning. Rather more abstract but obviously connected, is wutjgurg 'jelly-fish > cold (running nose)'. (v) A few other words belong to Class I with less reason. One of these is gurana 'moon', while muwatj 'sun' is Class II: this is to be explained mythologically, for sun and moon in Australia are always female and male respectively, even where the local language has no classification of nouns. Less easily explicable are mijarud 'a fog'; inmig 'dew'; walmad 'rain' ; 3 mararawg 'lightning'; duruj 'thunder', always used as giwani duruj (verb form); gudjun 'clay' (which ought to be Class IV); and jurwiri 'ashes', which ought to be Class V. Probably behind these words there is some idea of masculinity or of derivation from a masculine source. This is certainly so in the case of mararawg 'lightning', which is regarded as personal — the spirit which produces thunder and lightning. 3.5.2.

Nouns of Class II

3.5.2.1. The root idea in this class is femininity; hence it includes all names of females: waramutjbig 'woman'; yinjalgbanj 'my mother'; la\a 'sister'; tjawinj 'daughter' ; gamarijuwun 'widow'. It will similarly contain names of female animals, if such specification has to be made; usually animals and birds are grouped either in CI. I or CI. II irrespective of whether they are masculine or feminine. No parts of the body are entered in this class. That muwan 'sun' is Class II has 2 3

See s.v. Class II. wubadj 'water' is CI. IV because it is connected with the ground: see notes on CI. IV.

50

GRAMMAR

already been pointed out. Stars are also included in this class, e.g., wijamurg 'star'. The wind and clouds, however, are CI. VI. Birds as a whole tend to be Class II, irrespective of sex, with the exceptions already listed in CI. I. Words of CI. II are munurur 'dove'; madjadabi 'scrub turkey'; mirinjag 'brolga'; magagagur 'pelican'; nawariju 'duck'; manimunag 'goose'; wilibilid 'peewee'; A few other creatures are also included here, e.g., wambifbaja 'anteater'; mularig 'frog'; maladjag 'prawn'; munjrjan 'wasp'. 3.5.3.

Nouns of Class III

3.5.3.1. Class III is not a noun class in the same sense as the other five, but simply serves as a plural for Classes I and II, i.e., a personal plural. Therefore any personal noun belonging to Class I or Class II which is by nature capable of having a plural, can also go into Class III. So, for example, dja arargbi 'the man', CI. I gives bada arargbi 'the men', CI. Ill; djida waramuqbig 'the woman', CI. II gives bada waramurjbig 'the women', CI. Ill; bada liri ijadu 'my enemies'.4 This class is thus more often met with incidentally than as an actual group to which a noun must belong, e.g., dja inimalgbanj imirjbu bada gawujama nuju 'his father said to his servants': gawujama is a Class I word. Some of these nouns carry a prefix wara-, which is normally a sign of the personal plural. But some are also singular: wararjjiwu 'child', wararawundji 'girl of a certain age-class, under about 12 years', waramundubu 'emu'. Examples of such words in a syntactic setting would be: singular object: dja gunbiribiri inimadulgbarag dja wararjjiwu duga wumawur, 'the crocodile pulled the child into the river', plural object: dja gunbiribiri awunimadulgbarag bada wararjjiwu duga wumawur, 'the crocodile pulled the children into the river'. This wara may also occur with tjandi 'who': gigi dja anbunjandi wararjandi bada baga, 'can you see who these (people) are?' answering to a singular, CI. I gigi dja gujandi yartdi dja naga. The limitation mentioned above must be strictly observed: no noun of Classes I or II which indicates an object, and not a person or an animal, can transfer to Class III. From this it follows that the subject and object prefixes of the verb (see 3.8.2.) must be used in the singular form with such non-personal nouns even if the idea be plural: dja rjawuri dja wondog giwunmin 'our wommeras are similar', not bada... wondog. Fish are included in this non-personal group which cannot be transferred to CI. III. 3.5.4.

Nouns of Class IV

3.5.4.1. The general idea in this class seems to be the ground and objects connected with it: gunag 'earth, ground, camp', muryu 'hill'; wubadj 'water' (but the rain 4

If liri is transferred to CI. IV it means 'a fight'; in CI. I it is 'an enemy'.

MORPHOLOGY

51

which does not come from the ground, is walmad Class I.); wumawur 'river', and by extension 'Milky Way'; jiygir 'mud'; yulurubi 'bay'; wariad 'stone'; adjbud 'sand'; uyumbuli 'cape'; nawul 'hole in the ground'; wul 'billabong'; but exceptionally tjalmar 'a cave' is CI. V. tjalmar gandadji is commonly used for 'hole'. Connected also is nundilibud 'bog' and ulumunulumun 'lump', probably referred primarily to a lump of earth. A secondary grouping in CI. IV is expressions of time: yuridj 'a day (of twentyfour hours)'; yamuri 'the dry season'; tjulamqulam 'the morning'; wuburg 'the night' wuburg wuyidjalg 'midnight' (lit. 'night its-body'). A few parts of the body belong to Class IV: tjaralg 'tongue'; walmugbug 'brain'; wayari 'elbow'; -wari 'a sore'; -wija 'hair'. The last two take prefixed possessives (see 3.7.3.3. [ii]). It should be noted that Class IV forms are often used to express a general neuter idea, and often that of an abstract noun, e.g., da jaliwijud 'that which is evil'; da nuymurundi 'danger(ous)'; da gayarigbagba 'temptation, trial'. For the use of this in the relative construction, see 3.7.6., and note here also da gunugawg 'everything': imin rjadu da gunug gawg da yaminay 'he told me everything I had done'. 3.5.5.

Nouns of Class V

3.5.5.1. Class V contains principally nouns indicating trees and wooden objects, along with other parts of the body than the previous classes, and a few odd words difficult to classify. Trees: walg 'tree'; merg 'leaf; mawirijag 'root'; manimi 'trunk of tree'; mamawur 'branch'; malayganj 'log'; amongst varieties of tree: marijawu 'white gum'; milirinj 'blood-wood'; mangalabalara 'lily stem'; murwala 'pandanus'; wirar-wirar 'wattle variety'; 'lily root', a vegetable food, is CI. VI. Other plants: milag 'grass'; maygyle 'bamboo'; yandawl 'grass seed'. Wooden implements: gungalg 'firestick'; windjila 'spear'; gubunj 'canoe'; wiryala 'boomerang'; murganj 'waddy'; mawygu 'bough shed, shelter'; miri 'a paddle'; mupgalg 'spearthrower'; muranba 'the horizontal stick in fire-making'; yanaygar 'music stick'. It is probably only by attractive analogy that maqgig 'spearhead' has come to be included in this class.5 By extension, objects in which wood is used have also been grouped in Class V. Firstly, juygu 'fire', and a number of related ideas: wuyanj 'smoke'; muynanjbud 'white ashes'; wilyugu 'charcoal'; and — though not very logically unless the thought is of burning off grass for kangaroos — mamunwilyugug 'the hot, dry time just before the rains begin'. Most of the seasons are Class IV. Parts of the body: the following are grouped in Class V: jirga 'moustache'; laryalg 'ear'; wun 'eye'; muju 'nose'; mayalyal 'throat'; 'gorag 'belly'; windi 'wrist'; girawara 5

Another variable classification of interest is murwala, 'pandanus': muga mada murwala, that is a 'pandanus tree'; nuga dja murwala 'pandanus leaves stripped for basket-making'.

52

GRAMMAR

'back'; iladidj 'spine'; wila 'ankle'; manirjul 'blood'; mamurjandja and majiradad 'penis'; 6 maralrjginj 'spittle'; mugi 'navel'. None of these takes prefixed possessives. Amongst odd words grouped in Class V are munburi 'bundle' (presumably 'bundle of sticks for the fire' in the first place, and hence perhaps its inclusion here); -wadbalmili (1) 'forehead' (2) 'riverbank'; ma-tjaralg 'flame' (jjaralg 'tongue'). 3.5.6.

Nouns of Class VI

3.5.6.1. Nouns of Class VI are rather miscellaneous. Commonest are names of food plants and vegetable foods: walidj 'vegetable food in general'; mawyanj 'lily root'; and the different varieties of yam — mijuba , mayaranj, etc. 'yams'. Introduced foodstuffs, such as flour, and the mango fruit, are placed in this class (but note that the mango tree as such would be CI. V). Winds (malu) and clouds (gojinu) are of CI. VI also; so is the human body {-djalg, with prefixed possessives) and certain parts of it: niyi 'thumb'; alyidj 'liver'. Some abstract terms go into this class also, prominently amongst them walar 'subsection, subsection totem'; gunuga da nuji da walar 'what is your subsection totem?' 7 The spirit centre, pool of water where spirit children are found (mirwidj) is of CI. V: rjambiwi da nuji da mirwidj 'where is your spirit centre?' But so also is adbarag 'well', 'ordinary water hole': walwad da adbarag 'deep is the well'. Judging by the two preceding ceremonial terms, it would seem that all ceremonial terms should rightly belong here, and certain ones do, e.g., mangidar 'tribal cicatrices'. The class is relatively uncommon. 3.5.7.

Number in Nouns

3.5.7.1. There is very little formal indication of number in the Maung noun; clarity is always obtained from either (a) the article, (b) pronouns or adjectives attached to the noun, or (c) the verbal prefixes. Each of these is treated in its proper place. The forms of Class III are an important method of indicating the plural of personal nouns, but they apply only to such nouns. Some that are derived from other roots can also be transferred to Class III, and some are irregular, e.g., yani-malgbanj 'my father', but inj-algbanj rjadu 'my mother'; plural awalgbanj 'mothers'. For the termination -awg see 3.7.4. Occasionally there is found a plural formed by reduplication: dja arargbi 'the man' bada ararargbi 'mankind'. The meaning in this case is intensified to cover as many cases as possible; hence the translation 'mankind'. 6

The second is said to be an obscene term; in CI. I form, jiradad, it means 'meat food*. There is still another term, wala, CI. I 'penis' or 'male person*. 7 Some evidence for walar as CI. IV is offered: nurjmalal da walar 'the subsection totem is good' also for mirwidj.

53

MORPHOLOGY

There is, however, a plural suffix -ud, which is regularly used with adjectives (see 3.6.1.) but only within certain limits with nouns. It may be added to (a) certain relationship terms, and (b) certain parts of the body. Examples: (a) yadiyan-ud 'my brothers or sisters'; (b) wunimi-ud 'their backs'. This example requires care, for although these nouns take prefixed pronouns to indicate the various possessors (see 3.7.3.3.), yet it is only in the third person plural that the suffix is used: nuwudimi 'your backs', but wunimiud 'their backs'. Adjectives used as nouns take the suffix -ud if they are used in the plural: bada wimalalud 'the good'; bada wimurundiud 'the evil'; bada wmarjgadud duga marudud 'the hard in heart'. They are uncertain, however, and some regard them as not 'good Maung'. The commoner forms are bada dumaladud and bada dumurundiud.

3.5.8.

