The Wiradyuri and Other Languages of New South Wales

By R. H. Mathews, L.S., Corres. Memb. Anthrop. Soc., Washington, U.S.A.
Synposis.—Introductory.—Orthography.—The Wiradyuri Language.—The Burreba-burreba Language.—The Ngunawal Language.—Vocabulary of Wiradyuri Words.—Vocabulary of Ngunawal Words.
The materials from which this paper has been prepared have been gathered by me while travelling through various parts of the Wiradyuri country, for the purpose of visiting and interviewing the old native men and women who still speak the native tongue, from whom I noted down all the information herein reproduced. When the difficulties encountered in obtaining the grammar of any language which is purely colloquial are taken into consideration, I feel sure that all necessary allowances will be made for the imperfections of my work.
It will be as well to state that in 1892, Dr. J. Fraser, from the MSS. of the late Rev. James Günther, published some gramatical rules and a vocabulary of the Wiradyuri language. This forms part of a volume entitled An Australian Language (Sydney, 1892), Appendix, pp. 56–120.
Mr. E. M. Curr published several vocabularies collected in different parts of the Wiradyuri territory.— The Australian Race , vol. iii, pp. 363–401.
Orthography.
The system of orthoepy adopted is that recommended by the Royal Geographical Society, London, with the following qualifications:
Dh and nh have nearly the sound of th in “that,” with a slight initial sound of the d or n as the case may be.
Ty and dy at the commencement of a word or syllable, as dyirril (a spear), has nearly the sound of j . At the end of a word, as gillaty (to-day), ty or dy is pronounced nearly as tch in the word “batch,” but omitting the final hissing sound.
w always commences a syllable or word, and has its ordinary sound. G is hard in all cases. R has a rough trilled sound, as in “hurrah!”
The sound of the Spanish ñ is frequent. At the commencement of a syllable or word I have given it as ny , but when terminating a word I have used the Spanish letter.