Grammatical Feature Example Your Language (to be completed by the Language Team) Comments Category One Imperative (IMP) verbs - orders, commands, directives Sit down! Ngengi Ngeng-i Sit- IMP Sit! Eg. Kupaki! Kupa-ki Sit-IMP Background concepts: Nil General: Instructional words for everyday use in the classroom, eg, ‘listen’, ‘say’, ‘sit’, ‘come’, ‘go’. No need to explain how these verbs are formed, teach them through action, gesture and repetition. Grammatical: Usually formed by adding a particular suffix to the stem, (used for instructions, orders etc.) as the imperative suffix Some languages have different suffixes (endings) for transitive and intransitive verbs and inflect for number. (See 18.) Nouns - names of things, people, places Gal ‘dog’ Wutyu ‘man’ Laiurruk Galk ‘stick’ Reduplication: Yalum ‘waterhole’ Yalum yalum ‘a chain of ponds’ Buletyi gulgurn ‘two young men’ eg Dog: kal Man: mar Woman: thanambul Stick: lart Reduplication: Child/offspring: thukuwi Brood: thukuwi-thukuwi A couple of men: marara Several men: marapan Two men: Pulatja mar Background concepts: Nil General: Plural is not marked on nouns. You can say buletyi gal ‘two dog’. Grammatical: There is generally no plural morpheme in Aboriginal Languages, ie, no equivalent to English plural ‘s’ as in ‘dog/dogs’. With some nouns, such as ‘waterhole’, plural can be indicated by reduplication, that is, repeating or duplicating the stem word itself. This sometimes applies to inanimate objects only.
– words that point things out Here, close by: gimba Here, a little further: nyua There, close: giyu There, some distance: mainyuk There, out of sight: maluk There, a very long way: maiuk This, close: ginga This, near here: nyinya That: ginyu, malu Demonstratives: Background concepts: nil General: Demonstratives are words that point things out, eg, this, that, here, there. This is sometimes referred to as deixis. Aboriginal Languages make finer distinctions in demonstratives than English does. They generally express distances in space and time. Demonstrative pronouns are often used in place of the 3rd person pronouns he, she or it. Grammatical: Demonstrative pronouns have an object form in your Language. Demonstratives might have dual and plural forms. Demonstratives might be marked for person and number. Category Two Singular subject (subj) pronouns – pronouns are that substitute for nouns (I, you, he, she, it) Bound Pronouns: I hit dakan dak-a-an Hit-PRES-I You hit Dakangin Dak-a-ngin Hit-PRES- you He hits Daka Dak-a–ø Hit-PRES-he Bound pronouns: I hit You hit He hits Background concepts: Identifying nouns and pronouns, verbs General: The subject is the person or thing carrying out the action of the verb. Eg, in the sentence The man hit the dog – the man did the hitting so he is the subject of the verb hit. Singular means one person, ie, I or you or she/he/it. Pronouns are words that are used in place of nouns, eg, I, you, he, me, them, they etc. Aboriginal Languages have a much more complex pronoun system than English. There are both bound pronouns, those that are affixed or added to words, and free standing pronouns, which are separate words. The forms are more commonly used. Grammatical: Perhaps begin with singular (sg) subjects.
Free standing pronouns: I – yurrwek You – yurrwin He/she/it – yurruk Free standing pronouns: I – You – He/she/it - Dual and trial forms, where they exist, can be introduced later. Third person singular subjects (she, he, it) are generally not marked on the verb in Aboriginal Languages, ie, there is no suffix. This is sometimes shown as –ø in grammar texts and in the example in column 2. Therefore, a tensed verb without a subject pronoun is understood to be third person singular (he/she/it). In Victoria, it is common for the free standing pronouns to be formed using a common base, such as yurrw- in the examples. Plural (pl) subject pronouns – words that substitute for nouns (we, you, they) Bound pronouns: We hit Dakangu Dak-a-ngu Hit-PRES-we You hit Dakangat Dak-a-ngat Hit-PRES-you They hit Dakanyaty Dak-a-nyaty Hit-PRES-they Free standing pronouns: We – Yurrwangengurruk Bound pronouns: Free standing pronouns: Background concepts: singular subjects General: There is an inclusive (speaker and addressee (I and you)) versus exclusive (speaker and another person but not the addressee (I and he)) distinction in the first person pronouns that will be addressed later. (See 34.) Subjects can be or pronouns. Grammatical: Use subject pronouns, possibly using only the inclusive form where there is an inclusive/exclusive distinction. Notice that the free standing pronouns in column 2 are formed using the base yurrw- in the examples.