Gender in Nouns

3.5.8.0. In nouns indicating beings who may differ in sex, Maung adopts one of three methods of indicating the sex: (a) a different word may be used for each; (b) a prefix may indicate the sex; (c) a special adjective may follow the noun. 3.5.8.1. A different word may be used: father uncle brother

Male /bunji/ or /rjanimalgbanj/ /idji/ or /jalgbanj/ /gaju/ or /rjadiqan/

Female /gamumu/ or /indjalgbanj/ /wilubilu/ or /r) anq amalgbanj / /lala/ or /qadirjan/

mother aunt sister

This method is limited to relationship terms. Amongst these, however, certain do not indicate gender at all, and the accompanying article has to to serve: /dja ijadiqan/ 'my brother' and /djida qadiqan/ 'my sister'. (The different forms in each case have special uses, which are treated in the Note at the end of this section.) 3.5.8.2. A prefix may indicate the sex. This method, again, is limited to relationship terms, and is not common even there. Examples are: /nanuq/ 'wife's brother', but /qanur)/ 'husband's sister' (the reciprocal term). Of interest in this connection is the comparison of /rjanimalgbanj/ 'my father' with /r)anqamalgbanj/ 'my father's sister or mother's brother's wife'. The latter term is the feminine of the former, as though she were a sort of female father — an idea which is found elsewhere in Australia where the same type of marriage holds good.

54

GRAMMAR

3.5.8.3. The adjective /waramundudj/ is placed after the noun in all other instances to indicate 'feminine', 'female': /luludj waramundudj/ 'female dog, bitch'; /gudjbayari waramundudj/ 'female kangaroo', etc. 3.5.8.4. A special case of the rules for indication of gender is provided by the names for members of the moieties and subsections. The two moieties are Nayaradjgu and Nama'rdgu. The feminines of the subsection names are formed by prefixing /gal-/ for the masculine /na-/, thus: Masculine nayaradjgu (singular) nayarayaradjgu (pi.) nawulanj nawmud nayaridj namaray namadgu (sg.) namatfgumadgu (pi.) nayila nawijug nawadj nawatjari

Feminine yalyaradjgu (sg.) yalyarayaradjgu (pi.) yalwulanj yalwamud yalyaridj yalyamaray yalmadgu (sg.) yalmadgum4gu (pi.) yalayila yalwijug yalawadj yalwayari

For totem groups there is a different system. There is a special name for those who own the various totems and this name changes for a single man or woman and for a group that owns the totem. Thus: Muwan (sun) 1 man /jarijaninj/ group: /manba]gidj/ Yuqgu (fire) 1 man /jariwurig/ group: /mandjururug/ Warjad (stone) 1 man /jarijangurg/ group: /mandjarijangurg/ Murwala (pandanus) 1 man /jariwurgar/ group: /manbariwurgar/

1 woman /ninjdjarijaninj/

1 woman /ninjdjariwurig/

1 woman /ninjdjarijangurg/

1 woman /ninjdjariwurgar/

Note: In quick speech Muwan 1 woman /ninjdjarijaninj/, in distinct pronunciation /ninjarijaninj/. The same applies for other terms of a similar structure.

MORPHOLOGY

3.5.9.

55

Nominalisations

Maung is a language in which little or no regular machinery for producing nouns from other word classes is present. As a rule the verbal form remains unaltered and is preceded by a noun marker or a marker of location, e.g., maniwcmburinj, 'he tied (the canoe)'; dugaba, 'there' dugaba maniwanburinj, 'the place where he tied the canoe'; ganiba 'here'; murjilinj '(the canoe) sank' ganiba duga murjilinj 'this is the place where the canoe sank'. In some instances the addition of the noun-marker da to a word of another class is sufficient to form an abstract noun: jaliwijud 'evil (things)' > da jaliwijud 'evil' (n); or even dja, djida or bada indicate the personal source of the quality: bada jaliwijud 'the evil (people)'. A preposition may be added as well, even in the case of anominalised verb phrase like those given above, e.g., /duga da garurjbunwilbin/ 'at the wecrossed-it', i.e., 'at the river crossing'. See further reference to the use of the article as a nominaliser in 4.4.5. 3.6. THE ADJECTIVE

3.6.0. The adjective in Maung is essentially a verb, and can be conjugated for person (though not for tense) as well as varied for class: i.e., it may take first and second person prefixes as well as the class prefixes of the third person. Certain adjectives are invariable, but the majority can be modified. 3.6.1.

Types of Adjectives

Adjectives may be divided into (i) Invariable (ii) Initial vowel stems (iii) Initial consonant stems: (a) /nu-/ class (b) non-mutable consonants (c) mutable consonants In addition, the plural may take as suffix /-ud/ as well as the prefixes, and this may happen in those classes in which plural and singular are alike in nouns. The concord is made irrespective of whether the adjective is attributive or predicative. (i) Invariable adjectives do not change their form for class at all, but the article of the correct class is used between the adjective and the noun. The adjective /gargbin/ 'big' is thus used with the various classes: Class I : /dja gargbin dja arargbi/ 'the big man' Class II : /djida gargbin djida waramuqbig/ 'the big woman'

56

GRAMMAR

Class III: /bada gargbin bada arargbi/ 'the big men' /bada gargbin bada waramuqbig/ 'the big women' Class IV: /da gargbin da gunag/ 'the big camp' Class V : /mada gargbin mada wajg/ 'the big tree' Class VI: /da gargbin da walidj/ 'the big (lot of) food'. These adjectives do not take the suffix /-ud/ of the plural. If the adjective is still further qualified, the article is retained, and may even need to be repeated, as with possessives: /jaragab dja gargbin dja arargbi/ 'one big man'; /da qabi da gargbin da gunag/ 'my big camp'. The syntactical uses of these invariable adjectives are clear from the above examples. (ii) The adjectives whose stems begin with initial vowels are illustrated in the following examples. It may be noticed that the initial vowel is usually an /a-/. In the third person, CI. I., the initial /ja-/ is really /i/ + /a/. All persons are given; the ending /-ud/ appears to be limited to the third person, and in these instances (where /-ud/ is used), CI. Ill is transferred to the 'plural' side and regarded as the plural corresponding to Classes I and II, and the Classes IV-VI appear also on the plural side. Example, /-anduljag/ 'long, tall'; Singular 1 incl. 1 excl. 2 3 I. II. IV. V. VI.

yanduljag nuwanduljag janduljag nit] anduljag uncluljag mariduljag awan^uljag

Plural argaytfuljag ararttfuljag gurcaj,4uljag wenduljagud wenduljagud untfuljagud maniuljagud awanduljagud

There is an alternative form for the third person plural CI. I and II: /janduljag/, applied to only a few persons or things of those classes. (iii) Adjectives beginning with a consonant are subdivisible into three types. Type (a) is limited to a comparative few that take /nu-/ as a third person singular CI. I sign, which does not occur in any word class in the language. An example is /numalal/ 'good': Singular 1 incl. 1 excl. 2 3 CI. I II IV V VI

rjamalal nugbalal numalal ninjmalal nuijmalal ijamalal nabalal

Plural argbalal yadbalal nuwudbalal wimaladud, dumalalud wimalalud, dumalalud nwjmalalud namalalud nabalalud

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The peculiarity of this group consists in prefixing /n-/ to all forms which would normally begin with a vowel; the /i—/ of CI. I becomes /u-/ in the process, and CI. IV becomes /nurj-/ < /u-/. The first person plural incl. does not take an /n-/. Type (b) is the adjective whose stem begins with a non-mutable consonant. According to the Table in 2.1.1., some of the consonants involved should be mutable, but in the case of the adjective, this is not always a fact. Thus, although /-ludbudj/ 'short' is mutable, /-lindjinj/ 'small' is not. Whether the following vowel determines this or not is not clear. The forms of /-lindjinj/ 'small' are: Singular 1 incl. 1 excl. 2 3 I. II. IV. V. VI.

tjalindjinj nuwalindjinj ilindjinj nitjjalindjinj wulindjinj malindjinj awalindjinj

Plural argilindjinj rjarilindjinj gurilindjinj wilindjinjud wilindjinjud wulindjinjud malindjinjud awalindjinjud

There is another word /-lidjab/ (or = ) /-lindjinj/ 'little' which patterns as follows: Singular 1 incl. 1 excl. 2 3 I. II. IV. V. VI.

tjalidjab nuwalidjab ilidjab ninjalidjab wulidjab malidjab awalidjab

Plural aralindjinj qaralindjinj nuwaralindjinj wilindjinjud wilindjinjud wulindjinjud malindjinjud awalindjinjud

Type (c) consists of adjectives which mutate the initial consonant of the stem in accordance with the morphophonemic rules already given. Several examples of these will be given in the 3rd person forms only; Type (a) actually comes under this heading, but its CI. I. form is different from those now to be considered. Class I. II. III. IV. V. VI.

dry iwijar nitjbijar wiwijar uwijar mawijar abijar

short iludbudj nundjudbudj wiludbudj uludbudj maludbudj adudbudj

A class of numeral adjectives (indefinites) being by nature plural, take special forms: one of them may also have a singular reference if needed:

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I. II. III. IV. V. VI.

Plenty wimura wimura

Plenty wiyara wiyara

wumura mamura abura

wuyara mayara agara

Some/Another jara ninjera wera r/ra mara dawara

a Few werawurjud werawutjud tjarawur/ud marawuyud awarawuyud

Emphasis is indicated in two different ways with the first two of these adjectives: /wimura miya arargbi/, 'there are very many men', but /wiyara jirg arargbi/, 'there is a multitude of men'. These adjectives also in CI. I. distinguish between persons and non-personal members of the Class: /wsrawuqud bada arargbi/, 'there are a few men'; /jerawuqud dja gjab/, 'there are a few fish'; /wimura bada arargbi/, 'there are many men', /imura dja gjab/, 'there are many fish'. This is part of the basic distinction between rational and non-rational animate nouns which is basic to all the multiple-classifying languages of North Australia. First and second persons can also be provided in some of these words: /qargara/, 'plenty of us (incl.)'; /argara/, 'plenty of us (excl.)'; /nuwugara/, 'plenty of you', from /wiyara/. There is also /murbodj/, some of them'. 3.6.2.

Comparison of Adjectives

3.6.2.1. There is no formal comparison of adjectives in Maung, i.e., no change of prefix or ending to indicate the comparative and superlative degrees, but various devices are employed to express the ideas. (a) Equality The verb /-wunmi/ 'to be equal, similar' is used to express equality between two objects: /dja qarwuri dja wondog giwunmin/ 'our wommeras are similar'; /dja qarwuri jarjali marig iwunmi/ 'our dilly bags are different'. (b) The Comparative Degree The following methods of expressing the superiority of one thing over another are found: (i) Two positive statements may be set side by side: /nuga numalal, naga numurundi/ 'this is good, that is bad', i.e., 'this is better than that'; /nuga nuladbalaqgad, la janad nuladbalilil/ 'this man is stronger than the other (he is weak)'. In a few instances there is a special verb in the language, e.g., /imargamanj/ 'he is older (than someone else)', cf. /imarg/ 'front'. (ii) The word /abin/ 'like' is used to introduce the inferior object: one is good, not like another, i.e., better than the other: /andjila manduljag, marig abin wondog/ 'the spear is longer than the wommera', lit. 'the spear is long, not like the wommera'. This is a very common method of expression, and serves also for the exclusive superlative.

