Stems and endings for nouns, adjectives and determiners

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2. How to make words — stems and endings

In Ganggalida, almost all words are made up of at least two parts. For example, the word for ‘man’ is danggara, which is made up of dangga‐ and ‐ra, and the word ngawuwa ‘dog’ is made up of ngawu‐ and ‐wa. The first part is called a stem, like the stem of a plant. The parts after the stem are called endings. To understand how words work in Ganggalida, it is useful to divide them into stems and endings. For example, to say ‘for the man’ you use the same stem dangga‐ but a different ending ‐ntha to make the word danggantha ‘for the man’. To say ‘for the dog’ you use the stem ngawu‐ and the ending ‐ntha to make the word ngawuntha ‘for the dog’. When Ganggalida words are put together into sentences, a lot of the meaning is expressed by endings. Because the endings are a vital part of Ganggalida grammar, this discussion of Ganggalida grammar will mention them very often. And because of that, it will be helpful to give the endings specific names, like Absolutive and Dative. The names will be especially useful when we discuss more complex parts of Ganggalida grammar in section 3. They also help when we want to compare Ganggalida with other languages of Australia and the world.

2.1 Stems and endings for nouns, adjectives and determiners

The endings on nouns, adjectives and determiners in Ganggalida can help to express who is doing what in an action. Or they can help to express whether an action is happening in a certain place, or if someone is going to that place or coming away from it. They can express what belongs to someone, or what someone has or doesn’t have. And they can express whether the noun, adjective or determiner is naming just one person or thing, or two of them, or many of them. One of the complex aspects of Ganggalida is that endings have many different forms. Just like the moon looks different on different days of the month, the endings have different appearances on different kinds of stems. For that reason, I will list the many forms of each ending, so that you can see how it appears and changes. In the following sections you can read about the most common endings for nouns, adjectives and determiners. For each ending, there is a short description of what it is used for and a full description of its different forms. Forms of the Absolutive ending The first ending is called the Absolutive. Words with an Absolutive ending have many uses in Ganggalida. One important use is as the Citation Form. The Citation Form is the answer you give when someone asks you ‘what is your word for this?’. The Citation Form is also p.6 Comments welcome e.rounduq.edu.au. Please do not cite without permission. used to organise the dictionary — you can look up Ganggalida words by looking for their Citation Form. The Absolutive ending has six different forms: ‐ra, ‐wa, ‐ya, ‐da, ‐ga and ‐a. Which one you use depends on the stem, for example the stem dangga‐, which means ‘man’, uses the Absolutive form ‐ra, but the stem ngawu‐ ‘dog’ uses the Absolutive form ‐wa. To know which form of the ending is appropriate, you need to look at the last sound of the stem. For example, Table 1 shows you stems that end with consonants. The stem gamarr‐ means ‘stone’. It ends with the sound rr and uses the form ‐a of the Absolutive ending. That tells you that any stem in Ganggalida which ends with the rr sound will use the Absolutive form ‐a. Meaning Full Absolutive word form Stem Ending ‘stone’ gamarra gamarr‐ ‐a ‘spear’ miyarlda miyarl‐ ‐da ‘head’ nalda nal‐ ‐da ‘tooth’ damanda daman‐ ‐da ‘my’ ngijinda ngijin‐ ‐da ‘meat’ yarlbuda yarlbuth‐ ‐da ‘strange’ warlngida warlngij‐ ‐da ‘boomerang’ wangalga wangalg‐ ‐a ‘word’ gangga gang‐ ‐ga Table 1. Absolutive word forms for stems ending with consonants Table 2 shows stems that end with vowels. When the stem ends with a vowel, short stems and long stems