Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2Grey, George
History
Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2
Grey, George
Natural history -- Australia -- Western Australia; Western Australia -- Discovery and exploration
Now before proceeding farther and thus entering upon ground which is very
little known, there are several important circumstances worthy of
consideration. In the vast extent of country which is comprised between
the points embraced in these tables it was to have been expected that
very great variations of dialect would have been found. If we only
reflect upon the differences of dialect existing between the several
counties of England, so limited in extent, how much greater were the
variations to have been reasonably anticipated in a country between two
and three thousand miles across, where an unwritten language is in use,
and where no communication whatever takes place between the inhabitants
of distant portions: moreover in this great extent the vegetation becomes
totally different; birds, reptiles, and quadrupeds inhabit one portion of
the continent which are unknown in another, and external nature
altogether changes. Under these circumstances many new words must have
been invented, and new terms must constantly have been introduced as the
population spread across the country, and as those who were constantly
pushing on from the outskirts of the inhabited parts ceased to
communicate with the districts which had been first peopled, these
changes must have been unknown to the original inhabitants of the
continent and to those of their descendants who successively inhabited
their territory.
If for instance this country was first peopled from the north or the
tropical parts, the most remote inhabitants of the southern portions must
have invented terms for snow, ice, hail, intense cold, etc., as well as
for every tree and bird, for every fish and reptile, and for every
insect; all the compound and comparative terms derived from these, as
well as the original words, we ought therefore to expect to find totally
different in the languages of the north and south, of the east and west;
and from whatever portion of the continent we imagine the first
inhabitants to have proceeded the same reasoning holds good.
RADICAL IDENTITY OF THE PRONOUNS.
But personal terms, such as the parts of the body, the pronouns, etc.,
and also verbs describing ordinary actions, ought not to be expected to
vary in the same degree; and we shall accordingly find that it is chiefly
in words of these and similar classes that the greatest degree of
resemblance is found to exist. With regard to the pronouns this is very
remarkable. In the singular, plural, and dual numbers they almost
coincide in Western Australia, South Australia, and Sydney. The following
table of the pronouns as used in those places will show this:
(TABLE OF PRONOUNS.)
DIFFERENCES OF DIALECT EXPLAINED. EXAMPLES.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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