PACIFIC LINGUISTICS Series D - No.79 NOTES ON SOME QUEENSLAND LANGUAGES Nils M. Holmer Department of Linguistics Research School of Pacific Studies THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY Holmer, N.M. Notes on some Queensland languages. D-79, iv + 167 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1988. DOI:10.15144/PL-D79.cover ©1988 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative. PACIFIC LINGUISTICS is issued through the Linguistic Circle of Canberra and consists of four series: SERIES A: Occasional Papers SERIES C: Books SERIES B: Monographs SERIES D: Special Publications FOUNDING EDITOR: S.A. Wurrn EDITORIAL BOARD: D.C. Laycock, D.T. Tryon, T.E. Dutton, M.D. Ross EDITORIAL ADVISERS: B.w.Bender H.P. McKaughan University of Hawaii University of Hawaii David Bradley P. Miihlhausler La Trobe University Linacre College, Oxford Michael G. Clyne G.N. O'Grady Monash University University of Victoria, B.C. S.H. Elbert A.K. Pawley University of Hawaii University of Auckland K.J. Franklin K.L. Pike Summer Institute of Linguistics Summer Institute of Linguistics W.W. Glover E.C. Polome Summer Institute of Linguistics University of Texas G.W. Grace Gillian Sankoff University of Hawaii University of Pennsylvania M.A.K. Halliday W.A.L. Stokhof University of Sydney University of Leiden E. Haugen B.K. Tsou Harvard University City Polytechnic of Hong Kong A. Healey E.M. Uhlenbeck Summer Institute of Linguistics University of Lei den L.A. Hercus J.W.M. Verhaar Australian National University Divine Word Institute, Madang John Lynch C.L. V oorhoeve University of Papua New Guinea University of Leiden K.A. McElhanon Summer Institute of Linguistics All correspondence concerning PACIFIC LINGUISTICS, including orders and subscriptions, should be addressed to: PACIFIC LINGUISTICS Department of Linguistics Research School of Pacific Studies The Australian National University G.P.O. Box 4, Canberra, A.C.T. 2601 Australia Copyright © The Author First Published 1988 Typeset by Ling Matsay Printed by A.N.U. Printing Service Bound by AdriaticBookbinders Pty Ltd The editors are indebted to the Australian National University for assistance in the production of this series This publicationwas made possible by an initial grant from the Hunter Douglas Fund. ISSN 0078-7566 ISBN 0 85883 372 7 T ABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCfrON IV Mer 1 Saibai 24 Gugu-Bujun and related languages 36 Kantyu and Koko-Yalandji 63 Gangulida 87 Bundjil and Wandji 105 Garwa 110 Punthamara 129 iii INTRODUCTORY NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While engaged in recording Aboriginal languages in south-east Queensland, Aborigines from other parts of Queensland were often contacted. To complete the picture in some measure, notes were taken of more or less competent informants, who were not included in the Linguistic Survey. The people interviewed represented the following languages: Mer, Saibai, Gugu-Bujun, Kantyu, Koko-Yalandji, Gangulida, Bundjil, Wanyi, Garwa, Punthamara and Kalali. Of these languages one (Mer) is particularly interesting since it is actually a New Guinea language (or language of New Guinea type) spoken in Australia. For various reasons the languages studied in these Notes are generally less complete and somewhat lacunary and sometimes analysed rather with a comparative purpose (e.g. Kalali). The description and analysis of these languages, along with the phonetic writing and morphological terminology, is the same as for those described in the Linguistic Survey. The author's special thanks are directed to Professor S.A. Wurm of the Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University for kindly taking care of the fInal publication of the author's entire linguistic material fromvarious parts of Queensland. iv Holmer, N.M. Notes on some Queensland languages. D-79, iv + 167 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1988. DOI:10.15144/PL-D79.cover ©1988 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative. MER Mer is a language of New Guinea type (Fly River) spoken on the island of Mer (Murray Island) in the Barrier Reef. Notes of this language were obtained from the following informants: Mr B. Thaiday, at Tully (Queensland), from Darnley Island (BT); Mr Dawita Tagai (or: Tagai Dawita ?) at Tully (TO); Mrs Mutay Dawita, at Tully (MD); Mr John Tapau, at Kingaroy and Brisbane, from Murray Island (IT). 1. Phonology 1.1 The Mer language has five vowel phonemes: a, e, i, ° and u. There is a tendency toward stressing second initial syllables: netat, bakamu, batawirik , emetu, deser, deserda, digreda, ga];is, girgfr, diger, udfger, nab:igre, ikardarda, makuare, urfdli, metagi, wage de, darasmerare. 