Transient Languages & Cultures

Aspects of the Sydney Language are a perennial fascination. Last month recent events prompted me to look into the etymology of boomerang. In recent weeks the gripping SBS documentary First Australians first episode (available as a 227MB MPEG4) took us to the early days of Sydney.  And now I've noticed what I think is an unreported sound correspondence, as I've become more familiar with sources on the Sydney Language.

We can start with the correspondence that Lt William Dawes noted between dialects we can call coastal and inland, in the course of a 1791 expedition inland.  Dawes' notebook has a comparative table of six pairs of roots clearly showing a correspondence between intervocalic -nd- in inland Burubirangal with -n- in coastal Iyura. (The table is reproduced by Steele 2005:156, and Wilkins & Nash 2008:489-91). Dawes (c1790b) had also explicitly noticed an assimilation rule in the coastal dialect (Iyura), which can be restated thus: across a morpheme boundary potential nasal+d clusters do not surface but the d in this context is realised as n. Wilkins noticed that the observation could be generalised:

In the coastal dialect, there is a morphophonological rule which changed the initial stop consonant of a suffix to the homorganic nasal when that suffix was attached to a stem ending in a nasal. (Wilkins & Nash 2008:488)

Bilabial clusters

The rule changing the initial consonant of suffixes was also noted by Troy (1994) with respect to bilabials:

Analysis of the verbal morphology of the language provides further evidence for the transformation of b to m following n. (Troy 1994:27)

So I wondered about intervocalic bilabial nasal-stop clusters inside stems, not just ones that might arise from suffixation. The following table is an extract of all Sydney Language words written with an mb in Troy's (1994) 'reference spelling', together with each source form annotated with source abbreviation. The table columns are in two groups: words with mb in the left half, and any corresponding words with a corresponding m in the right half.

#	gloss	Troy 1994	source	Troy 1994	source
1	sacred kingfisher	djirramba	jirramba (M)	dyaramak	dere-a-mak (HSB)
2	bat	wirambi	weeramby (C), werrimbi ‘flying fox’ (WR)	[wirami]	weeream-my (An)
	fox rat—large fox rat	wiriyambi	wee-ree-am-by (C)	wiriyamin	wee-ree-a-min (C)
3	wombat	wumbat	wom-bat (C), wombat (Fl), womback (Fl), wombat (R)	[wumat]	womat (Fl)
4	brother-in-law	djambi	jambi (R)
	sister-in-law	djambing	jambiŋ (R)
5	cattle—horned cattle	gambaguluk	kumbakuluk (R)
6	stars	gimbawali	kimperwali (M), kimberwalli (R)
7	shout	gumba	kumba (R)
8	sprat	gumbara	kumbara (M)
9	deaf	gumbarubalung	kumbarobalong (M)
10	geebung (plant)	mambara	mambara (M)
11	quail	muwambi	moumbi (M)

Sources: (An) Anon. c1790, (C) Collins 1798, (Fl) Flinders 1814, (HSB) Hunter 1988, (M) Mathews 1903, (R) Rowley in Ridley, (WR) Russell 1914.

The records in the middle column, showing -mb-, are all from inland varieties as recorded by (M), (R) and (WR), whereas the examples with corresponding -m- in the right columns are from Sydney Cove and the coastal variety (allowing for Collins having recorded words from both varieties).  The blanks in the right columns show there is no recorded -m- equivalent of the -mb- words in those rows, and all those -mb- words are from the definitely inland sources (M) and (R).

Steele (2005:157) has also noted that "-mb is a non-permissible BB combination" (where BB is Biyal-Biyal, Steele's preferred name for the coastal variety), but did not state what happens to etymological mb.  Note that in row 2 Collins' 'fox rat' should probably be read as 'fox bat', a suggestion that has also been made by Steele (2005).

David Wilkins has noticed a possible instance of the correspondence -mb- ~ -m-, but between the Lake Macquarie Language (Awabakal) and Iyura. Lissarrague's (2006:113) reconstitution kampal 'brother (younger)', based on Kum-bul (Threlkeld 1834:87), Kumbȧl (Threlkeld 1892:54) and kambal (Horatio Hale), may well correspond with Dawes' (c1790b) gómůl 'A degree of relationship'. Troy (1994:39) reconstitutes this word as gumul but there is only one attestation and phonetically gamal is also possible.

All in all, it appears that intervocalic -mb- in inland varieties of the Sydney Language corresponds with intervocalic -m- in the coastal variety (Iyura) of the Sydney Language.

A Pama-Nyungan retention?