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(c) The Superlative Degree The commonest sign of the superlative is the particle /miya/ (see also 3.9.1.): /janad numalal miya/ 'he is very good'; /janad janduljag miya/ 'he is very tall'. An alternative to this /miya/ is /adjirig/, but this is not so common. It more frequently qualifies a verb than an adjective. In a superlative of exclusion (i.e., 'most of all') the construction with /abin/ is used, as illustrated above: /janad numurundi miya, marig abin wera/ 'he is the worst boy of all (not like the others)'.

3.7. THE PRONOUNS

3.7.0. It is usual to call 'personal' pronouns the group I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they; but other pronouns can also vary for person, and so the name for the above group is not satisfactory, and 'cardinal' is suggested as a better term for these pronouns. 3.7.1.

The Cardinal Pronouns

3.7.1.1. In Maung pronouns do not distinguish a dual or trial number as in many Australian languages, but singular and plural only. In the third person, distinction of class is observed. As, however, CI. Ill is a plural, it is omitted from the list, as before, and and becomes the third person plural. The plural forms of Classes I and II are therefore Class III; but in Classes IV, V and VI the plural is the same as the singular. The table is then as follows: Person 1 inclusive 1 exclusive 2 3 Class I II IV V VI

Singular tjabi nuji janad in-janad8 an-janad manad ad-janad

Plural 'yarwuri yari 'nuwuri wenad wenad an-janad manad ad-janad

Third person Classes I and II cardinal pronouns show dual number by reduplication in the following manner: Class I Class II Class I and II 8

janadjanad injanadinjanad janadinjanad

For in-janad, supposing CI. I is a zero form replacing i-janad. See p. 18.

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3.7.2. 3.7.2.1.

The Oblique Pronouns

The pronouns to which this name is given are the following: Singular

1 inclusive 1 exclusive 2 3 Class I II

yadu nuwu nuju tjawu

Plural rjarwuru tjaru nuwuru wu wu

The remaining class forms in the third person are not in use. The use of these pronouns is as follows: (i) For an indirect object (unless this is incorporated in the verbs, as happens in certain cases). It is thus generally equivalent to 'to me', 'to you', etc. in English: /marig gajiqbi/ 'I can't go to you (or him)'; /nuwu da njunjug/ 'sacred to you'; /gulaga ganjiga rjadu/ 'send him to me!'; /angadjanj nuju/ 'call that man!', 'call him!'; /angadjanj qawu/ 'call to her!'; /guqunmanji qadu/ 'tell me!'; /awulirinini nuwuru/ 'they will be angry with you (pi.)'; rjanami qawu 'I'll tell her' /qanaminbu/ 'I'll tell them'. 9 (ii) For possessive relationships: see 3.7.3.1.: /mada murganj nuwu/ 'your staff'; /injalgbanj nuwu/ 'your mother'; /dja adjargarg qadu/ 'my goods'. (iii) Following from (i), the indirect forms can indicate something intended for a person: /dja qani qadigan anijawuq da wul nuju gudjbayari/ 'my brother dug an oven for (nuju) the kangaroo', lit. 'to be his, i.e., the kangaroo'. 3.7.3.

The Possessive Pronouns

3.7.3.1. Possession is indicated in Maung in two ways: (i) with some nouns the cardinal pronoun is placed in front of the name of the object possessed, and the two linked with the article, i.e., the pronoun is treated as an adjective of the invariable kind (see 3.6.2.1.) and (ii) some nouns take prefixed pronouns. 3.7.3.2. Independent Possessives. — The majority of Maung nouns come under this grouping, and the cardinal pronoun is linked with these by means of the article. Note that the article both precedes and follows the pronoun, as in the case of the corresponding adjectives. In some cases it may follow the noun. Examples: /mada gabi mada lanjalg/ 'my ear'; /da nuji da wandji/ 'your head'; /mada janad mada andjila/ 'his spear'; /dja injanad dja jagali/ 'her bag'; /mada qarwuri mada mariwi/ 'our hairbelts'; /dja qari dja gjab/ 'our fish (exclusive)'; /da nuwuri da wubadj/ 'our (pi) water'; /mada wenad mada maqalqaj/ 'their throats'. 9

This is used anticipatorily: /injminbu bada arargbi/ 'she said to them (the men)'.

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In all these cases the pronoun is treated simply as an adjective of Group I. In a few cases is the article is omitted, e.g., /janad djawina/ 'his friends'; or a pronoun may follow the noun, coupled with the article: /da jaliwijud da wenadbu/ 'their wickedness'. A reflexive or emphatic 'his own' is given by /wu/ after the noun: /iniwuq dja liri wu/ 'he hit his own enemy'; 10 /jiwadjiyin imuggurijuwu/ 'he broke his own neck' (/imurjgurijuwu/ 'his neck' shows a prefixed possessive.) 3.7.3.3. Prefixed Possessives. — The possessive is prefixed to certain nouns, mostly those indicating certain relationships and certain parts of the body or parts of an object. Morphophonemic rules are effective in the addition of these prefixes, the list of which appears in 2.1.1. Plurals do not take /-ud/. Singular 1 inclusive 1 exclusive 2 3 Class I. II. IV. V. VI.

rjalagbiridj nugagbiridj ilagbiridj ninjdjagbiridj wulagbiridj malagbiridj adagbiridj

Plural argagbiridj nadagbiridj nudagbiridj wilagbiridj wilagbiridj ( wulagbiridj) (malagbiridj) (adagbiridj)

The meaning and uses of the first and second persons, and the third person, Class I and II are plain: thus /qalagbiridj/ is 'my mouth'; /wilagbiridj/ 'their mouths', etc. The other class forms of the third person are used when the POSSESSOR belongs to one of those classes, i.e., when the possessor itself is an object, not a human being. Thus /wulagbiridj da qalmar/ 'the mouth of the cave'; /adagbiridj da gurambalg/ 'the door (lit. mouth) of the house'. In these examples the object possessed is treated as Group II adjective, linked with the noun through the article. Similarly /wuburg wuqidjalg/ 'midnight (lit. night's body)'; /wandadar wurjidjalg/ 'midday', lit. 'day's body', compared with /qaqidjalg/ 'my body'. 3.7.3.4. Some relationship terms also take prefixed possessives, and if the number of relations referred to is plural, then the suffix /-ud/ is added to the noun, or in some cases infixed between the prefix and the root. The prefixes in these cases are those of verbal subjects. Examples: (a) rjadirjan, 'my brother (or sister)'; (b) rjanimalgbanj, 'my father'. Singular Noun 1 singular plur. incl. 10

(a) brother rjadirjan argiijan

(b) father rjanimalgbanj (g)arunimalgbanj

/wu/ is the third person plural oblique pronoun governing /liri/: Lit. translation: 'he-hit-him the fight belonging-to-them'.

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plur. excl. 2 singular plural 3 i. ii. iii.

tjadirjan gudirjan gudiyan awuladirjan awuladiyan awuladitjan

tjarunimalgbanj gunimalgbanj gurunimalgbanj inimalgbanj injimalgbanj awunimalgbanj

Plural Noun 1 singular plur. incl. 2 singular plural 3 i. ii. iii.

(a) brother yadiyanud gadirjanud gudiqanud gudirjanud awuladiyanud awuladirjanud awuladirjanud

(b) father yandumalgbanj arundumalgbanj gundumalgbanj gurundumalgbanj indimalgbanj indimalgbanj (g) awundumalgbanj

Certain terms have to be distinguished by the possessives used with them; e.g. /-malgbanj/ can also mean 'son'. In the same way /-magam/ is 'husband' or 'wife'. The feminine of /-malgbanj/ viz. /injalgbanj/ 'mother' and /jalgbanj/ 'mother's mother' do not take prefixes at all: /injalgbanj nuwu/ 'your mother'. 3.7.3.5. It is also possible to use the oblique pronouns (3.7.2.) as the signs of possession: /bunji qaru/ 'our father'; /injalgbanj nuwu/ 'your mother'; sometimes the CI. IV. article da may intervene: /bunji da qari da ganbani jurq/ 'our father who art in Heaven'. This construction is proper when a dependent clause follows; as in this example: /dja gjugan gamanjugbujugbun mada andjila wu gargarg arargbi/ 'the chief is breaking two men's spears'. 3.7.3.6. The predicative possessive (i.e., possessive pronoun in the strict sense) is indicated by the use of the independent possessive form, viz., the cardinal pronoun preceded by the article: /qanmurwanji alyuru! Marig gunu, mada qabi./ 'Give me the string! I won't give it to you, it is mine.' /dja gajirg dja gunimagan marig dja nuji/ 'the husband you have now is not yours'. 3.7.3.7. The Prefix-Possessive Concord. — When a noun has a possessive prefix, it no longer takes the concord of its class, but the concord is made with the possessive instead; in the verb, the concord is that of the person corresponding to the possessive. So we have: /nejan dja arargbi/ 'I see the man' by /qan-ejan da ga-wija/ 'you see my hair', lit. 'you-see-me my-hair'. Here in the first case, the prefix /ne/ indicates that I act on him, and in the second /qan-/ that you act on me. When the adjective is attributive, it assumes the prefix of the possessive form corresponding to that of its noun, and not the class prefix of the noun. Thus /iquladj numalal/ 'his good name', but in the Lord's Prayer, the phrase favoured by the natives was /nuwu da nug-uladj nug-balal/ 'good is your name'. Contrast the following

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example, in which the noun does not take a possessive prefix and so the concord is simply that of the class (I, in this case) of the noun: /nuwu numalal garalg/ ' y ° u r good word'. With prefix-possessive concord again, /nuji nugaljag la nugbalal qadu rjanaqgad qanara agud/ 'Your goodness and mercy shall accompany me always'. 3.7.4.

Demonstratives

The following demonstrative words can be either adjectives or pronouns in their use, though the constructions differ slightly in each case. The words for 'this' and 'that' are rather more numerous than in English, and indicate a greater number of locations than the two English words. They may be graded according to the degree of remoteness from the speaker indicated by each, as follows: nuga, this (near me) naga, that (near you) nabaga that (distant) nugaba, the aforesaid nugawg, all these The class forms for these are shown in the following table: Class I. 11. III. IV. V. VI.

1. nuga djuga buga duga muga duga

2. naga indjaga baga daga maga daga

3. nabaga nit) baga nabaga nutj baga namaga nabaga

4. nugaba djugaba bugaba dugaba mugaba dugaba

5. nugawg djugawg bugawg dugawg mugawg dugawg

When used as adjectives, these words are coupled to the nouns by means of the article, and they precede all other adjectives, thus: /nuga dja arargbi/ 'this man'; /muga mada gargbin mada merg/ 'this big l e a f . The first demonstrative, /nuga/, is used when the object referred to is near the speaker. Which do you want ? — /nuga/ this one. If the object is further away, /naga/ that one (near you). The third word, /nabaga/, is used mostly in reference forward: /nuqbaga ba nuqmulal da argbanamin marmar/ 'it is good that we rejoice'; /da ijanarmi da nuqbaga qamijudbaji/ 'if I do that I'll hurt myself'; while the fourth, /nugaba/, is used in pointing: /nugaba, gilaqali warag/ 'there he is, standing apart'; or in reference backwards, as 'aforesaid': /qaruqburun miya nugaba dja arunnjadbug djif/ 'we know that he (already mentioned in the text) is the one who saves us'. The fifth word, /nugawg/, is more frequently locative in reference, and as a pronoun may even indicate place with no noun expressed at all: /dugawg awunduwuniq alyadj walg/ 'all those people hit them with sticks'. It has also a variant form /wagawg/, 'everywhere', /nugawg/ 'all this'. 3.7.4.1. A derived form of the demonstrative is used to replace a forgotten name: /nugar)/ 'What-is-his-name, what-you-may-call-him': /qandji jiiig geya; guqburun nugaq/ 'someone is coming — I think it is — oh, what's-his-name!'