1.2 There is a tendency toward vowel leveling: kos kel or kos ker (beside koskir), muigi - merge, muris, gergerge, gergerko, puni (beside pom), dirsir - ders er(Ji), nasmere - nasmili, teter - titir (both meaning 'leg'), etc. As seen, there are infractions of the rule, especially in the case of morphological elements. Morphologicalforms may, on the other hand, be adjusted to the tendency of vowel leveling, as in: kereba or kiriba (for keriba 'ours'), mere ba for meriba 'ours', mi demreder 'we two sat down'. In the above examples one may also count on the effect of assimilation of vowels. Vowel length is irrelevant. Monosyllabic concrete forms (especially if vowel-ending) tend to lengthen the vowel: Ie ('man'), l('Cry'), nar (,boat'), etc. The following consonant phonemes occur: b a bilabial voiced plosive (as in English); d a dental to alveolar voiced plosive (cf. English); g a palatal-velar voiced plosive (as in English); k a strongly aspirated voiceless palatal-velar plosive (cf. below); p a strongly aspirated voiceless bilabial plosive (cf. below); t a dental (or alveolar) voiceless plosive (cf. English; see further below); 1 a lateral continuant (as in French); 1 Holmer, N.M. Notes on some Queensland languages. D-79, iv + 167 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1988. DOI:10.15144/PL-D79.1 ©1988 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative. 2 m a bilabial nasal (as in English); n a dental-alveolar nasal (as in English); r a trilled continuant (as in Italian); s a voiceless sibilant (as in English); w a bilabial semivowel (as in English; only used initially and intervocalically); y a palatal semivowel (as in English 'yes'; only used initially and. intervocalically); z a voiced sibilant (as in English). 1.3 The strongly aspirated k and p may pass into fricative sounds: k - x, P - f. The dental d and t tend to become-as in many Pacific languages-palatalised before i: dYi, tYi. A supradental (or retroflex) {1 may occasionallybe heard (in English words): ha{1 'God' (hardly a native word), ba{1 u 'Bardoo' or 'Mulgrave Island'. As in Australian English, an initial h-sound is not distinctive: ha{1 - ad ('God'; cf. above). Other cases of the influence of (Australian) English may be found: babei for babi ('father'). On the other hand, beizam for baizam ('shark'), etc., is normal in the Aboriginal languages. 1.4 Mer words may begin either with a vowel or a consonant phoneme. Words beginning with i, however, may take an initial semivowel y-: irgi - yirgi 'bit', etc. In other cases y- may tend to become dY- (yawaJi - dYawaJi 'paper, book'). No Mer word begins normally with r or ends in - 1; a Fly river *r- may become d- in Mer and *-1 may become -r (cf. -smili - -smir, smer 'see'; also cf. kosker - koske1 'woman'). 2. Morphology Nominal stems and declension 2.1 Nominal stems in Mer may be of one or more syllables, ending either in a consonant or a vowel: nar 'boat', meta 'house', kimiar 'man'. Monosyllabic words may often be supposed to have apocopated a final vowel, which reappears in declension forms: lim 'sun', ergative limide (hence originally * limI). The effect of vowel leveling is often noticeable in derived forms or compounds: meriam mir 'the Mer language'. In nominal stems the plural sense is not distinguished from a singular or dual sense: 1e 'man' or 'men', meriam 'Murray Islander(s)'. 2.2 Apart from a nominative form (which is the stem of the word, singular or plural; cf. above 2.1), Mer has an ergative (ending in -de, alternatively -ede), a possessive (ending in -ra, -ira), an accusative (ending in -i, of personal nouns only), an ablative (ending in -lam), a locative (ending in -gi or -ge, originally no doubt according to vowel leveling); finally, an allative (ending in -m; alternatively -em or -im). Examples: nominative meta 'house', wag (wage-) 'wind', dawita 'David'; ergative wagede '(by) the wind', possessive da witara meta 'David's house', metara tot 'the top of the house', accusative da witai 'David', ablative meta1am 'from the house', locative metagi 'in the house', allative metaem 'to the house'. A vocative form may be formed by addition of an interjectional e (-e) to the stem (or nominative) form: kara neur e 'my daughter'. The case suffixes described above may alternatively be considered as postpositions. 3 Pronominal inflection 3.1. We may distinguish between personal, demonstrative and interrogative-indefinite pronouns. Personal pronouns 3.2. There are personal pronouns for the first, second and third persons in the singular, dual and plural. In the first person dual and plural a distinction is made between exclusive and inclusive forms. The following are the stem (or nominative) form of the personal pronouns: (singular) ka '1', ma 'you', e 'he' or 'she'; (dual) ki 'we' (exclusive); mi 'we' (inclusive), wa 'you'; (plural) ki 'we' (exclusive), mi 'we' (inclusive; = ma ka 'you and me'); wi 'they'.