If the above evidence has established the -mb- ~ -m- correspondence, then we can see Dawes' (c1790b) unique record of kāma 'to dig' as a potential reflex of proto-Pama-Nyungan *ka:mpa- ‘cook in earth oven’ vtr (Alpher 2004:431).  This is known to descend as ‘cover, bury’ in some languages of Cape York Peninsula and central Queensland, but Alpher (2004) has no reflexes in southeast Australia.  Without another reflex of *ka:mpa- in the subgroup, there's a likelihood that kāma is a chance correspondence — so I would naturally like to hear of a potential southeast Australian reflex of *ka:mpa- (with suitable meaning). [Note: The other sound equivalences needed in this comparison are supported by pPN *kuna ‘excrement’ (Alpher 2004:439-40) descending as Sydney kuni (M), gonin (guni 'excrement' -in 'from') (Tench) 'excrement'.]

Velar clusters

Now, having covered alveolar and bilabial, what about other places of articulation, you ask.  Well, David Wilkins (p.c.) has made the generalisation that Iyura (the coastal variety) probably lacked any homorganic consonant clusters. On any potential correspondence between palatals -ñdj- and -ñ- there is a dearth of evidence; suffice to say there is no evidence of palatal nasal-stop clusters in Iyura.  For velars the data present a messy picture, given the ambiguity of early spellings with intervocalic 'ng'.  The scraps of data include the form of the 'dingo' word, and a couple of others which I consider first.

The early source Anon. (c1790) (Troy's (1994) source (c)), which can usually be taken to represent the coastal variety, has at least two words with a fairly definite indication of a nasal-stop cluster:

'banksia Banksia ericifolia' wadanggari wa-tang-gre (c)
'cabbage tree Livistona australis' daranggara ta-rang-ge-ra (c) (from Troy 1994)

These words would suggest that intervocalic ŋg is allowed in the coastal variety — but these could actually be representations of heterorganic ng, or could be inland words.  Furthermore, as David Wilkins has kindly pointed out to me, Dawes (c1790b) listed wadangal wȧtaŋál among 'names of flowers bearing honey …' (Troy 1994:61-2) which clearly has a simple nasal not a cluster, and may well be the coastal equivalent of this banksia word.

For completeness: there is just one possible set showing a related but different variation: the correspondence -ŋg- ~ -g- (not -ŋg- ~ -ŋ-):

'swamp wallaby, Wallabia bicolor'  banggaray bag-ga-ray (c), bag-gar-ray (C), baggaray (P), ban-ga-ray (A), bag-ga-ree (W), guraya gorea (R) (from Troy 1994)

but again the one variant with nasal, ban-ga-ray, might be a representation of heterorganic ng, that is, the reference spelling perhaps should be bangaray not baŋgaray.

Dingo

The original phonetics of the word 'dingo' (the Australian dog) has long been somewhat of a puzzle; unfortunately it does not occur in the best source, Dawes' notebooks.  The source variation (based on Troy 1994) can be set out according to what the spelling implies about the medial consonant(s):

-ŋg- or -ng- or -ñg-	indeterminate: -ŋg- or -ŋ- or -ng- or -ñg-	-ŋ-
tein-go (C)	dingo (T), tingo (A) (F)	tung-o (An)
din-go (C)	jungo (Pa)	tung-oro 'dogs' (An)
Tun-go-Wo-re-gal† (An)	jūnghō or dingo (R)	jung-o (C)

† This entry is an interpolation in the manuscript; it includes wuragal wor-re-gal (C), waregal 'large dog' (A), and is inserted above Tung-o 'a dog'
Sources: (A) Collins, Phillip and Hunter (King 1968:270-274), (An) Anon. c1790, (C) Collins 1798, (F) Fowell (1988:93), (Pa) Paine (1983:41-42), (R) Rowley in Ridley, (T) Tench (1979:49[83]). Coastal: (F), (T), (A), (Pa) and usually (An); Inland (R); both: (C).

The simplest account of the variation in the above records is that there were two pronunciations diŋu (coastal) and diŋgu (inland), fitting the earlier discussion of correspondences implying parallel variation in homorganic nasal-stop clusters at the other places of articulation.  The possibility of a heterorganic cluster ng or ñg cannot be ruled out, but it is not able to account for the spellings implying simple ŋ (the right hand column above).  [Note: I propose the reconstituted forms diŋu and diŋgu just with respect to the medial consonant(s): the initial consonant may well be a laminal stop and the first vowel might be u, but these are matters for another discussion.]

As far as I know a corresponding form is found outside the Sydney region only to the north, in Awabakal, the Lake Macquarie Language, for which Threlkeld's 1834 An Australian Grammar lists

Tin-ku, a she dog. (p.10)
Ting-ko, A bitch (p.92)

Both these spellings represent a nasal-stop cluster, but according to Amanda Lissarrague's (2006) analysis it appears that from the available Awabakal data we cannot distinguish heterorganic nk or ñk from homorganic ŋk.