Having suffix – a way to create new words Yula – (noun) Yulawil – echidna (noun) Yulawil – spiky, spiked (adjective) Lia – tooth (noun) Liawil – pointed (adjective) Liawil – a type of club (noun) Ngulu – like, as (preposition?) Ngulwil- to pretend (verb) Guli – anger (noun) Guliwil – poison (noun) Background concepts: morphemes, verbs, adjectives General: Sometimes recognizing the connection between the original word and the ‘–having’ word can be difficult. It may require the ability to adapt to a different view of the world around us. Grammatical: Almost all Australian Aboriginal Languages have a ‘having suffix’ which can be attached to words, usually nouns, to create new words. In many Victorian Aboriginal Languages it has the form –wil, -pil, -mil or –kil. Category Three Present tense (PRES) – indicating now I run Barrapan Barrap-a-an Run-PRES-I You run Barraparr Barrap-a-arr Run-PRES-you I run You run Background concepts: Understanding the use of subject pronouns on verbs General: Tense is only added to verbs. In Aboriginal Languages, one word can equal a sentence on its own. It can be a verb with the subject indicated by a bound pronoun, the equivalent of the English sentence ‘I slept’.
My brother has a long arm. dyuwerrung datyuk. Waw-ek dyuwerrung datyuk brother-my long arm. My older brother has a long arm. There is generally no verb ‘to be’ in Aboriginal Languages. These sentences are not usually time dependent, ie, my older sister is tall now, was in the past and will continue to be so in the future. Grammatical: The noun and its modifier/s (adjectives or other nouns that add more information about the main noun) are simply placed side by side. This is called juxtaposition. There may be a preferred word order in your Language, ie, noun then modifier, or, modifier then noun. In the examples, the noun comes first, followed by the modifier. Past tense – indicating before now I run. Barrapan Barrap-a-an Run-PRES-I I ran. Barrapinan Barrap-in-an Run-PAST-I You ran. Barrapinarr Barrap-in-arr Run-PAST-you She ran. Barrapin Barrap-in–ø Run-PAST-she I run. I ran. You ran. She ran. Background concepts: Present tense General: Revise present Revise singular subject suffixes, in particular, the fact that the third person singular (he/she/it) is unmarked (ie, no suffix) in most Aboriginal Languages. Grammatical: The past tense marker replaces the present tense marker. Trial
Barrap-iny-arr Run-FUTURE-you It will run. Barrapiny Barrap-iny–ø Run-FUTURE-it It will run. Category Four Objects (obj) – the things the action of the verb affects I hit you. Dakinanuna Dak-in-an-una Hit-PAST-I-you I hit the dog. Dakan gal Dak-a-an gal Hit-PRES-I dog I hit you. I hit the dog. Background concepts: subject General: While subjects carry out the action of the verb, objects represent the person or thing that the action of the verb affects. For example, in the sentence ‘You hit me’, ‘you’ carried out the action of hitting and ‘me’ was the person affected by the hitting. ‘Me’ is the object. In the sentence ‘I saw the dog’, ‘I’ carried out the action of seeing and ‘the dog’ was the thing that was seen. ‘Dog’ is the object. Only a limited number of object pronouns were recorded in Victorian Languages. Grammatical: Objects can be pronouns (‘you’ in ‘I hit you’) or nouns (‘the dog’ in ‘I hit the dog’). The order of the suffixes may be different in your Language. In the examples, the base has the tense added to it, then the subject, and finally the object. Continuative (CONT) suffix on verbs – I am hitting. Dakangan Dak-a- ang -an I am hitting. Background concepts: verb, tense, subject General:
Bull oak tree-at In some Languages, the term ‘oblique’ (OBL) case is used to indicate both movement towards (allative) and location in the vicinity of (locative). In different languages, oblique case can appear on nouns that are objects, owners, etc, but not on nouns that are the subject. If specific information on location is required, adpositions, that is, prepositions (which come before the word, like English ‘in, on, up, down, near’ etc) or postpositions (which come after the word) can be used, eg, ngita bulutyata, ‘beside the box tree’. The form of the suffix changes depending on whether the noun is consonant final or vowel final. Ablative(ABL) case – signifies motion away from a noun From the tree (consonant noun) galkang Galk-ang Tree-from From the oak tree (vowel final noun) ngarrikang ngarri-kang oak tree-from He walked from the camp. Yanggin larrang. Yangg-in larr-ang Walk-PAST camp-from Background concepts: Case General: Grammatical: Ablative signifies movement away from a noun, such as movement from a The form of the suffix changes depending on whether the noun is consonant final or vowel final.