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GRAMMAR 3.7.5.

Interrogative

Pronouns

The following are the Maung interrogatives: Who? /ijandji?/ What? /gunuga?/ /gigi?/ What sort of? /gigi gimin?/ The personal interrogative /rjandji/ does not vary for class, but must be followed by the appropriate class signs of the person referred to or asked about, thus: /rjandji dja naga awuniwuq bada marijun?/ 'who hit the boys?' lit. 'who that one he...'. This is the Class I concord; in Class II it would be /ijandji djida indjaga awunqawuq/ 'who is the woman who hit them?' and in Class III /qandji bada baga awunduwuq/ 'who are those that hit them?' Other examples are seen in the following: /rjandji imin ?/ 'who did that (or, who said that) ?' /rjandji nuji?/ 'who are you?' /qandji dja gunimalgbanj?/ 'who is your father?' For the use of /rjandji/ as indefinite pronoun, see below (3.7.7.) 3.7.5.1. The possessive 'whose?' is given by /qandji nuju, ijandji ijawu, qandji wu/ according to the class of the person referred to: /qandji nuju dja nuga dja mandjawag?/ 'whose is this knife?' presuming the owner to be a man. In a different context, however, a similar construction with /gunuga/ viz. /gunuga nuju/ means 'why?'. 3.7.5.2. The two words given for 'what' must be carefully distinguished. The broad distinction between them is that /gunuga/ expects the answer to be a noun, and /gigi/ expects it to be a verb. The only exception to this is the occasional use of /gigi/ to express 'which?'. Examples: (a) /gunuga/: /gunuga dja nuga?/ /gunuga dja naga?/ What is this ? What is that ? /gunuga gumijarma ?/ What do you want ? /gunuga gujalgma ?/ What are you looking for ? /gunuga ilifinmin?/ What is he angry about? /gunuga gawurjinga?/ What are they talking about? (b) /gigi/ (i) expecting the answer to be a verb: /gigi anmirj ?/ What did you say ? /gigi anbanamin ?/ What are you going to do ? (ii) expressing the idea of 'which?' /gigi da nuji da walar?/ Which is your subsection? /gigi dja djura dja gumijarma?/ Which book do you want? /gigi da Balanda?/ What is the English for it? 11 11

An example occurs in which /rjambiwi/ is 'which': /muga qargarg andjila; gambiwi amjanama?/ 'here are two spears; which will you have?'

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(iii) compounded as /gigi gimin/ 'what sort of?' /gigi gimin da walidj da nuji gaba?/ What sort of food are you eating? /gigi gimin dja manburwa nuju?/ What sort of clothing has he? 3.7.5.3. There is a use of /gigi/ in which it is equivalent to 'how', as in the following examples: /gigi /gigi /gigi /gigi

anbanamin la anbana/ 'how will you go ?' anminj la gumanj girg dja banigin?/ 'How did you bring those billycans?' rjanamin la qiwalalgu dja gjab?/ 'How will I cut up the fish?' awanamin la abanala?/ 'How will they eat the food?' 3.7.6.

The Relative Pronoun Substitute

There is in Maung no specific relative pronoun, but the article is used in a sense that is practically equivalent to that of a relative pronoun in English. The Class rules are observed, with the exception that a general neuter idea is expressed by /da/, the article of Class IV. The following are examples: /guliqga nuji da gargbin miya abin Jacob rjarunimalgbanj, dja (who) qarunjui] da duga da adbarag?/ 'Art thou much greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well?' /Wandjigab da gunag da injuq Jacob dja inimalgbanj Joseph/ 'a place which (=da) Jacob gave to his son Joseph'. /ugburun da guqburu da God gununjuq/ 'If you (sing.) knew what God gives you'. /dja aqbanila da wubadj da qabi qiwanaw marig imadju wubadj agudju/ 'he who (=dja) drinks the water which (=da) I shall give him will not thirst (lit. die (for) water) again'. /dja qanjadbuq/ 'he who (=dja) saved me.' /qari rjadi iwarudj da qarurjburun/ 'We worship what (=da) we know.' /bada gawili iwarudj nuju, nuqmalal da awali iwarudj nuju duga wijarma la aralba/ 'Those who (=bada) worship him, it is good that they worship him with their souls and truth.' These uses recall the not so dissimilar uses of the article with a participle in Ancient Greek. In some instances /da/ is used even of male persons, thus: /rjabi da gamin nuwu gabi wiju/ 'I that {—da) speak to you am he', /bunji da gari da ganbani jurq/ 'our Father who (second da) thou dwellest above'. But usually da of a general neuter idea: /gunugawg da qanimari/ 'everything that I did', /qanamin da ganiwijarma dja qanimalgbanj 'I will do what my father wishes'.

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3.7.7. Indefinite Pronouns The following words are used as indefinite pronouns, and in some cases as adjectives. Though strictly speaking lexical items, they are given partly because no dictionary is ever likely to be published and partly to show the constructions used with them. /ambargambarg/, 'all, everyone': /ambargambarg giwunijarma/ 'everybody likes him'; /ambargambarg amin marmar/ 'everyone rejoiced'. Note that it is construed with a plural verb. /marig yandji/, 'no one': lit. 'not who', with a negative verb: /marig qandji injuni da walidj/, 'no one gave him any food'. lyandjijirigl, 'someone': /qandji jifig geya; qandji jirig iquladj/, 'someone is coming; someone's name'. /'ja'ra/, 'another'; ¡wera/, 'others', in all class forms (see 3.6.1., page 58); e.g., /jaragab da gadjurga, la jaia adimunaqaniya da walidj/ 'one worked, and the other (or another) brought back the food'; mamabadbiaqgirg andjila; wera mamabadbiaq qargarg/, 'all carried spears; some carried two'. ¡girg jirg/, 'all, everyone, everything': this word is invariable in either of its forms, and follows the verb of which it is either subject or object: /iwumanj girg, la awu an/ 'they took everything and went away'; /dugawg awamadju jirg/, 'they are all dying out'. For the morphophonemics see 2.3. /jamin/, 'each, one (of a series)': /bada gadiqan gawunbadbi rjargarg la jamin rjargarg waraqju/, 'each of my brothers has two children'. Note the /la/, lit., 'my brothers have two, and each (alone) has two children', /gargarg aragbi mambadbiaij qargarg andjila/, 'the two men have two spears each'. ¡bada wigara/, 'whoever': with its Class III article and prefix it is formally an adjective, but functionally a pronoun: /bada wigara bada garjbala duga wubadj/ 'whoever drinks this water' (John 4:13).

3.8.

THE VERB

3.8.0. Unlike the Jiwadja verb, the verb in Maung has only two subdivisions — transitive and intransitive. The Jiwadja statives coalesce in Maung with the intransitives, and the Jiwadja prefix dja is absent from Maung, only the tja forms being found. The Maung verb is conjugated by both prefix and suffix. The prefixes indicate the person, both of subject and object, and the class in the third person, as well as number, and in part also the tense. Tense in the larger part, and Aspect, Mood and Voice entirely, are indicated by suffixes. In the paradigms following, hyphens on each side of the root indicate that both prefixes and suffixes are added to it.

MORPHOLOGY

67

3.8.1. Aspect, Mood and Tense There is an overall distinction of Realis and Irrealis Aspect, applicable to transitive and intransitive verbs alike, though the scope of each is not quite the same as in Jiwadja. Maung and Laragia agree better in this regard. The moods found are the indicative, imperative, potential and hypothetical or conditional. These are indicated chiefly by suffixes, the prefixes serving to indicate the tenses within the moods. The tenses distinguished are the following: in the indicative, present, past, imperfect and future. The other moods carry only a single tense, although there is an occasional past Irrealis form surviving at the present day. Judging by the related Northern Kimberley languages, there was a full set of past Irrealis forms in this group of languages at an earlier stage, but in the Northern Territory languages there is little synchronic evidence of them. In the Irrealis, the present forms regularly serve also for future time. These various forms do not all have different suffixes, e.g., the ending of the Irrealis may also embrace the potential and the hypothetical, only the negative particle marig before the verb being omitted. Here again Northern Kimberley practice agrees with that of Maung. The scope of the Realis and Irrealis forms is shown in the following diagram: A . REALIS PAST:

past simple or complete, and imperfect. Potential, indie, negatives pres. and future Indie, negative; hypothetical; imperative positive.

PRESENT:

B . IRREALIS

PAST:

Two examples of the scheme in action may be given:

¡

First example: /-udba/ 'to put' PRESENT: /qiudba/ 'I put'; /qi-wan-udba/ 'I shall put'

juwunji gudba/ 'Don't put it' 'I put it'; /giudbaT|ur|/ 'I was putting'. PRESENT: /niudbaji/ 'I can put'; /marig niudbaji/ 'I do not or will not put'.

IMPERATIVE:

i

PAST: perfect: /giudbari/

PAST:

¡ ¡

. ... ... , /da giudbanji/ if I_ put , ; /marig qiudbanji/ „I did, not put ; /gudbanji/ 'put it'.

Second example: /-aja-/-sja-/ 'to see' PRESENT: /qejan/ 'I see him'; /qiwajan/ 'I shall see him'

/juwunji gojan/ 'don't look at him!' PAST: perfect: /rjajawun/ 'I saw him'; /rjejanduri/ 'I was seeing him'. PRESENT: /qejandi/ 'I can see him' /marig qejandi/ 'I cannot or will not see him' IMPERATIVE:

PAST:

/da gejandhi/ 'if I see him'; /marig rjsjandiri/ 'I did not see him'

In this second example, the imperative is unexpectedly /gojandi/ 'see him!'