Here is what others have postulated as to the form of the origin of dingo.  The 1988 Australian National Dictionary (AND) [a. Dharuk diŋgu] and the 1991 Macquarie Dictionary (2nd ed.) [Dharuk dinggu] proposed a homorganic cluster. Then Dixon in Australian Aboriginal words in English proposed the possible heterorganic clusters:

[Dharuk, Sydney region din-gu or dayn-gu …] (1st edition, 1990 page 65)
[Dharuk, Sydney region probably din-gu (or possibly dayn-gu) …] (2nd edition, 2006 page 54)

and more recently has settled on just din-gu (Dixon 2008:134). Troy (1994:51) proposed dingu, repeated in her chapter in Macquarie Aboriginal Words (1994:69); this could mean heterorganic dingu or simple diŋu; it is not to be read as diŋgu otherwise her spelling would be 'dinggu'.

My current best proposal is this: (1) the First Fleeters encountered coastal diŋu in the first months of the colony and some did their best to represent the intervocalic nasal in what they wrote down; (2) a few years later the colonists encountered inland diŋgu; (3) English phonotactics and English spelling conventions favoured what happened to be the inland pronunciation, the variant with ŋg, and this became the universal English pronunciation.

I am grateful to David Wilkins for ongoing helpful discussion about the Sydney Language.

Sources

    Alpher, Barry. 2004. Proto-Pama-Nyungan etyma. Appendix 5.1, pp.387-570 on CD-ROM accompanying Australian languages: classification and the comparative method, ed. by C. Bowern and H. Koch. Amsterdam, John Benjamins.
    Anonymous. c1790.  Vocabulary of the language of N.S. Wales, in the neighbourhood of Sydney. (Native and English, but not alphabetical). Marsden 41645(c), SOAS Library.
    Collins, David. 1798. Appendix XII — Language, in An account of the English colony in New South Wales : with remarks on the dispositions, customs, manners &c. of the native inhabitants. London : Cadell and Davies. e-text
    Dawes, William. c1790b. Vocabulary of the language of N.S. Wales, in the neighbourhood of Sydney, Native and English, by -- Dawes. Marsden 41645(b), SOAS Library.
    Flinders, Matthew. 1814. A Voyage to Terra Australis. London: G. and W. Nicol. Facsimile reprint
    Fowell, Newton. 1988 [1788]. The Sirius letters. The complete letters of Newton Fowell, Midshipman and Lieutenant aboard the Sirius flagship of the First Fleet on its voyage to New South Wales, edited by Nance Irvine. Sydney: The Fairfax Library.
    Hunter, John. 1989. The Hunter sketchbook. General editor, John Calaby. Canberra: National Library of Australia.
    King, Philip Gidley. 1968 [1793]. Lieutenant King's journal, pp.196-298 in An historical journal of events at Sydney and at sea 1787-1792, by Captain John Hunter, Commander H.M.S Sirius; with further accounts by Governor Arthur Philip, Lieutenant P.G. King and Lieutenant H.L. Ball. New edition edited by John Bach. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.
    Lissarrague, Amanda. 2006. A salvage grammar and wordlist of the language from the Hunter River and Lake Macquarie. Nambucca Heads, NSW: Muurrbay Language and Culture Centre.
    Mathews, Robert H., 1901, ‘The Dharruk language and vocabulary’, [a section in] The Thurrawal Language. Journal of the Royal Society of NSW 35:155–160.
    Paine, Daniel. 1983. The journal of Daniel Paine 1794-1797, together with documents illustrating the beginnings of government boat-building and timber-gathering in New South Wales, 1795-1805, edited by R.J.B. Knight and Alan Frost. Sydney: Library of Australian History.
    Ridley, William, transmitting John Rowley. Language of the Aborigines of Georges River, Cowpasture and Appin. The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 7 (1878), 258-62.
    Russell, William "Werriberrie". 1991 [1914]. My recollections. Camden, NSW: The Oaks Historical Society for the Wollondilly Heritage Centre.
    Steele, Jeremy Macdonald. 2005. The Aboriginal language of Sydney : a partial reconstruction of the indigenous language of Sydney based on the note books of William Dawes of 1790-91, informed by other records of the Sydney and surrounding languages to c.1905. Thesis (Master of Arts (Research), Division of Society, Culture, Media & Philosophy, Warawara - Department of Indigenous Studies, Macquarie University, Sydney. Available from Macquarie University ResearchOnline. With CD-ROM ‘Bayala Databases’.
    Tench, Watkin, L. F. Fitzhardinge, et al. 1979 [1961] [1793]. Sydney’s first four years : being a reprint of A narrative of the expedition to Botany Bay and A complete account of the settlement at Port Jackson. Sydney: Angus and Robertson, in association with the Royal Australian Historical Society. Electronic book, eBooks@Adelaide.
    Troy, Jakelin. 1994. The Sydney Language. Produced with the assistance of the Australian Dictionaries Project and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
    Wilkins, David P. and David Nash. 2008. The European ‘discovery’ of a multilingual Australia: the linguistic and ethnographic successes of a failed expedition, pp.485–507, Chapter 18, in The history of research on Australian Aboriginal languages, edited by William McGregor. Pacific Linguistics 591