Chapter VII.

Language, dialects, customs, etc.—­general similarity throughout the continent—­causes of differences—­route by which the natives have overspread the country, etc.

During the last few years much has been done towards an examination and comparison of the dialects spoken by the aboriginal tribes of Australia in different portions of the continent.  The labours of Mr. Threlkeld, of Captain Grey, of Messrs. Teichelman and Schurmann, of Mr. Meyer, of Mr. Schurman, with the occasional notes of visitors and travellers, have done much to elucidate this subject, and have presented to the world vocabularies of the Hunter’s River and Lake Macquarie districts in New South Wales; of Swan River and King George’s Sound in Western Australia; of Adelaide, of Encounter Bay, and of Port Lincoln, in South Australia; besides occasional phrases or scanty manuals of various other dialects spoken in different districts.  From these varied contributions it would appear that a striking coincidence exists in the personal appearance, character, customs, traditions, dialects, etc. among the many and remotely separated tribes scattered over the surface of New Holland.  Each of these, no doubt, varies in many particulars from the others, and so much so some times, as to lead to the impression that they are essentially different and distinct. [Note 95 at end of para.] Upon close examination, however, a sufficient general resemblance is usually found to indicate that all the tribes have originally sprung from the same race, that they have gradually spread themselves over the whole continent from some one given point; which appears, as far as we can infer from circumstantial evidence, to have been somewhere upon the northern coast.  There are some points of resemblance which, as far as is yet known, appear to be common to most of the different dialects with which we are acquainted.  Such are, there being no generic terms as tree, fish, bird, etc., but only specific ones as applied to each particular variety of tree, fish, bird, etc.  The cardinal numbers, being only carried up to three, there being no degrees of comparison except by a repetition to indicate intensity, or by a combination of opposite adjectives, to point out the proportion intended, and no distinction of genders, if we except an attempt to mark one among those tribes who give numerical names to their children, according to the order of their birth, as before mentioned. [Note 96:  Chap.  IV. nomenclature.] All parts of speech appear to be subject to inflections, if we except adverbs, post-fixes, and post-positions.  Nouns, adjectives, pronouns and verbs have all three numbers, singular, dual and plural.  The nominative agent always precedes an active verb.  When any new object is presented to the native, a name is given to it, from some fancied similarity to some object they already know, or from some peculiar quality or attribute it may possess; thus, rice is in the Moorunde dialect called “yeelilee” or “maggots,” from an imagined resemblance between the two objects.