Having suffix Yula (noun) Background concepts: morphemes, verbs, adjectives – – a way to create Yulawil echidna General: – new words (noun) Sometimes recognizing the connection between the Yulawil spiky, original word and the word can be difficult. It – ‘–having’ spiked (adjective) may require the ability to adapt to a different view of the world around us. Lia tooth (noun) Grammatical: – Liawil pointed Almost all Australian Aboriginal Languages have a – ‘having (adjective) suffix’ which can be attached to words, usually nouns, to Liawil a type of create new words. – club (noun) In many Victorian Aboriginal Languages it has the form -pil, -mil or –wil, –kil. Ngulu like, as – (preposition?) Ngulwil- to pretend (verb) Guli anger (noun) – Guliwil poison – (noun) Category Three Present tense I run I run Background concepts: Understanding the use of subject (PRES) Barrapan pronouns on verbs – indicating Barrap-a-an General: now Run-PRES-I Tense is only added to verbs. In Aboriginal Languages, one word can equal a sentence You run You run on its own. Barraparr It can be a verb with the subject indicated by a bound Barrap-a-arr pronoun, the equivalent of the English sentence slept’. ‘I Run-PRES-you
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’.
A_quick_reference_guide_to_the_grammar_of_Victorian_Aboriginal_Languages_F-12.docx