2. Sacred “Utnguringita” or witchedy grub drawings, Emily Gap, MacDonnell Ranges.
On the other hand, the music which is produced at religious ceremonies is quieter and of a more ding-dong style. The natives present their sacred chants, which they have inherited from their forefathers, for the purpose of getting into communion with the spirits surrounding them; and, although such proceedings may be extremely monotonous, the solemn colloquy is nevertheless musical.
It is a common practice, for that matter, among the tribes of Australia, for one individual to carry on conversation with another by singing the words. When, for instance, it is the intention of the persons engaged in conversation to make the matter as little noticeable as possible, or when they want to impart information to each other without attracting the attention of a third party, they clothe their words in song. And the same is also done when a third party is to be criticized. Moreover, it is for exactly similar reasons that all communications which are supposed to be carried on with superhuman beings are chanted or crooned, in order that the Evil Spirit’s attention may not be drawn to the fact.
CHAPTER XXXI
LANGUAGE
Aboriginal dialects euphonious and full—Words largely imitative of natural call-notes—Derivations from other characteristics—Linguistic generalizations impossible—Vocabularies replete in certain directions—Gesture and sign languages—Passionate conversationalist—Reckoning of time—Computation of numbers—Word expressing action—Terminal syllables—Affirmation and negation—Exclamations—Specific suffixes—Diminutive expressions—Verb endings—Word with a variety of meanings—Personal pronouns—Aspirate sounds rare—Consonantal combination “ng” very frequent—Greetings—Exclamation and Interrogative—Curious Similarities.
As full as the aboriginal legends are of poetry, so their dialects are full of music. For euphony, fullness, and vowel quality, few modern languages equal the primitive tongue; and much of the charm is derived from a natural source. Even in our own language, the vernacular name of a bird or animal is often derived from the particular call made by the creature. In Europe we have christened the cuckoo, the peewit, and the boo-book owl because of their distinctive cries; in a like sense, the central Australian natives call the bell-bird “ban-ban-balele,” the mopoke “kore-gore,” and the spur-wing plover “kurreke-tar-tar,” all three names being sounded like the natural cries of the birds themselves.
As further illustrations we might mention the Dieri and Arunndta word for kangaroo, viz. “arre,” which, one is told, is what the animal “says” when brought to bay, and the Sunday Islanders’ name for a grasshopper, “dingi-ding,” which alludes to its chirrup.
In regard to the coining of words, quite apart from the sonorous qualities the object named might possess, the aboriginal is no less inventive. The Arunndta call thunder “kwatche-ingoma,” i.e. “roaring water,” and a sharp shower of rain pattering on the ground “kwatche unndoma,” i.e. “dancing water.” What is commonly known as the milk-bush in Australia (Sarcostemma) is called “epi-epi” by the Aluridja because it exudes a milk-like sap when broken and reminds them of the female breast (“epi”). Kangaroo grass (Anthistiria) is referred to by the Arunndta as “arre-arre” because, they maintain, the red colour of its seed stalks resembles that of the marsupial. The Arunndta for the familiar beef-wood tree of central Australia is “iltjija,” meaning long fingers, the word drawing attention to the length of the leaves.
Whereas in our own language words like “choleric” have originated because the bile in a human system was supposed to beget wrath, and whereas one bushman might accuse another of being “livery” when he is ill-tempered, the Arunndta have a verb, “lunbatunbatterama,” meaning to grumble or to be sulky, in which “unba” stands for bile.