68

GRAMMAR

3.8.2. Verbal Roots and Affixes A system of prefixes, as in Jiwadja, indicates person and certain tenses. There is not so much irregularity as in Jiwadja. It should be noticed, however, that this general scheme, with its distinctions — and, from the European point of view, omissions— is generally carried over into the English spoken by the Aborigines, where frequent confusion if 'did not', 'could not' and 'will not' is heard, showing that to the native mind these are really grouped under one heading, the one here denominated Irrealis. More will be said about the nature of the Irrealis in a later paragraph (3.8.4.4.) Tense is doubly indicated by prefix and by suffix. The language distinguishes four tenses in the indicative, as already stated. Some verbs are defective in some forms. 3.8.2.1. The present tense indicates action in the present time: /qejan dja arargbi/ 'I see the man'; /qamadju/ 'I am sick'. The perfect or simple past points to a single act in past time: /qaminj/ 'I spoke, I said'; /ginjajawur) djida waramuqbig/ 'I saw the woman'. The imperfect denotes an act that continued for some time, though it is now finished, or a condition or state in past time: /iwani agud da gani/ 'he used to sit here always'; /imadjuqan/ 'he died' (indicating that he remained dead, the state, not the act receiving the emphasis); /ganrjingaqut)/ 'I was speaking'. The future tense marks future action: /qadbana/ 'we will go'. 3.8.2.2. The indicative mood marks statement as one of fact, in any of the periods of time mentioned; the potential marks an act that is possible but has not yet happened: /anbunajan/ 'can you see them?' Note, however, that if the act is presumed to be actually taking place, the indicative is used: /rjanejan da rjawija?/ 'can you see my head ?' (actually, because I am failing to hide properly, not just as a thing visible at any time). The hypothetical mood is usually introduced by /da/, and shows a condition or supposition: /da injanjandi/ 'if he sees him'; /da rjinjbajana/ 'if I see her'. The second example shows a plain future indicative being used in a hypothetical statement. The point is, that it is possible that I might see her. If the supposition refers to something past, the indicative is used: /da ganimag/ 'if he had caught me'. Finally, the imperative mood issues a command: /anmalgbanji/ 'go out!'; /gumanjiga/ 'bring it here!' 3.8.2.3. The potential and imperative moods show only one tense, but all moods form a negative by variation in both prefixes and suffixes, and they distinguish a present-future and a past tense. The use of the Irrealis in Negatives (except the imperative) is not, as it is in Jiwadja, optional but regular in Maung. 3.8.2.4. Uninflected Roots in Maung. — The Maung verb is normally a root inflected by the addition of both prefixes and suffixes. Certain verbs, however, are compounded of an invariable root and an auxiliary which by itself carries the affixes.

CHART

Maung Verb , Objects

FIRST PERSON

Subjects

Sg.

Incl. Pl.

SECOND PERSON

j

Excl. Pl.

GEN. First

PRES.

Person Sg.

FUT.

—

—

Pl.

Sg. gun-

gurun

gun-

gurun-

gunba(na)-4

gurunba(na)-

GEN. Incl. Pl.

PRES.

—

—

—

FUT. GEN. Ex. Pl.

PRES.

—

—

—

FUT.

gurun-

gurun-

gurun-

gurun-

gurunba(na)-

gurunba(na)-

—

—

—

—

GEN.

gan-

Second

PRES.

rjan-

Person Sg.

FUT.

ganba(na)-

garunba(na)-

GEN.

garun-

garun-

PRES.

garun-

FUT.

garunba(na)-

Third Person Cl. 1 1

GEN. PRES. FUT.

ganiganiganbani-

arunigaruniarunbani-

garunigarunigarunbani-

gunigunigunbani-

gurunigurunigurunbani-

II, IV, V. VI.

GEN. PRES. FUT.

gangaganga ganbaga-

arungagarungaarunbaga-

garungagarungagarunbaga

gungagungai gunbaga-

gurungagurunnagurunbaga-

GEN.

ganbuganduganbuganduganda(na)-

arunbuarundugarunbubarunduarunda(na)-

garunbugarundugarunbugarundugarunda(na)-

gunbugundugunbugundugurunda(na)-

gurunbugurundugurunbugurundugurunda(na)-

Pl.

Cl. III

PRES. FUT.

garun—

—

garun-

garungarunba(na)-

1. Where third person Class I subject with all objects and Class I object with all subjects, occurs the final i- becomes j- when used with a stem commencing with a-. (For morpho-phonemic changes see Chart B. Maung Morpho-phonemics). 2. Where two forms are bracketed together the upper one is used with stems commencing with a vowel (in which case the final u- is dropped for third person III subjects with all objects) and non bi-labial consonants. The lower form is used with stems commencing with bilabial consonants. 3. The form shown on the chart is used with stems commencing with a vowel (for morphophonemic changes see Chart D. Maung Morpho-phonemics). The prefix final w- becomes b- when used with stems commencing with a consonant (for morpho-phonemic changes see Chart A. Maung Morpho-phonemics). 4. (na) is added to the future prefix preceding monosyllabic consonant initial stems, before stems commencing with u, and before stems commencing with a- followed by an alveolar or retroflexed consonant (for morpho-phonemic changes see Chart B. Morpho-phonemics).

HART XIII

Verb Prefixes

(na)-

(na)-

ni-

-

qa-

THIRD PERSON CI. I i

-

Cl. IV

Cl. I V 3

Cl. V2 qanjmaqanjaqanjmaqanjaqanjana-

qinj-

gawun-

gug-

qi-

ginj-

qawun-

gug-

qiwa(na)-

qinjba(na)-

rjawunba(na)-

ijur)ba(na)-

ari- 5

arinj-

arbun-

aruij-

gan-

gannj-

garbun-

garurj-

ariwa(na)-

arinjba(na)-

arbunba(na)-

arur|ba(na)-

rjari-

qarinj-

qadbun-

narui)-

qaii-

qannj-

qadbun-

narurj-

qariwa(na)-

rjarinjba(na)-

r)adbunba(na)- narur)ba(na)-

gu-

gunj-

anbun-

guq-

gu-

gunj-

ganbun-

guq-

guwa(na)-

gunjba(na)-

anbunba(na)-

gurjba(na)-

guri-

gurinj-

gudbun-

guruij-

guri-

gunnj

gudbun-

guruq-

guriwa(na)-

gurinjba(na)-

gudbunba(na)- guruqba(na)-

gudbagudagudbagudagudana-

jiniginijiwam-

jinjigmjijinjbani-

awunigawumawunbani-

anigamaqbani-

manigamanimanani-

gadiabani-

jiijagiqajiwaqa-

jinjrjaginjqajinjbaria-

awurujagawunqaawunbaqa-

aqagarjaanbaqa-

maqagamaqamanaqa-

agagagaabaqa-

jinjbujinjdjuginjbuginjdjujinjdja(na)-

awunbuawundugawunbugawunduawunda(na)-

aqbuaqgugaqbugaqguaqga(na)-

jiwugiwu-

-

(na)-

Cl. Ill

qi-

-

-

Cl. II

jiwana(na)-

qawqawqaba(na)-

arbaargagarbagargaargana-

araw-

qadbaqadaqadbaqadaqadana-

qaraw-

anmaannaganmagannaanqana-

garawaraba(na)-

qarawqaraba(na)gawgawgaba(na)gurawgurawguraba(na)-

abumambugambumamba(na)-

gabuaba(na)-

5. The prefixes first person inclusive plural subject with third person Class I object, first person exclusive plural with third person class I object, and second person plural with class I object, drop the final -i before the verb stems ajan 'see' and ajadajan 'care for'. Symbols Gen. Pres. Fut. Sg. PI. Incl. Excl. CI. I, II, III, IV, V, VI

General tense-aspect (i.e., other than present or future) Present tense Future tense Singular Plural Inclusive Exclusive Class (I.e., noun class) Noun class numbers

MORPHOLOGY

69

In the multiple classifying languages of the Northern Kimberley Division of West Australia this is the normal pattern of verb inflection, but in Maung the type is rare. The following example illustrates the principle: /juran ab/ 'he sat down', lit. 'he went sit'. In this construction certain verbs, which may function alone in other senses, are combined with the invariable roots. The roots which have so far been noted are listed alphabetically here, with an example in each case showing the verb which acts as auxiliary with it. It will be noted that the auxiliary precedes the invariable root in Maung; in the Northern Kimberley languages the root precedes and the auxiliary follows. The nominal nature of these roots is shown by the fact that they are assignable to noun classes in such cases as the verbs formed with them are TRANSITIVE, e.g., /abura wuqbuladj/ 'thief, thieving'; /qanjbadj quridj/ 'I am sleepy'. The list to date is: ab — sit juran ab he go past, sit agbadj — 'fossick, ransack' ginima agbadj he it take present, fossick ajaj — 'hang' gili ajaj he stand present, hang alja — 'forget' juran alja he go past, forget algal — 'crawl' géra afgal he go present, crawl ar — 'stretch' jiminj ar he do past, stretch aru — 'trick' rjanrjala aru me she ingest, trick gunda aru you (sg.) ingest, trick bayab — 'float' giu bayab he lie present, float bar — 'laugh' iniwunirjbar him he hit past cont., laugh

'he sat'

'he fossicks (for) it'

'he hangs'

'he forgot'

'he crawls'

'he stretched it'

'she tricked me' 'excuse me"

'he is floating', 'he floats'

'he scoffed at him'

70 bar — 'slip' gimin bar he say, do be, slip belg — 'swell' ganmin belg you say, do be, swell bil12 — 'cut, squeeze' jiniwut] bil he him hit past jinilalgutjuri bi it (CI. I) he cut past cont. nuqbifi) bil'tractor' I it (CI. IV) hit past gininjdji bil him he feel jiwudin bi[ he tie past bir — 'lift back' giminj bir djura

GRAMMAR

'he is slipping', 'he slips'

'you are swollen'

'he squeezed him' 'he was cutting it out' i.e. the money for payment of rations. 'I crossed the tractor's path' 'he pinched him' 'he choked'

'he lifted back the paper' he say, do, be, past, lift back paper biridj — 'drop' jinjadbay biridj 'he dropped it', i.e. he held it and then it (CI. I) he hold past, drop dropped it. bud — 'close' yuymanj bud 'I closed it' I it (1. IV) take post, close garjma bud '(The door) bangs' it (CI. IV) take pres, close bulunj — 'smoke' gimin bulunj 'he is smoking', 'he smokes' he say, do, be present, smoke bulantjalg — 'forget' ganrjara bulanijalg 'you are forgetting', 'you forget' you (sg.) go present, forget djab — 'shift, move from one place to another, move camp' anmina djab 'you shift!' you (sg.) say, do, be imperative, shift djalar — 'separate' awaran djalar 'they were separated' they go past, separate 12

This looks like a solitary example of an ideophone, to which no basic lexical meaning can be assigned; the suggested 'cut, squeeze' is not really satisfactory.

MORPHOLOGY

djil — 'cool, even-tempered' gimin djil he say, do, be present, cool djil — 'drip' gili djil he stand present, drip djiytt — 'rise' (used of heavenly bodies) julagan djitju he go ahead of past, rise djulgadj — 'run' gimin djulgadj he say, do, be present, run djulir — 'melt' atjminj djulir it (CI. IV) say, do, be past, melt djur — 'fall', 'put down' juran djur he go past, fall jinjagan djur him he throw past, fall/put down djur — 'joke' gumanj djur you it (CI. I) take past, joke ejirejir — 'gargle' gimin ejirejir he do present, gargle gadug — 'nod' anmina gadug you do imperative, nod galatj — 'fish by day' awurjurinj galarj they run past, fishing by day galg — 'chop' yadiyan galg we stand past, chop garig — 'hunt by sea' ilatjalit] garig he stand past, hunt by sea gid — 'carry on the shoulder' tjima gid I him take present, carry on the shou gili — 'flee'

71

'he is even-tempered (cool)'

'he is bleeding' (i.e. dripping blood), 'he bleeds' 'it rose' (i.e. the sun or moon) (see discussion in Dictionary s.v. djirju) 'he is running', 'he runs'

'it melted'

'it fell'

'he put him down'

'you joked'

'he gargles'

'you nod!'

