Articles.
There are no articles, properly so-called, in the language. The demonstratives “this” and “that” do duty for our “a” and “the.” If it be desired to definitely say that only one is meant, the numeral, ngunbai, is employed.
In all the sentences illustrating the cases of nouns and other parts of speech in this paper, the demonstratives are omitted. A native would say, “Man [that over yonder] beat child [this in front],” the proper demonstratives being inserted where illustrated by the brackets.
Nouns.
Number.—There are three numbers, singular, dual and plural. Wamboin, a kangaroo. Wamboinbula a couple of kangaroos. Wamboingirbang, several kangaroos.
Gender.—In human family different words are used, as mên or gibir, a man; bullâdyeru or inar, a woman; birrengang, a boy; ingargang, a young girl; yiramurung, a youth; megai, a maiden; burai, a child.
Among animals, word are used signifying “male” and “female” respectively. Wille bidyur, a buck opossum; wille gunal, a doe opossum. Nguruñ burramai, hen emu; nguruñ bidyur, a cock emu.
Case.—The cases are the nominative, nominative-agent, genitive, accusative, instrumental dative and ablative.
The nominative simply names the person or thing under attention, as, mirri or burumain, a dog; burrandang, a native-bear; wille or womburan, an opossum; wagan, a crow; bŭlgang or bŭrgan, a boomerang.
The nominative-agent requires a suffix to the noun, as, gibirru womburan dhê, a man an opossume ate. Bullâdyerudu dhurung bumê, a woman a snake struck (or killed). Inarru wille dharalgiri, a woman an opossum will eat. Burrandangu gurril dhara, a native-bear leaves is eating. Mirridu wille buddhe, a dog an opossum bit.