behave differently: stems with one syllable must take their ending, stems with two syllables can take their ending, and stems with three or more syllables take no ending. Meaning Full Absolutive word form Stem Ending ‘foot’ jara ja‐ ‐ra ‘fat’ lura lu‐ ‐ra ‘heshe’ niya ni‐ ‐ya ‘man’ dangga or danggara dangga‐ ‐ra ‘woman’ magu or maguwa magu‐ ‐wa ‘grey hair’ bardi or bardiya bardi‐ ‐ya ‘wife’s mother’ jibarna jibarna‐ no form ‘big’ bardangu bardangu‐ no form ‘spear shaft’ thambiri thambiri‐ no form Table 2. Absolutive word forms stems of one, two, or more syllables, ending with vowels p.7 Comments welcome e.rounduq.edu.au. Please do not cite without permission. A small number stems that end with ng have two alternative Absolutive forms. One form uses the ending ‐ga. The other form just removes the ng from the end of the stem Meaning full Absolutive word Stem Ending ‘southwest’ balungga or balu balung‐ ‐ga, or remove ng ‘southeast’ larlungga or larlu larung‐ ‐ga, or remove ng ‘northeast’ lilungga or lilu lilung‐ ‐ga, or remove ng ‘northwest’ jirrgurlungga or jirrgurlu jirrgurlung‐ ‐ga, or remove ng Table 3. Stems ending with ng, which have alternative Absolutive word forms The stem ngimirlung‐ means ‘morning’. To create its Absolutive word form, the ng is always removed, to make the form ngimirlu. Finally, the stem dathin‐ means ‘that’ or ‘there’. It has two alternative Absolutive word forms: dathina or dathinda. Forms of the Dative ending Words with a Dative ending have several uses in Ganggalida, including indicating who something is for. For example, the stem magu‐ ‘woman’ plus the Dative ending ‐ntha gives the full Dative word form maguntha which can mean ‘for the woman’. The Dative ending has the form ‐ntha after a stem that ends with a or u. It has the form ‐nja after a stem that ends with i, and the form ‐inja after a stem that ends with a consonant. Examples are shown in Table 4. Meaning Full Dative word form Stem Ending ‘man’ danggantha dangga‐ ‐ntha ‘woman’ maguntha magu‐ ‐ntha ‘old woman’ wardigirrinja wardigirri‐ ‐nja ‘house’ ngambirrinja ngambirr‐ ‐inja ‘spear’ miyarlinja miyarl‐ ‐inja ‘net’ mijilinja mijil‐ ‐inja ‘food’ wurlaninja wurlan‐ ‐inja ‘my’ ngijininja ngijin‐ ‐inja ‘meat’ yarlbuthinja yarlbuth‐ ‐inja ‘firewood’ ngijinja ngij‐ ‐inja ‘kookaburra’ thalgurrginja thalgurrg‐ ‐inja ‘two children’ gunawunayarrngginja gunawunayarrng‐ ‐inja Table 4. Dative word forms p.8 Comments welcome e.rounduq.edu.au. Please do not cite without permission. Forms of the Ergative and Locative endings Words with the Ergative ending can be used to show who is doing an action — the Subject of the sentence. For example, in the sentence ‘the goanna eats the crab’, the goanna is doing the action, it is the Subject, and so the stem warrun‐ ‘goanna’ would have the Ergative ending ‐ki. The Ergative ending has the form ‐ya after a stem that ends with a vowel, and the forms ‐i, ‐gi, ‐ki or ‐ji after stems that end with consonants. The Locative ending is exactly the same. Words with the Locative ending can be used to express where an action takes place. For example, to say ‘on the stone’, the stem gamarr‐ ‘stone’ would have the Locative ending ‐i. Meaning Full ErgativeLocative word form Stem Ending ‘man’ danggaya dangga‐ ‐ya ‘woman’ maguya magu‐ ‐ya ‘sisterinlaw’ julwirriya julwirri‐ ‐ya ‘stone’ gamarri gamarr‐ ‐i ‘spear’ miyarli miyarl‐ ‐i ‘grey mosquito’ gunguli gungul‐ ‐i ‘goanna’ warrunki warrun‐ ‐ki ‘my’ ngijinji ngijin‐ ‐ji ‘people’ danggawalathi danggawalath‐ ‐i ‘firewood’ ngiji ngij‐ ‐i ‘bloodwood tree’ bilthurrgi bilthurrg‐ ‐i ‘two’ giyarrnggi giyarrng‐ ‐gi Table 5. Ergative Locative word forms Forms of the Privative ending The Privative ending is ‐warri. Words with the Privative ending can express what is missing, or something that someone doesn’t have, a bit like the English ending ‐less in waterless. For example, the stem ngugu‐ means ‘water’. The word nguguwarri means ‘no water’ or ‘without water’, like in that place has