'they went fishing by day'

'we chopped'

'he went hunting (e.g. turtles)'

'I carry him on my shoulder'

72

GRAMMAR

jiqurinj gili 'he fled' he run past, flee girg — 'press' guwuni girg 'you press it!' you him hit imperative, press gunjdji — 'dismiss' 'he dismissed him' jiniwurj gunjdji he him hit past, dismiss jiwarudj — 'pray' gili jiwarudj 'he is praying' he stand present, pray lafal — 'look about, peer' gimin la\a\ 'he is looking about', 'he is peering' he say, do, be present, look about, peer lar — 'finish, complete' 'I have completed it' tjiwuy lar I it (CI. I) hit past, complete layar — 'lie', 'tell lies' rjima layar 'I am telling lies', 'I tell lies' I it (CI. I) take present, lie Iidir — 'break through, hatch' 'he (it) is hatching out' giwani ¡idir he (CI. I) sit present, hatch 'it hatched out' injanj {idir it (CI. I) he pierce, hatch lindidj — 'play' 'he is playing', 'he plays' gili lindidj he stand present, play lir — 'move across, move over' gimin lir 'he moved over' he say, do, be present, move over /«/—'full' gimin lul 'he is full' he (CI. I) say, do, be present, full gabin lul 'it (the flour) is full', i.e. it fills the whole bin it (CI. VI) say, do, be present, full madmad — 'fly' 'he is flying', 'he flies' giyurin madmad he run present, fly maifflalg — 'drown, take in water' aniwanj mantjalg 'he drowned', 'he was submerged and it (CI. IV) he ingest past, drown took in much water'

MORPHOLOGY

marg — 'desire' ginjajan marg him he see present, desire migbig — 'beautiful' jiniwwj migbig it (CI. I) he hit past, beautiful miltjur — iimp' ge milrjur he go present, limp minfa — 'strong' yijalma mintjla I it (CI. I) seek present, strong mirmir — 'hunting on land' juran mirmir he go past, hunt by land mirja — 'incoming tide' gili mirja it stand present, incoming tide. 3.8.3.

73

'he desires (to be with) him'

'he made it beautiful'

'he is limping', 'he limps'

'I seek strength, I am tired'

'he went hunting' (e.g., kangaroos)

'the tide is coming in'

Prefixial Elements of the Conjugation (a) Intransitive

Person and tense are indicated in Maung by prefixes, which vary only slightly for the various tenses and moods, and even for the aspects. Two sets of prefixes are found, those used with intransitive verbs and statives (i.e., adjective functioning words in the predicate of a sentence), and those used with transitive verbs. The basic forms are much like those used in Jiwadja, but in Maung, Class must be taken into account in both subjects and objects. 3.8.3.1. The radical forms of the prefixes for all tenses are alike, but in the present tense a pre-prefix /g-/ is found, which does not appear in the past (nor, for that matter, at all in Jiwadja); the future adds a post-prefix to the simple past form e.g., 3rd person CI. I, /i-/ past; /g-i-/ present; /i-wa-/ future indicative. The exceptional forms are those of the 1st person singular, 1st person plural exclusive and 2nd person plural, which cannot be modified for the present because they do not begin with a vowel. The intransitive prefixes are shown in the subjoined table: 1st sing. pi. incl. pi. excl. 2nd sing. pi. 3rd CI. I

Present Vagar-, gargyargan-, gagurgi-

Past yaargyaranguri-

Future yanaargbayadbaanbagudbaiwa-

74

GRAMMAR

II III IV V VI13

ginjgaw(u)gaygamagaw-

injaw(u)aymaaw-

injbaawwa-(>awa-) aybamanaaba-

3.8.3.2. The formation of the future tense calls for special attention. There are three forms: (i) with intransitive verbs, 1st sing, /rjana-/ < /qa- + na-/ < /qa + wana-/, 'I am going to', e.g., /qana-li/ 'I will stand'; /qanalju/ 'I will hear' (as in Jiwadja, this verb is intransitive in Maung, /qanalju nuwu/ 'I will hear you'); but this -na- is replaced in all other persons and classes (except 3rd person class V) by the other half of the same root, i.e., -wa-, which then undergoes the normal morphophonemic changes. This is the normal type of future in the intransitive verb — but not in the imperative, as it is in Jiwadja. (ii) /-wa-/ as a basis is used throughout the transitive conjugation as a prefix of the first rank: /qi-wa-margudjba/ 'I will strike him'. It undergoes morphophonemic changes if necessary, e.g., /rjar-inj-ba/ 'we shall... her' < yar + inj + wa. (iii) The full /-wana-/ occurs with some verbs, e.g., /-ma-/ 'get' /rjiwanama/ 'I shall get it'; /rjiwana-mawarag/ 'I shall take it away'; /giwana-nama/ 'I shall hate him'; qiwana-wunbar 'I shall finish it'. These verbs are not numerous, but there seems to be no formal indicator to show which will behave this way. 3.8.3.3. The prefixes are applied immediately to transitive verbs in the indicative mood, and the following paradigms will give examples of their application to the present, simple past (the imperfect is the same except for its special suffix), the future indicative, and the imperative positive of half a dozen verbs in which the various morphophonemic modifications are also illustrated. The rules for the use of the suffixes involved are given below (3.8.4.) PERSON

PRESENT

1. -madju: to be sick, die. 1st singular yamadju plur. incl. gadbadj plur. excl. yadbadju 2nd singular ganmadju plural gudbadju 3rd Class I gimadju II ginjamadju III gawamadju 13

PAST

FUTURE

IMPERATIVE

yamadjuy argbadjuy yadbadjuy anmadjuy gudbadjuy imadjuy injamadjuy awamadjuy

tjanamadju argbamadju yadbamadju anbamadju gudbamadju iwamadju injbamadju abamadju

anmadjunji gudbadjunji

This shows the basic form only; morphophonemics enter into it in practice; see 2.2.2.

75

MORPHOLOGY PERSON

IV V VI 6. -latjali- : to 1st singular plur. incl. plur. excl. 2nd singular plural 3rd Class I II III IV V VI

PRESENT

PAST

FUTURE

garjmadju gamamadju gabadju

aqmadjwj mamadjui) abadjwj

aybamadju manamadju abamadju

stand up, rise. yalatjali gargayali yadayali gangatjali gudayali gilayali ginjarjali gawulaijali gandayali gamalayali gadarjali

rjalarjalirj argatjalirj gadayaliy angarjalit) gudarjalirj ilafjaliq injarjaliq awulayaliy andarjalit] malaqaliy adalaijaliij

yanalayali argbalayali yadbalayali anbalayali gudbalayali iwalayali inbalayali awalayali aybalayali manalayali agbalayali

3. -wani- : to sit down, stay at (a place). 1st singular rjawani yawaniq plur. incl. gadbani argabaniy plur. excl. yadbani yadbaniy anbaniy 2nd singular ganbani gudbani gudbanirj plural 3rd Class I giwani iwanitj II ginjbani injbaniy III gawani awaniij IV garjbani arjbanirj gamawani V mawanii) abanitj VI gabani

yanawani argbawani yadbawani anbawani gudbawani iwawani ittjbawani awawani aybawani manawani abawani

4. -u- : to lie down, sleep. 1st singular yau plur. incl. gadju plur. excl. rjadju 2nd singular ganju gudju plural 3rd Class I giu II gin(j)u III gawu IV ganju gamau V VI gadju

yanau argbanau yadbanau anbanau gudbanau iwanau injbanau awanau aybanau manau abanau

rjawj argjuy yadjuy anjurj gudjutj m in(j)ut) awuy anjuy mauy adjuy

IMPERATIVE

angayaliya gudayaliya

anbaniya gudbaniya

anjunji gudjunji

76 PERSON

GRAMMAR PRESENT

5. -yinga-: to speak, talk. yany inga 1st singular plur. incl. garginga plur. excl. yarginga 2nd singular ganyinga plural gurginga 3rd Class I giyinga II ginjyinga III gawuyinga IV ganjyinga V gamayinga VI gaginga

PAST

FUTURE

yanyingay argingay yargingay anyingay gurgingay iyingay injyingay awuiyngay anjyingay mayingay agingay

yanayinga argbayinga yadbayinga anbayinga gudbayinga iwayinga injbayinga awayinga aybayinga manayinga adbayinga

IMPERATIVE

anyinganji gurginganji

6. -a-: to go. (Suppletive -ra- in past) IRREALIS FUTURE

1st singular plur. incl. plur. excl. 2nd singular plural 3rd Class I II III IV V VI

yaba gadja yadja ganja gudja gara ginja gawa ganja gawa gadja

yuran aruwuran yaruwuran anyuran guruwuran juran injuran awuran ayuran muran awuran

yana argbana yadbana anbana gudbana juwana injbana awana aybana mana abana

PRES.

mm adjiy yadjiy anjiy gudjiy jiü injiy awiy anjiy majiy adjiy

IRREALIS PAST.

yandji adjandji yadiandji anjandji gudjandji jandji injandji awandji anjandji mandji adjadji

The object prefix precedes the subject prefix. The structure of the prefixes is complex, and no doubt morphophonemic changes have played a large part in modifying them. The basic theoretical forms of the prefixes appear to be those set out on the following table: 1. sing. pi. incl. pi. excl. 2. sing. pi. 3. Class I II III

Subject yi-, tja(g)aryargu-, gogurni-

Object yan(g)arunyarungu(n)gurungi- ~ iginj- — injgawun awun-

CHART

Compound Prefixes of \

FIRST PERSON

OBJECTS

Sing.

SUBJECTS

Incl. PI.

SECOND PERSON

Excl. PI.

1st Person Sing. NF F Incl. Plural

NF F

Excl. Plural

NF F

2nd Person Sing. NF F Plural NF F

ganrjanba-

garunganinba-

ganingarunba-

ganingarunba-

Sing.

