Nunggubuyu affixes in Warndarang

Summary

Affix function number of borrowed affixes

Description

Information and examples are from Heath (1978a; 1980a; 1984). 5 affixes were borrowed.

3 noun class prefixes (out of a paradigm of 8 noun class prefixes in Warndarang) (Heath 1980a:22–25); nouns can occur without prefixes, but usually take one.

  • (ṛ)a- ‘indefinite/non-human class I’ (also optionally used in place of a human prefix), e.g. ṛa-waṛiyi ‘Aborigine(s)’, ṛa-jamaļagu ‘tapsticks’, ra-waluŋma ‘python’ (Heath 1980a:23, 25, 26)
  • wu- ‘non-human class II’, e.g. wu-bunjiyu ‘honey’, wu-ndawaynu ‘words’, wu-jambaguwnu ‘tobacco’ (Heath 1980a:25)
  • ma- ‘non-human class III’, e.g. ma-ḍuŋal ‘spear’, ma-gamba ‘pearl shell’, ma-yimbiḍgu ‘cypress’ (Heath 1980a:25)

2 case markers (out of a paradigm of 5 case markers in Warndarang) (Heath 1980a:26–28)

  • -wala ‘ablative’, e.g. wuyulbawala ‘from the tree’ (Heath 1980a:26), wunaya-wala ‘from here’, awuni-wala ‘from there’ (Heath 1980a:53)
  • -miri ‘instrumental’, e.g. maḍuŋamiri ‘by means of spears’ (three examples attested in corpora, but only one example given in Heath 1980a:26–27).