no water or he left without any water. p.9 Comments welcome e.rounduq.edu.au. Please do not cite without permission. Meaning Full Privative word form Stem Ending ‘man’ danggawarri dangga‐ ‐warri ‘water’ nguguwarri ngugu‐ ‐warri ‘fish’ yagurliwarri yagurli‐ ‐warri ‘river’ gatharrwarri gatharr‐ ‐warri ‘spear’ miyarlwarri miyarl‐ ‐warri ‘head’ nalwarri nal‐ ‐warri ‘rain’ wunwarri wun‐ ‐warri ‘my’ ngijinwarri ngijin‐ ‐warri ‘meat’ yarlbuwarri yarlbuth‐ ‐warri ‘firewood’ ngiwarri ngij‐ ‐warri ‘boomerang’ wangalwarri wangalg‐ ‐warri ‘word’ gawarri gang‐ ‐warri Table 6. Privative word forms Forms of the Proprietive ending The opposite of the Privative is the Proprietive. Words with the Proprietive ending can express what is there, or something that someone has. For example, the word ngawuwurlu means ‘with a dog’ or ‘having a dog’. The Proprietive ending has several forms. After a stem that ends with a vowel, it has the form ‐wurlu, except that after a stem which ends with u and has three or more syllables it has the form ‐rlu. After consonants it has the forms ‐urlu, ‐gurlu, ‐ kurlu or ‐jurlu. Meaning Full Proprietive word form Stem Ending ‘boy’ marnduwarrawurlu marnduwarra‐ ‐wurlu ‘dog’ ngawuwurlu ngawu‐ ‐wurlu ‘big’ bardangurlu bardangu‐ ‐rlu ‘old woman’ wardigirriwurlu wardigirri‐ ‐wurlu ‘rock’ gamarrurlu gamarr‐ ‐urlu ‘spear’ miyarlurlu miyarl‐ ‐urlu ‘tree’ diwalurlu diwal‐ ‐urlu ‘plant food’ wurlankurlu wurlan‐ ‐kurlu ‘my’ ngijinjurlu ngijin‐ ‐jurlu ‘meat’ yarlbuthurlu yarlbuth‐ ‐urlu ‘firewood’ ngijurlu ngij‐ ‐urlu ‘boomerang’ wangalgurlu wangalg‐ ‐urlu ‘word’ ganggurlu gang‐ ‐gurlu Table 7. Proprietive word forms p.10 Comments welcome e.rounduq.edu.au. Please do not cite without permission. Forms of the Ablative ending Words with the Ablative ending can be used to express where something or someone is coming from. For example, to say ‘from the camp’, the stem natha‐ ‘camp’ would have the Ablative ending ‐naba, to form the Ablative word nathanaba. After a stem that ends with a vowel, the Ablative ending has the form ‐naba. After consonants it has the forms ‐inaba, ‐kinaba, ‐ginaba or ‐jinaba. Meaning full Ablative word form Stem Ending ‘camp’ nathanaba natha‐ ‐naba ‘water’ ngugunaba ngugu‐ ‐naba ‘fish’ yagurlinaba yagurli‐ ‐naba ‘stone’ gamarrinaba gamarr‐ ‐inaba ‘spear’ miyarlinaba miyarl‐ ‐inaba ‘net’ mijilinaba mijil‐ ‐inaba ‘food’ wurlankinaba wurlan‐ ‐kinaba ‘my’ ngijinjinaba ngijin‐ ‐jinaba ‘meat’ yarlbuthinaba yarlbuth‐ ‐inaba ‘firewood’ ngijinaba ngij‐ ‐inaba ‘mud’ mardalginaba mardalg‐ ‐inaba ‘morning’ ngimirlungginaba ngimirlung‐ ‐ginaba Table 8. Ablative word forms Forms of the Allative ending Words with the Allative ending can be used to express where something or someone is going to. For example, to say ‘to the camp’, the stem natha‐ ‘camp’ would have the Allative ending ‐rlu, to form the Allative word natharlu. After a stem that ends with a vowel, the Allative ending has the form ‐rlu. After consonants it has the forms ‐irlu, ‐kirlu, ‐girlu or ‐jirlu. p.11 Comments welcome e.rounduq.edu.au. Please do not cite without permission. Meaning full Allative word form Stem Ending ‘camp’ natharlu natha‐ ‐rlu ‘water’ ngugurlu ngugu‐ ‐rlu ‘inside’ gurlbirlu gurlbi‐ ‐rlu ‘stone’ gamarrirlu gamarr‐ ‐irlu ‘eye’ miburlirlu miburl‐ ‐irlu ‘net’ mijilirlu mijil‐ ‐irlu ‘town’ dawunkirlu dawun‐ ‐kirlu ‘my’ ngijinjirlu ngijin‐ ‐jirlu ‘meat’ yarlbuthirlu yarlbuth‐ ‐irlu ‘ground’ dulgirlu dulg‐ ‐irlu ‘panja bulrush’ gurlganggirlu gurlgang‐ ‐girlu Table 9. Allative word forms Forms of the Genitive ending Words with the Genitive ending can be used to express who owns or possesses something. For example to say ‘the man’s dog’, you could put the Genitive ending ‐garra on the stem dangga‐ ‘man’, and say danggagarra ngawuwa. After a stem that ends with a vowel, the Genitive ending has the form ‐garra. After consonants it has the forms ‐wagarra or ‐bagarra. Meaning full Genitive word Stem Ending ‘little girl’ ngurliwagarra ngurliwa‐ ‐garra ‘woman’ magugarra magu‐ ‐garra ‘old man’ balalanyigarra balalanyi‐ ‐garra ‘spear’ miyarlwagarra miyarl‐ ‐wagarra ‘tree’ diwalwagarra diwal‐ ‐wagarra ‘horse’ yarramanbagarra yarraman‐ ‐bagarra ‘my’ ngijinbagarra ngijin‐ ‐bagarra ‘meat’ yarlbuwagarra yarlbuth‐ ‐wagarra ‘kookaburra’ thalgurrwagarra thalgurrg‐ ‐wagarra ‘two men’ danggayarrmbagarra danggayarrng‐ ‐bagarra Table 10. Genitive word forms A second use for the Genitive ending is to express what something is near to. To do that, the Genitive ending has a special form that has an extra n on it, which gets followed by a Locative ending ‐ji. For example, ‘near to mother’ could be expressed using the stem p.12 Comments welcome e.rounduq.edu.au. Please do not cite without permission. ngamathu‐ ‘mother’ plus the special Genitive form ‐garran‐ plus the Locative ending ‐ji, to make the word ngamathugarranji. Forms of the Stative ending Ganggalida determiners and time words like ‘yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow’ can appear with a Stative ending after the stem. Words with a Stative ending can then have two forms: an Absolutive form, which will end with ‐ma, or an ErgativeLocative form that ends with ‐mang‐ plus the ErgativeLocative ending ‐gi. Examples are shown in Table 11 and Table 12. Meaning Full Stative Absolutive word Stem Ending ‘this’ danma dan‐ ‐ma ‘my’ ngijinma ngijin‐ ‐ma ‘now’ yanma yan‐ ma Table 11. Stative Absolutive word forms Meaning Full Stative ErgativeLocative word Stem Endings ‘some’ jangkinmanggi jangkin‐ ‐mang‐gi ‘those two’ dathinkiyarrmanggi dathinkiyarrng‐ ‐mang‐gi ‘tomorrow’ balmbimanggi balmbi‐ ‐mang‐gi ‘yesterday’ barrunthamanggi barruntha‐ ‐mang‐gi Table 12. Stative ErgativeLocative word forms Forms of the Dual ending Any noun in Ganggalida can name a single person or thing, or it can name many. For example, the noun danggara is made of the stem dangga‐ ‘man’ and the Absolutive ending ‐ra. It can mean ‘man’, or it can mean ‘men’. It is also possible to be more specific. The Dual ending tells you that someone is talking about exactly two people or things. The Dual ending has the forms ‐yarrng‐, ‐iyarrng‐, ‐kiyarrng‐ and ‐jiyarrng. It gets followed by other endings, like the Absolutive ending ‐ga. p.13 Comments welcome e.rounduq.edu.au. Please do not cite without permission. Meaning Full Dual Absoltive word Stem Endings ‘man’ danggayarrngga dangga‐ ‐yarrng‐ga ‘older sister’ yagugathuyarrngga yagugathu‐ ‐yarrng‐ga ‘man’s sister’ balgajiyarrngga balgaji‐ ‐yarrng‐ga ‘hand’ marliyarrngga marl‐ ‐iyarrng‐ga ‘unmarried person’ ngumaliyarrngga ngumal‐ ‐iyarrng‐ga ‘that’ dathinkiyarrngga dathin‐ ‐kiyarrng‐ga ‘my’ ngijinjiyarrngga ngijin‐ ‐jiyarrng‐ga Table 13. Dual Absolutive word forms Forms of the Plural ending The Plural ending tells you that someone is talking specifically about three or more people or things. The Plural ending has the forms ‐walath‐ and ‐balath. It gets followed by other endings, like the Absolutive ending ‐da, or the ErgativeLocative ‐i. Meaning Full Plural ErgativeLocative word Stem Endings ‘man’ danggawalathi dangga‐ ‐walath‐i ‘woman’ maguwalathi magu‐ ‐walath‐i ‘my’ ngijinbalathi ngijin‐ ‐balath‐i Table 14. Plural ErgativeLocative word forms Forms of the combined Locative‐Dative ending In section 3.11 we will see that in some complex sentences, some words have a combined Locative‐Dative ending: Meaning Full Locative‐Dative word form Stem Ending ‘far’ warrawurrga warra‐ ‐wurrga ‘egg’ guruwurrga guru‐ ‐wurrga ‘tobacco’ dumbayigiwurrga dumbayigi‐ ‐wurrga ‘river bank’ wirrwirrurrga wirrwirr‐ ‐urrga ‘knee’ bunggalurrga bunggal‐ ‐urrga ‘possum’ marliyankurrga marliyan‐ ‐kurrga ‘his’ niwanjurrga niwan‐ ‐jurrga ‘meat’ yarlbuthurrga yarlbuth‐ ‐urrga ‘boomerang’ wangalgurrga wangalg‐ ‐urrga ‘plum’ bulumbulunggurrga bulumbulung‐ ‐gurrga Table 15. Combined Locative‐Dative word forms p.14 Comments welcome e.rounduq.edu.au. Please do not cite without permission.

2.2 Singular, plural, subjects, objects, and more