Plural

gungunba-

guninguninba-

guninguninba-

guninguninba-

3rd Person I

NF F

ganiganbani

(g)aruniganinbani-

(g)aniniganinbani-

guni gunbani-

guniniguninbani-

II, IV, V, YI

N

ganga-

ganinga-

garunga-

gunga-

guninga-

F

ganbaga-

ganinbaga-

ganinbaga-

gunbaga-

guninbaga-

NF

gandu-) anb- ) ganba-

ganindu-) ganinb- | arunba-

((g)anindujganinbganinba-

(gundujgunbgundana-

gurundu-) guninb- ) guninba-

III

F

Imperative Sing. Plur.

gan-

garun-

ganin-

ganin-

ART XIV

's of Transitive Verbs THIRD PERSON CI. I

il

CI. II

Cl. Ill

CI. IV

Cl. V

Cl. VI

gi~gagiwa(an)

rjinjginjba-

gawungawunba-

rjuqgugba-

ganwaganjama

gawgaba-; gada-

(g)ariariwa-

(g)arinjarinjba-

(g)argbunargbunba-

(g)arugarugba-

(g)argbargana-

(g)arawaraba-

garigariwa-

gaiinjgarinjba-

rjadbungadbunba-

garuggarugba-

ganininagadbana-

garawgaraba

guguwa-

gunjgunjba-

ganbunganbunba-

gugba-

gug-

gangaganga-

gawgaba-

guriguriwa-

gurinjgurinjba-

gudbungudbunba-

guruggurugba-

gudbgudbana-

gurawguraba-

(g)iniiwani-o inbanio

(g)injiinjbani-

(g)awuniawunbani-

gugagbani-

(ga)manimanani-

(g)awabani-

(g)irja-

(g)injga-

(g)awunga-

(g)a(g)ga-

(gu)maga-

(g)aw I)

a-

iwaga-

injbaga-

awunbaga-

agbaga-

manga-

abaga-

1

(g)iwa-

((g)awundu| gawunbjawundajawunb-

(g)agjuj (g)agb-) agga-

igambu(pstmanbu

(g)aw-

iwa-

j(g)injdjajginjbinjba-

mamba-

aba-

gu-

gunj-

anbun-

guninj-

ganunc ?

(gug-, numajanmaguru-, guda-

gaw-

guri-

jana-; gugjgangu(nin)da-

ii-

guraba-

CHART XV

Verb Classes [

Verb Class

Typical verb of class

1 2a

'hit'

TENSE

No. of verbs known

T\l

IMP PNEO

42

T 40 I I I

) [

I I

mi lurdje jirgu

'say, do, be' 'pole canoe' 'shake'

24 4

lalge afawgu

'ask' 'vomit'

10 9

la ma 1 lalgu

'eat' 'take' 'cut'

argba ilba 1 lundu

3c 3d

SUFFIX

ALLOMORPHS

P . PUNCT

P . CONT

PR IMP NEG

N-P NEG

-0

-nig

-n

-0

-ni

AB

-na

-nj

-nag

-n

-0

9) i

-na

-nj

-nag

-n

"j

6 6 4

T 1 T T 3!

-nji

-nj

-gug

-0

-g

'carry on back' 'split' 'scold'

7 2 1

;!

-nji

-nj

-gug

-0

-j

wanbani jindu

'bark' 'cease'

8 4

T T

-nja 2 -nji

-nj -nj

-njang 2 -gug

-0 -n

-g -j

4

wuda jurga

'wrap' 'bury'

15 2

T 14 ) T j

-nji

-inj 3

-gug

-0

-j

5

udba wu^ga

'put' 'turn'

17 3

T 13 ) T j

-nji

-n

-gug

-0

-j

6a

ladba

'paint'

12

T 10

-ndi

-ndug

-n

-njdjig

6b

ladja

'call'

6

T 5

-ndi

-ninj/ -ndinj , -ninj/ -ndinj

-ndug

-0

-njdjig

7a 7b 7c 7d

ugi lajgbuggu jaiganji ladi

'show' 'pull off' 'comb' 'put into'

7 5 3 3

T 5 T T T

-ja/-a 4 -a -a -dja 2

-nj3 -nj -nj -nj

-ag -ag -ag -djag

-0 -0 -0 -0

-0 -j

8a 8b

igbi injdji 1

'waken' 'feel examine'

11 2

T 5 T

-ja -a

-ug -ug

-jag/-ag -ag/-agug

-0 -0

-9 -g

9

madju

'sick'

6

I

-nji

-gan

-0

-0

-5

10a 10b

lagali jani

'stand' 'wear'

6 3

I I

-ga -ga

-gan -gan/-linj

-0 -g

-0 -0

-g -g

11

aja

'see'

3

T

-ndi

-wg

-ndug

-n

-njdjig

12

lagbuja 1

'cover'

2

T

-nji

-wg

-gug

-0

-j

13a 13b

unbara 'sleep' u ~ n j u ~ d j u 'lie'

1 1

I I

-nji -nji

-g -g

-gug -nig

-0 -0

-0 -g

14

wunja 1

'cook'

2

T

-0

-n

-gug

-0

-j

15

wurgi

'dream*

1

T

-ja/-a

-linj 3

-jag/-ag

-0

-g

16

a ~ n j a ~ d j a 'go'

1

I

-njdji

-n

-gug

-0

-ig

2b

3a

3b

1

wu

MAUNG

1

2

-g -g

The verbs of these classes are alternatively members of class 6b. When the Imperative/Present Negative and the Past Continuous occur following stems of these classes with a final di and ni these drop the i before the suffix allomorhps commencing with dj and nj respectively. * In the Past Punctiliar, stems of these classes with a final syllable gi or ga become dji before the suffix. 1 Where -ja/-a Imperative/Present Negative occurs the final i of the stem is dropped preceding -a. 2

MORPHOLOGY

IV V VI

77

a-m-

-w- (with morphophonemic changes)

Some of the forms presented can be easily analysed, such as /qadbu/ 'we (excl.) ... them' < /gar- + -wun-/. The tense prefix of the future /wa-/ is also amalgamated with the above set of prefixes: /gun-ba/ 'I will ... you (sing.)' < /gu-n-wa-/. If the verbal stem begins with a vowel, a twofold set of prefixes is found with Class III subjects, e.g., /qandu-/ before consonants and /qanb-/ before vowels for 'they ... me'. The analysis of the former is not so clear. A similar phenomenon is found in Jiwadja and was not explained there. After a second plural object, the subject becomes zero in any person except the 3rd person. Class II forms do duty for subjects in Class IV, V and VI, but objects in these classes are expressed separately. It will be observed that this combined function produces a new prefix, not used with other word classes where Class II is not merged into a general non-class I or III form. It is, however, obviously related to the similar indirect pronoun (gawu/ (see 3.7.2.). The use of this /-na-/ form to provide a sort of substitute for a passive voice will be shown in 3.8.7. The Class III object prefix is the same /-wun-/ already seen in Jiwadja but not found in Maung in any other connection but this. The inset Table sets out the resultant series of compound prefixes as actually found with transitive verbs. The subject is indicated down the left edge, the object along the top of the Table. Correlation of the two will give the form sought. The three forms in each instance are those of the present, past and future tenses, indicating the forms before consonant-initial and vowel-initial respectively. 3.8.4.

Suffixial Elements of the Conjugation

3.8.4.0. While the personal prefixes are the same for all verbs — except, of course, for the dichotomy arising from the distinction between intransitive and transitive — the endings of the various tenses, moods and aspects are not always the same. The only exception to this statement is the future indicative positive, and that within limits. Verbs may be grouped according to the suffixes they take, without reference to the prefixes, but they cannot be grouped into regular conjugations, because it is not always the case that verbs having the same suffix in the past will also have the same in, say, the Irrealis. The endings are regulated by the final syllable of the stem, and different forms of the suffixes accompany different finals, and there may be occasional morphophonemic changes even within these limits. 3.8.4.1. The future tense takes no suffix, but is constructed entirely from its own set of prefixes, so that it is irrelevant to the present discussion. The two past tenses — simple past and imperfect — agree with each other, to the extent that the sub-

78

GRAMMAR

classes of verbs based on the simple past prove to be also those of the imperfect, with one exception: if the final syllable of a stem is /-dja/, the imperfect is formed by adding /nig/, not /-qui)/, which is used in all other cases: /galadja/ 'I call' > /galadjanig/ 'I was calling'. The past tenses will therefore be taken together. 3.8.4.2. Certain Maung verb suffixes have several allomorphs and their occurrence depends upon the class of verb stem with which they occur. 1. IMPERATIVE/PAST NEGATIVE -ni ~ -na ~ -nji ~ -nja —ndi ~ -ja ~ -a ~ -dja ~ -tja ~ -0 ~ -njdji These may be interpreted as class marking suffixes plus a vowel suffix indicating imperative, i tends to be the vowel of these suffixes following stem-final u or a. Exceptions occur in the classes 2 and 7b. a tends to be the vowel of these suffixes following a stem-final / or e. 2 . PAST PUNCTILLIAR -y ~ -nj ~ -inj ~ -n ~ -ninj ~ -ndinj ~ -uy ~ -yan ~ -linj ~ -w 3. PAST CONTINUOUS -niy ~ -nay ~ -yuy —yjay ~ -nduy ~ -ay ~ -djarj ~ -jay ~ -ayuy ~ -y These may be interpreted as class marking suffixes plus a suffix -y indicating past continuous, i or a tend to be the vowels of the past continuous suffix following stem-final u; u or a following a; and a following / and e. 4 . PRESENT IMPERATIVE NEGATIVE -n

~

-0

5.

ABILITATIVE/NON-PAST NEGATIVE - 0 ~ -j ~ -y —njdjiy ~ -iy For every verb stem it is necessary to specify which allomorph of each of these five tense suffixes occur with it. This information allows us to identify some 27 different kinds of verb in Maung. In Chart XV these have been grouped into 16 verb classes on the basis of the Imperfect/Past Negative and Past Punctiliar. In each class or sub-class all the verb stems terminate with the vowel or vowels shown by the typical verb listed in the same Chart.

Symbols PR IMP NEG P N-P

Present Imperative Negative Past Non-past

PUNCT CONT 0

/

T I

Punctiliar Continuous Zero Freely variant forms Transitive Intransitive

3.8.4.3. Imperative Negative. — A note is needed here on the Imperative Negative, which belongs to the Realis forms. The idea seems to be that if one is told not to do a thing, the situation remains unchanged, and so is part of the Real. The ending is therefore usually that of the indicative positive. The imperative negative is marked by the particle /juwunji/ 'don't' in place of /marig/ 'not', e.g., /juwunji gulalgun/

79

MORPHOLOGY

'don't strike him'; /juwunji gojan/ 'don't look at him', and in the third person Class I: /juwunji giwararganj/ 'let him not cry'. With somewhat less force than a direct imperative these forms may be used also as dehortatives, as in the following cases: juwunji ganmin juwunji anminj juwunji anminatj juwunji gula juwunji gulanj juwunji gulatjurj juwunji gantjambidjin juwunji antjambidjin juwunji gimin juwunji jiminj juwunji aminarj

'do not do it', 'you should not do it!' 'you should not have done that!' 'you should not have been doing that!' 'don't eat that!' 'you should not have eaten that!' 'you should not have been eating that!' 'do not laugh!' 'you should not have laughed!' 'he must (should) not do that!' 'he should not have done that!' 'they should not have been doing that!'

3.8.4.4. The Irrealis. — The Irrealis covers ideas of acts that have not yet been or cannot be fulfilled. The future is an exception to this, because it seems to be regarded as a matter of personal determination, 'I will alter the circumstances', 'I am going to ...'. Apart from this one idea which is grouped with the Realis, other unreal acts are subsumed under the Irrealis. (a) The Potential mood usually ends in /—1/ or /-///, and the hypothetical in /-nji/ or /-ni/. Again, the choice of ending depends on the nature of the final stem syllable. Six types are found, but these types do not correspond necessarily with those of the Realis past tenses. They are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Stem Ending -a, except -ga -ga -u -un -i -n, except -un

Potential -i -gaji -uq •u •i -ndi

Hypothetical -nji -gani -uni -uni -ia -njdjirj

Even so, there are still some irregular forms, and the irregularities appear to be based, as are the groupings themselves, upon preferred or disliked combinations. Thus a final /-n/ stem gives /-ndi/ in the Potential the same way as it gives /-nduq/ in the Imperfect Indicative. 3.8.4.5. It is possible, however, to use a past potential alone, when it carries the sense of trying unsuccessfully to do something, e.g.,

80

GRAMMAR

injuran iyajawy la iyamanji wumbuladj she go past she see it past and she take it potential steal 'She went, saw it and tried to steal it'. rjuran yejawtj djalagiradj la adjirig iymanji I go past I see it past fish-spear and try I take it potential 'I went, saw the fish-spear and tried to take it'. adjirig jinimanji la a\adad try he take it potential and nothing 'He tried to take it but he couldn't.' yuran yatfajawy adjirig tjabanji I go past I see it (CI. VI) past try I eat it (CI. VI) potential 'I went, saw the food and tried to eat it'. dja gargbin dja djalagiradj iyerganji big spear she spear it hypothetical 'She tried to spear it with a big spear'. injudban rubijau la dja jiyamanji wuyululadjaba 'He left money about: I could have stolen it but I didn't.' 3.8.4.6. If the particle /marig/ 'not', is placed before the potential, the compound expresses the present and future negative (indicative): /marig qejandi/ 'I do not see him'; e.g., also /marig anjdjamaq/ 'you cannot work'. If the particle is placed before the hypothetical, it produces a past negative: /marig qsjanjdjiq/ 'I did not see him' or 'I could not see him'; /marig qanjuni/ 'he did not give it to me'. There is no separate imperfect negative: /marig nanjuni/ serves as the negative equally to /qiuq/ 'I gave it' and /qiuniq/ 'I used to give it'. 3.8.4.7. The imperative positive is usually based on the hypothetical form, but the verb 'to see' uses the potential: /gojandi/ 'look at him!'. 3.8.5. 3.8.5.0. forms: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Derived Forms of the Verb

Under the general heading of derived forms are included the following Reflexive Verbs Frequentative Verbs Causative Verbs Inceptive Verbs

3.8.5.1. The Maung reflexive verb is distinguished from the corresponding transitive verb by the possession of a special set of prefixes, not by a suffix. It forms its tenses 14

Indonesian loanword.

81

MORPHOLOGY

in the same way as the corresponding intransitive or transitive, but its prefixes are different. Thus, /gejan dja arargbi/ 'I see the man', but /rjajan duga badumag/ 'I look at myself in the mirror'; /ljinjdugarg/ 'I scratch him', but /qanjdjugarg/ 'I scratch myself'; /qiwalundja/ 'I hide it', but /qawalundjin/ 'I hid myself'. Conjugation: example, /rja-ja-n/ 'I look at myself, I see myself'. REALIS

PRESENT

PAST

IMPERFECT

FUTURE

NEGATIVE

1. Singular PI. incl. PI. excl. 2. Singular Plural 3. Class I II. III. IV. V. VI.

fjajan argbajan yadbajan gojan gudbajay gijan ginjejan gawajan gayajan gamajan gabajan

yajawuy argbajawuy tjadbajawwj gojawwj gudbajawuy ijawuy injawuy awajawuy ayajawuy majawuy abajawuy

tjajandurj argbajanduy yadbajanduy gojanduy gudbajanduy ijanduy injanduy awajanduy ayajanduy majanduy abajanduy

qanajan argbanajan yadbanajan anbanajan gudbanajan iwanajan injabanajan abanajan aybanajan manajan abanajan

(with 'marig') yajandjiy argbajandjiy yadbajandjiy gojandjiy gudbajandjiy ijandjirj injajandjirj awajandjiy ayajandjiy majandjiy abajandjiy

Other required forms of the reflexive can be built up from these. Sometimes also these forms can be used in a reciprocal sense, so that, e.g., /ga> wajan/ can also mean 'they look at one another'. 3.8.5.2. Frequentative Verbs. — Many — though by no means all — Maung verbs are capable of assuming a special form to express an action which is repeatedly or habitually carried out. This frequentative form is to be distinguished from the continuative form, which exists only in that form of the past tense known as the Imperfect; it is not durative, but expressive of a number of single actions of the same kind, /gudjbajari ginilalgugu/ 'he is always killing', 'he keeps on killing' kangaroos : obviously he cannot keep on killing one kangaroo, /janad murbal miya ginilalgugu ajarj/ 'he is clever at hunting kangaroos', implies that he is frequently carrying out the act of killing kangaroos: hence the Frequentative form, /djuga djida waramuqbig ginjbudbar ginjarugigin gagul/ 'this woman is clumsy at climbing for honey', implies that she frequently climbs: /gingjarugigin/ instead of /ginjarugin/. This is obviously different from 'she goes on climbing' up the one tree. From the two examples it is clear that the frequentative, when it can be formed at all, is formed by the reduplication of the final syllable of the verbal stem. The prefixes are those of the normal verb, but the formation of tenses requires a little care. The past tense is formed directly from the present frequentative, without reference to the simple verb. Compare:

82

GRAMMAR PRESENT

PAST

ENGLISH

Simple : Frequentative :

rjilalgu yilalgugu

yilalgun yilalgugun

I kill I often kill

Simple : Frequentative :

yiugi yiugigi

yiudjin yiugigiay

I show I often show

The future corresponds with that of the simple verb, and the following lists show the principal parts (aside from the Irrealis) of the commoner frequentative forms: PRESENT

PAST

IMPERFECT

FUTURE

ENGLISH

yadanda yilalgugu yilulwargigi yiugigi

yadanday yilalgugun yilulwargigiay yiugigiay

yadandayuy yilalguguyuy yilulwargigiayuy yiugigiayuy

yiwalanda yiwalalgugu yiwalulwargigi yiwanugigi

I I I I

often eat often kill often join often show

A few forms are irregular in their formation, and really belong to the Causative Verbs (3.8.5.3.) e.g., /ginimanbugbun/ 'he often bites'. In cases where a frequentative is not formed, a common device for expressing the idea is the employment of an auxiliary verb, yiudba, 'I put', e.g., /judbaquq injagagarjuq/ 'he kept on losing it'; /judbaquq inimalgbaquqga/ 'he kept on coming'. 3.8.5.3. The Causative Verb. — The 'causative' is that form of the verb which expresses 'making' a thing assume a given condition, causing it to be such, e.g., 'make strong' or 'strengthen'. In Maung there is no ending which will express this idea, but a number of different endings and a periphrastic construction are in use. They may be listed as follows: 1. final /-ad/ is changes into /-ajin/: /nu-ladba-lar)gad/ 'strong' > /giwa-ladbalarjajin/ 'I will strengthen it'; /mada murgun nuwu la mada jumbaldjumbal nuwu qanqaladbalarigajin/ 'Thy rod and Thy staff strengthen me' (Ps. 23:4). 2. final /-ag/ adds /-ba/ and becomes /-agba/: /ja-nduljag/ 'long' > /qiwa-nduljagbaI 'I will lengthen it'. Imperative: /gandjulgbanji/ 'lengthen it!' 3. final /-a/ adds /-ndi/ as though it were the potential form of an intransitive verb: /gi-walgbara/ 'it is clean' > /giwa-walgbarandi/ 'I will clean it', /jalgbarandi/ 'make it white!' (imperative). 4. Other adjectives and intransitive verbs add /-ma/ and in some cases /-anj/ (after a final vowel) to form the causative: /nu-ladbalilil/ 'weak' > /qiwa-ladbalililma/ 'I will weaken (or tone down)'. This forms the past tense as /qi-ladbalililmin/. After a final vowel: /nu-gunjdji/ 'dirty' > /qiwa-gunjdjanjma/ 'I will dirty or blacken'. The past tense is again formed in /-min/: /gi-qunjdjanjmin/ 'I blackened it'; the imperative is then regular: /guqunjdjanjmanji/ 'make it black!' 5. A periphrastic construction conveying the idea of causation may be built up by means of several verbs: /rjiwanawun numalalud/ 'I will improve them' (from

MORPHOLOGY

83

/numalal/ 'good', and 'qiun/ 'I give': note the plural form of the adjective); or the idea is conveyed by a verb of similar sense: /garigbagbanji/ 'make it bad', lit. 'spoil it'. 6. The intransitive verb may be used with transitive prefixes to express a causative: for this see 3.8.5.6. 7. In some instances the simple verb and the causative are quite different words: /gujuruqbugbuni/ 'make him hurry', but /girudbin/ 'he is hurrying'. It should be noticed that this matter of the causative verb does to some extent overlap with the general question of the formation of the transitive, to be treated in 3.8.5.6. 3.8.5.4. Inceptive Verbs. — An inceptive verb is one that indicates the spontaneous assumption by the subject of the state indicated, e.g., 'it is becoming black', 'it is becoming white', etc. In English 'become' is the sign of the inceptive verb. In Maung three methods are followed: (1) the causative verb is used with intransitive instead of transitive prefixes: /nuladbalilil/ 'weak, weary' > /qa-ladbalilil-min/ 'I am getting tired'; (2) an auxiliary verb is used with the adjective expressing the state assumed: /nurjunjdji/ 'black': /gimin nuqugjdji/ 'it is becoming black'; or (3) the language supplies a special word indicative of the becoming; e.g., /gargbin/ 'big', /waraqju gimuranjmin/ 'the child is getting big'. This is obviously a special case of (2) as it carried one of the causative endings, /-nj/. So also /gilijiwuradj/ 'he is getting fat'; /manburwa giwuyi/ 'the clothes are getting old, worn out'; /gijargbundjilin dja giwalgbara/ 'it is getting white', lit. 'it is finishing (as) whiteness', /alarud/ 'empty', /aw-alarud-bin/ 'they go without'. The essential element is /-min/ as in Gunwinggu. 3.8.5.5. Certain adjectives become intransitive verbs by the addition of the suffix /-mi/ to consonant final stems and /-njmi/ to vowel final stems. They are then prefixed with intransitive verb prefixes and are followed by the same suffix allomorphs as the verb /mi/ 'be' (i.e., verb class 2a). These adjectives become transitive verbs by the addition of the suffix /-ma/ to consonant final stems and /-njma/ to vowel final stems. They are then prefixed as for transitive verbs and take the same suffix allomorphs as the verb /-ilba-/ 'split' (i.e., verb class 3b). The adjectives /wuradj/ 'fat, big', /afgalu/ 'light weight', /qunjdji/ 'dark, dirty', /anarjgad/ 'strong' and /yara/ 'many' are derived irregularly, mostly involving changes in the adjective root (see Chart XVI). 3.8.5.6. Formation of Transitive and Intransitive. — The processes of forming a transitive verb from an intransitive or vice versa are expressed in Maung by the use of the transitive or intransitive prefixes as required, usually to the same root, but occasionally with some variation in the root forms. There is thus considerable resemblence in Maung to the treatment found in English. In the two sentences 'I spread my blanket' and 'the water is spreading' the first verb is transitive, the second in-

'light weight'

'dark, dirty'

argalu

rjundji

rVI M l-H j

PR. IMP. NEG

? 1 d•