Category Six Genitive (GEN) case and genitive construction– signifies ownership Man’s boomerang final noun owner) Wutyukitj Wutyu-kitj Man-GEN Woman’s yamstick (consonant final noun owner) Laiurrukitj berrkaninyuk Laiurruk-itj Woman-GEN yamstick-poss [vowel final noun]’s boomerang [consonant final noun]’s yamstick Background concepts: case, possessive suffixes General: The genitive case is suffixed to the noun that owns something, shown in English by ‘s, eg, man’s hat. However, in Victorian Aboriginal Languages, the expression of ownership is more complex. The noun signifying the is marked by the genitive case suffix and the noun that is owned is marked by the appropriate possessive suffix learned earlier in 5 and 9. The possessive suffix must agree with the noun, that is, if ‘I’ am the owner, the possessive suffix must be the equivalent of ‘my’; if ‘you’ are the owner, the possessive suffix must be ‘your’; and if ‘she’ is the owner, the possessive suffix must be ‘her’. Grammatical: Genitive case indicates ownership. The genitive case marker/suffix is attached to the noun denoting the owner. However, a genitive construction is ‘double-marked’, that is, the owner has the genitive case suffix attached and the thing owned has the appropriate possessive suffix attached. In English, this would be the equivalent of ‘the man’s his hat’. Other expressions of ownership – inalienable possession Inalienable possession: Possum’s tail Berrki wile wile Tail-of possum Background concepts: possession, juxtaposition (see sentences without verbs) General: Inalienable possession is when the owner and the noun owned cannot be separated, eg, the possum’s tail, the man’s arm, boy’s mother. They have an inherent connection that cannot be changed.
Dakinanbulan. Dak-in-an-bulan Hit-PAST-I-those two (object) ‘Those two’: Subject: yurrbulang Object: Nyuwalang Possessive: Yurrwangbulang Gulgurn ‘young man’ Gulgurnbula ‘two young men’ Buletyi gulgurn ‘two men’ Inclusive and exclusive first person pronouns – including and excluding the addressee, that is, the person spoken to You and I slept. (dual inclusive) Gumbinangul Gumb-in-angul and I She and I slept. (dual exclusive) Gumbinangulung Gumb-in-angulung Sleep-PAST-I and she You all and I slept. (plural inclusive) Gumbinangu You and I slept. (dual inclusive) She and I slept. (dual exclusive) You all and I slept. (plural inclusive) Background concepts: pronouns, dual, person General: In Aboriginal Languages speakers can indicate grammatically whether or not the person they are speaking to is included in ’we’. The addressee is the person being spoken to. Grammatical: If the addressee is included in ‘we’, the first person dual inclusive pronoun is used, ie, it includes the addressee. If the addressee is excluded from ‘we’, the first person dual exclusive pronoun is used, ie, it excludes the addressee. The inclusive/exclusive distinction also applies to first person plural pronouns.
Gumb-in-angu Sleep-PAST-you all and I They all and I slept. (plural exclusive) Gumbinandang Gumb-in-andang Sleep-PAST-they all and I They all and I (plural exclusive) Inclusive and exclusive can only occur with first person. pronouns – pronouns denoting three You two and I (inclusive): -(a)ngu gulik Those two and I (exclusive); -(ny)andang gulik You three: -(ng/ny)at gulik Those three: -(ny)aty/(ny)ity gulik You two and I. inclusive) Those two and I. (trial exclusive) You three: Those three: Background concepts: singular, dual, plural, inclusive and exclusive General: Some Languages have (sometimes called ‘paucal’) pronouns. Trial pronouns denote three. Grammatical: pronouns refer to three people or things. Only a few Languages have records of a form. In the examples, the word gulik is added to the plural form to create a trial form. The inclusive/exclusive distinction applies to trial pronouns as well. Reciprocal suffix – doing something to each other or yourself You are talking to yourself. Wurrektyerrangarr. Wurrek-tyerrang-arr talk-RECIP-you Those two are hitting each other. Hit: Fight: (ie, hit each other) You are talking to yourself. two are hitting each other. Background concepts: verb, subject, object, dual General: In English we distinguish reflexive (myself, yourself, himself) and reciprocal (each other). There may or may not be the same distinction in the Language you are learning. Grammatical: