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Kaurna — Teichelmann & Schürmann (1840), opening

About this recovered reading

This is a language and learning witness — a grammar, vocabulary, and phraseology recorded with Kaurna speakers in the 1840s. It is not scripture; no Kaurna scripture exists. It stands here because the Kaurna revival itself was rebuilt from this book's record.

The work is Outlines of a Grammar, Vocabulary, and Phraseology of the Aboriginal Language of South Australia, spoken by the natives in and for some distance around Adelaide, by C. G. Teichelmann and C. W. Schürmann, of the Lutheran Missionary Society, Dresden, published by the authors at the Native Location, Adelaide, in 1840.

Provenance: the copy used is Internet Archive item outlinesagramma00schgoog, and the book is in the public domain — it was published in Adelaide in 1840, and its authors died in 1888 (Teichelmann) and 1893 (Schürmann).

The distinction: this recovered record is the Kaurna people's own historical witness, standing as it was printed in 1840, in the authors' own 1840 spelling. It is not a Sacred Name edition — no Sacred Name editing has been applied to it, and nothing in it has been respelled to the modern Kaurna spelling.

Method and extent: every Kaurna word in this opening was proofed against the book's page scans — none was illegible — and the book's printed Errata are noted where they fall, not silently applied. The opening stands here in 13 printed pages: the title page, the complete Preface, Grammar pages 1–4, and Vocabulary pages 1–4, with 98 vocabulary headwords, from Alya to Buttonendi.

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TITLE PAGE

[Transcribed from the page scan, not from the garbled OCR front-matter.]

OUTLINES OF A GRAMMAR,

VOCABULARY,

AND PHRASEOLOGY,

OF THE

ABORIGINAL LANGUAGE

OF

SOUTH AUSTRALIA,

SPOKEN BY THE NATIVES IN AND FOR SOME DISTANCE AROUND ADELAIDE.

BY C. G. TEICHELMANN,

C. W. SCHÜRMANN,

OF THE LUTHERAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY, DRESDEN.

ADELAIDE:

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHORS,

AT THE NATIVE LOCATION.

1840.

INTRODUCTORY PREFACE

[Preface, first page — unfoliated; signature A]

In presenting the following pages to the public, the writers deem it their duty to state the objects and motives for doing so. The chief motives are—to keep up the good understanding, and to facilitate the intercourse, between the Aborigines and Europeans; to give to the latter a medium of communication, and, especially, assistance to those who may be inclined to acquire the language; to enliven the hopes of those who wish the christianization and civilization of their colored fellow-men, showing them that a race of human beings possessing a language so regular in its formation and construction as that of the South Australian natives, cannot be incapable of either; and to refute premature and unjust detractions concerning the mental capabilities of the Aborigines of Australia. Another object has been, to render a small contribution or inducement to a general study of the manners, customs, and origin of these people.

Such reasons alone might have justified the writers in publishing this collection; but they would probably have deferred it some

[p. v]

time longer, for the sake of greater maturity and certainty of the statements, had not the advice of some of the most intelligent individuals in the Colony, and the consideration that, by delay, the good which might arise from it to the natives would be kept back the longer, induced them to publish what they know of the language.

As far as regards the work itself, it is hoped that the reader will not expect a complete specimen of the language. Eighteen months is but a short period for the study of an unwritten language, where no means of instruction exist, and where all information must be gleaned from casual and trivial conversation. To this must be added, the uncommon rapidity, abbreviation, and carelessness with which the Aborigines speak; their extreme reluctance, for a long time, to inform the inquirer; their natural inability to answer grammatical questions; together with their unfavorable situation for the study of the language. These things considered, the reader will be enabled to form some idea of the difficulties which were to be overcome.

It will be seen, from the first glance of this book, that the method of spelling the words in this language deviates from that of the English. The reasons which induced the writers to adopt the present system were, to evade difficulties and confusion for the reader which would have arisen from applying the English orthography to any other language, and on account of uniformity with the system adopted by the Rev. Mr. Threlkeld in his "Australian Grammar" (New South Wales, 1834,) and other missionaries experienced in the Polynesian languages; by which uniformity of the system a general study of all the different dialects or languages must needs be facilitated, and the results rendered more satisfactory.

[p. vi]

As regards the dialects of South Australia, the present work contains only one, which the Aborigines, however, divide again into two, as exemplified by the term to go:—

1.

2.

Each of these is again subdivided into two, as will be seen in the example. The difference of dialects, according to the first division, is sometimes radical, as karto, and yangarra, a wife; minnondi, and pinggandi, to make, create; but more frequently terminational, as Narta ngai murrenaintye, and Narta ngai murrēndi (or padnēndi), I shall now go.

Of the relation in which this dialect stands to those of other parts of the Australian Continent, very little can be said, from want of sufficient knowledge of them. A radical resemblance—especially in the pronouns—a uniformity of construction, and a dual number, we have observed in Capt. Grey's "Vocabulary of the Dialects spoken by the Aboriginal Races of South-western Australia (Perth, 1839); in the Rev. Mr. Threlkeld's "Australian Grammar," the active case (or nominative active,) and an absence of relatives, and these more or less in the neighbouring dialects here; so that the conjecture ventured by Capt. Grey, and already alluded to by Mr. Threlkeld (A. G.—"Introductory Remarks," p. 10)—that all the Australian languages are derived from one root—is borne out by our own experience, and more particularly

[p. viii — foliated viii in the printing, following p. vi, the text continuous]

by a comparison with the Vocabulary of the language of Western Australia, in which, though the words are differently spelt, there prevails a striking similarity of terms, and which, by personal conversation with Capt. Grey on this subject, became much more evident; and moreover it appears, the farther we go to the West, the greater is the similarity of the dialect to the following, and the farther we go to the east, the more it varies. Also, the habits, manners, and religious ideas of the western Aborigines have a surprising similarity to those of the natives here. Whether these facts are accidental, or what accounts for them, the writers do not profess to state; they are, to say the least of them, striking coincidences, and worthy of notice.

Some friends suggested to the publishers, to prefix a brief description of the character, ideas, and habits, of the Aborigines; but having already, under several articles in the Vocabulary, given some information of this kind, they abandoned this idea.

For the English part of this publication, as the English is not the vernacular tongue of the writers, the reader is indebted to the Protector of the Aborigines (Mr. Moorhouse,) who most readily revised their paper.

If this attempt should in any degree prove conducive to the promotion of the spiritual and temporal welfare of the South Australian Aborigines, the publishers will feel amply rewarded for the pains bestowed upon it.

PART I — OUTLINES OF A GRAMMAR

[Grammar, p. 1] ON ORTHOGRAPHY

The following letters are required to represent the words of this language:—

1.—CONSONANTS.*

b, d, g, k, l, m, n, p, r, t, w, y.

With the exception of g and r, they are pronounced exactly as in the English language; g invariably sounds as the same letter in the English words, good, give, &c.; r sometimes sounds as r in English, sometimes rather softer, as in birri, marra, gurltendi, &c. The nasal ng sounds as the same letters in the English words, king, living, &c.; and the only difference is, that it frequently commences, while in English it only terminates, syllables.

2.—VOWELS.

a, e, i, o, u.

* The sound f, and sibilants, do not occur in this language.

[Grammar, p. 2]

a sounds as the same letter in harp, hard

ā „ „ wall, ball

e „ „ tell, spell

i „ „ fish, dish

o „ „ come, some

u „ „ full, pull

From this it will be seen that each vowel has one sound merely, except a; the quality of it is the same, but it may be long or short, i.e. its quantity may vary.

3.—DIPTHONGS. [See Errata note in the header: read diphthongs.]

ai, au, oi, ui.

ai sounds nearly as i in wine, or I

au sounds as ow „ now

oi „ oi „ oil

ui corresponds with no English dipthong; but when u, as it sounds in full, and i, as in fish, are pronounced rapidly together, the reader will then pronounce this dipthong correctly.

Note.—These dipthongs are either original, as in paia! paitya, puiyu, nguitkurra, woinbawoinbandi, tau, or they are produced when a vowel, or such consonant whose nature partakes of that of a vowel, occurs in juxta-position with another vowel; as in Wirraitpinna, from wirra and itpinna; yammaiamma, from yamma and yamma; Karrauwirra, from karra and wirra; ngaityuitya, from ngaityo and itya; meyuitya, from meyu and itya; &c.

Every word in this language terminates in a vowel; but syllables may terminate either in a vowel, or one or two consonants. If we except the nasal ng, there are, comparatively, few words in which syllables terminate in more than one consonant. The following two consonants terminating syllables have been met with:—

rn, as in marnkutye, karnkandi

rl, „ gurlte, kurlto

dl, „ kudlyo, tudlyo

[Grammar, p. 3]

rt, as in purtpurendi, murtpandi

nt, „ all terminations of intya, untya, and in other words

lt, „ tiltya, yailtyandi, multyo

nk, „ tinkyo, tainkyedli. This sound, however, is nothing more than the nasal ng before a soft consonant, as y.

Whenever a syllable ends in one of these figures, the following begins with a consonant; so that the reader cannot err in the pronunciation of these words, as will appear from the examples given. Every two other consonants meeting with each other in a word must be so pronounced, that the second one begins the following syllable. So also, when two vowels meet in one word, the second belongs to the next syllable, except it is one of the dipthongs; but where two such vowels occur which do not form a dipthong, the second is marked by the diæresis (thus—¨); as in karraündungga, manyaürlo, &c.

Before concluding this paragraph, it is necessary to mention a few letters which are frequently changed or omitted, even amongst one and the same tribe:—

Ng, when preceded by another word, is frequently dropped; as ngaityo wodli, my house; but Ngando aityo mettetti mudlinna? Who took away my property?

B is confounded with p; d with t; and g with k.

R is changed with l or d; as, kurlana, kullana; garla, gadla; murla, mulla.

R omitted before n; as, marnkutye, mankutye; marngandi, mangandi; nurnti, nunti.

R before t, changed into t; as, ngartendi, ngattendi; narta, natta.

If a word end in o, and an affix or termination is added, then o regularly is changed into u; if in e, then e is changed into i; as, kudno, kudnuitya, kudnunna; idlo, idurla [Errata: read idlurla]; munto, muntungga; kauwe, kauwitya, kauwingga; purlaitye, purlaityidla; &c.

[Grammar, p. 4] PARTS OF SPEECH — NOUNS

They are either substantives, adjectives, or pronouns. They all sustain changes in regard to number and cases, but appear to have one gender in common, if female proper names are excepted.

SUBSTANTIVES.

In regard to origin, the substantives are either—

1.—Primitive; as, meyu, man; nanto, kangaroo; medo, sleep; turra, shade; tirra, obstacle; &c.—or,

2.—Derivative; as, bakkebakketti, knife, from bakkendi, to cut; tauaretti, abusive language, from tauarendi, to scold; nurrutti, charm, from nurrondi, to charm, enchant; mette littilla, thief, from mettendi, to take away, steal; taielaiella, builder, from taiendi, to build, erect; mudlarta, a bone worn through the septum nasi, from mudla, nose; mukartiana, hat, from mukarta, head; turtiana, jacket, from turta, the arm; wiltutti, summer season, from wilto, a star; parnatti, autumn, from parna, a star; &c.—or,

3.—Compound; as, kuyameyu, fisherman (kuya and meyu); pudnakauwe, well-water (pudna and kauwe); mindaworta, navel (minda and worta); marngariburka, beggar (marngarendi and burka); nuinyariburka, spoiler (nuinyarendi and burka); tidlikurretti, girdle (tidli and kurrendi); kuraburka, person fond of home (kura and burka); tukuangki, mother of little children (tuku and angki [closing parenthesis wanting in the printing].

DECLENSION.

The following is a specimen of the declension of substantives, which also applies to adjectives. It will be seen that the number and cases are formed by affixes, or terminating syllables:—

[Portion cut here, at the foot of Grammar p. 4. The Table of Affixes and the declension examples that follow on Grammar p. 5 are not included in this portion.]

PART II — VOCABULARY OF THE NATIVE LANGUAGE

[Vocabulary, p. 1]

A

Alya, a particle used either as an adverb or interjection; as wæ alya bia, where may he be? yakka alya! oh! dear!

[Transcriber's note: the first example word is printed with the ligature-like form wæ, exactly as it stands in the scan.]

Arra, postfix, alongside; as parriarra, along the river

B

Babandi, v.a. to dry a skin by stretching it on the ground

Bakka, s. dry bark; the husk or peel of anything

Bakkabakkandi, v.n. to trot; a term applied to horses

Bakkaburro, adj. having still the peel on; unpeeled

Bakkaburrutti, adj. without peel, peeled

Bakkadla, s. hoar frost; used for salt

Bakkamandi, v.a. to peel; skin

Bakkandi, v.a. to dig out roots, &c.

Bakkebakketti, s. a knife, derived from bakkendi

Bakkendi, v.a. to cut; as mangka bakkendi, to make incisions in the body

Bakkirendi, v.r. to cut one's self

[Vocabulary, p. 2]

Bakkurta, s. the dots on the chest and back of the natives

Baltarta, adj. light; not heavy; the reverse of yurnti

Bandi, v.n. to shine; as tindo bandi, the sun shines

Barndandi, v.a. to wring out; squeeze; as kauwe barndandi, to wring out the water

Barkauwillo, s. one whose sister (yakkane) has died

Barti, s. a grub or insect in general. There is a great variety of grubs in this country which constitute an essential and favorite article of food for the Aborigines. They display great sagacity in discovering, and take much pains in procuring them. The grub is sometimes eaten raw, sometimes roasted, is very rich, and of a delicious taste.

Battendi, v.a. to throw

Battebattendi, v.a. to let go; loose; untie

Battiappendi, v.a. to untie; to let go

Battirendi, v.n. as winko battirendi, to breath

Bauondi, v.a. to put wood to the fire, or to trim it; as gadla bauondi, to trim the fire

Bidlandi } see tabidlarendi

Bidlarendi } see tabidlarendi

Bidna, s. charcoal

Bikabika, adj. soft; pliable; flexible

Bikabikanendi, v. inch. to become soft, pliable, &c.

Billondi, v.a. to roll; to turn over or about

Biltendi, v.a. to cut through or off; as yoka biltendi, to cut the hair

Biltilendi, v.n. to give way; to break

Biltitti, s. a pair of scissors

Bilyabilya, s. noise caused by much speaking

Bilyabilyarti, ad. make a less noise

Bilyondi, v.a. i.q. tauandi, which see

Binna, s. an adult; grown up person. In compound words it expresses a strong inclination or desire of what the word to which it is affixed denotes; as mengkibinna, marngubinna [the first example is hyphenated across a line-break in the printing: mengkibin-na]

Biri, see piri

Birira, s. a vegetable growing near rivers, and much relished by the Aborigines; a good substitute for cabbage

Birki, s. a bit; small piece

Birkiappendi, v.a. to make into pieces; to break; tear

Birkibakkendi, v.a. to cut to pieces

[Vocabulary, p. 3]

Birkibirki, s. peas (n.t.)

Birkipaltandi, v.a. to beat to pieces; to pound

Birkipaltapaltanya, adj. easily to be broken; fragile; brittle

Birkiwaiendi, v.n. to go to pieces; break

Birko, s. a troop of men; a company; band; as birko mangkondi, to accompany; escort; fetch

Birra, postp. on account of; for; as nganna birra, what for, why; mai birra, on account of food

Birri, s. nail of the fingers or toes; claw of animals

Bitti, ad. first; before; see itti

Bittondi, v.a. to press

Bitukka, adj. soft; pliable; i.q. bikabika

Biturro, s. thunder

Bokarra, s. northwesterly wind, which is very hot during the summer and indicates storm

Rokkandi, v.n. to bathe [Errata, Part II, p. 3, l. 16: read bokkandi]

Bokkabokkanya, adj. frequently bathing; fond of bathing

Budnabudnandi, v.n. as kadi budnabudandi, to breath heavily; to be exhausted

Budnandi, v.n. to come; return, to extend

Budnappendi, v.caus. to make come; to fetch; return; restore

Budni, s. a large black bird, the eggs of which are found in the earth, and considered as a great luxury by the natives

Bukki, adj. and adv. formerly; a long time ago

Bukkibukki, adv. intensively used; a very long time ago

Bukkiana, adj. old; ancient; as bukkiana meyu, an ancestor

Bukkilya, s. late father

Bukkilyelo, adv. yesterday; kuma bukkilyelo, the day before yesterday

Bukkintyerlo, adv. the comparative of bukki, of a very remote time

Bukkobukko, adj. bald

Bulta, s. heart; bulta-wilta, stout-hearted; fearless; bold; brave

Bultaworta, s. the dorsal vertebrae

Bulti, adj. asleep; as medo bulti, expired, deceased

Bulto, s. place; stead; as wodli-bulto, place of encampment; ninko bultungga, in your place; instead of you

Bulto, postp. after; as ninko bulto, after you

Bultoarra, adv. along, alongside

Bultoburro, adv. before, first, ere

[Vocabulary, p. 4]

Bulturnendi, v.n. to go straight on, to fly, escape

Bulturro, adj. dry; s. dry wind

Buntondi, v.a. to blow with the mouth

Burka, adj. and s. old, of age, an adult, man. It is frequently used as an affix in compound words, corresponding with the terminating syllable er in English; as pinnariburka, loiterer; nittatiburka, idler. In these examples the first or radical parts are verbs; but burka may be an affix to a substantive, for instance, wodli-burka; an inhabitant of the house. If affixed to a district of country, it implies that the individual is the proprietor and inhabitant; as mullawirraburka, dry-forest-man (King John's native name). If affixed to the name of a child, it means the father of the child; as ngultiburka, kudmoburka. See the word pankarra.

Burkanendi, v.n. to be or become old

Burko, s. dew

Burko, adj. heavy, tiring

Burkoburko, s. a small species of mouse

Burkonendi, v.inch. to become heavy, tired, wearied

Burlendi, v.n. to be satiated, satisfied

Burnbondi, v.a. to embrace, surround, enclose

Burnborendi, v.r. to embrace each other

Burro, adv. afterwards, still; as pa burro ngandandi, he is still sick; burroburro, by and by

Burrobitti, adv. before, first

Burrueti, adv. not yet

Burta, s. ashes

Burtamandi, v.a. to stir or trim the fire; as gadla burtamandi

Burtandi, v.n. to burn; to blaze

Burtarti, p. pass. boiled or roasted; the reverse of timana, raw

Burtonna, adj. old; an adult; worn out

Burtulto, s. the stump of a burnt tree

Burtulto-kuinyo, s. the same as ngarrakupa, which see

Butto, an affix, denoting that a person or thing is in a great measure possessed of what the word to which it is affixed signifies; as turlabutto, wrathful; angry; yertabutto, full of earth; dirty

Buttonendi, v. inch. to become full or replete of anything

[Portion ends here — clean cut. Last vocabulary headword included: Buttonendi, the last entry of letter B, Vocabulary p. 4. Letter G begins on Vocabulary p. 5 and is not included.]

Notes on the text

Orthography. The authors' 1840 spelling is reproduced exactly as printed — including macrons and acutes where the book prints them (for example Padnēndi, Padníndi), the diaeresis (for example karraündungga), and the printed letter æ in one example (see the note at Alya). Nothing has been respelled to the modern (2010) Kaurna Warra Pintyandi spelling.

Errata. From the book's printed Errata page, which stands between the title page and the Preface; the text above is transcribed as printed, and the corrections are noted here, not silently applied:

• Part I, p. 2, l. 10, “and in other places, for dipthongs, read diphthongs”.
• Part I, p. 3, l. 33, “for idurla, read idlurla” — applies to the example idlo, idurla on Grammar p. 3 above.
• Part II, p. 3, l. 16, “for rokkandi, read bokkandi” — applies to the headword Rokkandi on Vocabulary p. 3 above.

Transcriber's conventions. Printed italics for Kaurna words are kept as italics; vocabulary headwords are set in bold for readability (in the book they are set in the text type, initial capital). Line-break hyphenation in the original has been silently rejoined. Printed page numbers are given in square brackets at the head of each page. The book's own abbreviations stand as printed: s. substantive, adj. adjective, adv. adverb, v.a. verb active, v.n. verb neuter, v.r. verb reflexive, v. inch. verb inchoative, v. caus. verb causative, postp./postfix postposition, dem. pron. demonstrative pronoun, i.q. idem quod (“the same as”), (n.t.) as printed.

Preface foliation. The Preface is complete in 4 printed pages: the first page is unfoliated (signature A), then pp. v, vi, viii as foliated in the printing — the foliation jumps from vi to viii with the text continuous.

At Alya. The first example word is printed with the ligature-like form wæ, exactly as it stands in the scan.

Where this portion ends. The Grammar portion is cut at the foot of Grammar p. 4, at the introduction to “Declension”; the Table of Affixes and the declension examples that follow on Grammar p. 5 are not included. The Vocabulary portion ends with Buttonendi, the last entry of letter B, Vocabulary p. 4; letter G begins on Vocabulary p. 5 and is not included. (The Vocabulary follows the book's own letter order — A, B, G, I, K … — there are no C, D, E, F or H sections.)

Transcription statement. Portion: title page; Introductory Preface complete (4 pp.); Grammar pp. 1–4; Vocabulary pp. 1–4 (letters A complete and B complete, 98 headwords, Alya–Buttonendi). 13 printed pages. Every Kaurna word was proofed letter-by-letter against the page scans of Internet Archive item outlinesagramma00schgoog; no Kaurna word in this portion is guessed, and the count of [illegible in scan] marks in this portion is 0. Classification, repeated: language and learning witness — not scripture.

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