AUSTRALIAN LANGUAGES, the aboriginal dialects of Australian natives. There are two fundamental phonetic features which, as it seems, are to be found in all the Australian tongues: in the first place the lack of all fricatives (s, f, x) which occur only in the youngest languages and but seldom, though there are pal atalizations of the dentals (ty, dy) that repeatedly pass over to affricates (ts, dz) ; in the second place the lack of a discrimina tion of voiced and voiceless consonants within the same language ; thus there exists neither k nor g, neither t nor d, neither p nor b, but a sound intermediate between both, taken by some investiga tors as voiced (g, d, b), by others as voiceless (k, t, p).
Simplicity in the initial and final sounds is found with the youngest languages, whereas the oldest languages of Australia (in the north-west, north and south-east) show also double consonants as initials (kl, pl, tr, pr and others) and final sounds (1k, It, rk, rt and others).
The characteristics of grammatical structure are very different according to the different groups. The most essential grouping is to be derived from a division into Northern and Southern lan guages. For a long time only the languages of south-west Australia and south Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland were known, those of north-west and north Australia becoming known much later.
These languages are connected by common traits in the per sonal pronoun and the more or less complete occurrence of the names of the following parts of the human body : da (wa), mouth ; tyalana, tongue ; mura, hand ; ngarna, breast ; dara, thigh ; dina, foot ; guna, excrement. All these words are originally proper to the Central group of the Southern languages, the only one which has exclusively vocalic final sounds. Other common characteristics are: lack of r and 1 as initials, occurrence of the combination ld (it) as medial sound and preposition of the affixless genitive. This group as the youngest among the Southern languages has penetrated from the north-east (146° to i 50° of eastern longitude) as far as the south coast 034° to 138° of eastern longitude) and has driven the older, originally independent linguistic groups to wards the east, and west, and south-east to the coasts, producing among them a series of its own peculiarities in different degrees. Thus the present unity of the Southern languages is but secondary and later.
The Southern languages are divided into the following groups which are ordinated here by their age in Australia : (I) the Central group with the North Central group and the languages belonging to it : Kogei, Barcoo; Puruga, Goa, Cook District language; Mamburra, Wakelburra, Burdekin R. language and with the South Central group and the languages belonging to it : Parnkalla, Tyura, Meyu; Nulla, Dieri, Yarrawurka, Wonka marra, Evelyn Creek 1. ; Marowra, Kurnu ; Karawalla-Tunberri, Ulaolinya-Wonkajerra, Kana; Kungerri-Birria 1. The discrimina tion of a transitive and intransitive form with the personal pro noun and the substantive as a subject of the sentence is a special feature here.
(2) The South-west group : Yungar, Ngaiarda, Kardu, Kanyara, Yamaidyi, Padu and Luridya. The peculiarities of the Central group are here only partly preserved.
(3) The languages of the east coast, an exclusively geographic complex of languages (independent of each other) : Murrawari; Thangatti-Yukumbul; Pikumbul ; Kumbainggerri; Minyung; Tu rubul ; Wakka-Kabi ; Bieli-Kuinmurburra ; Halifax Bay language ; Bulponarra-Kokoyimidir; Bundyil language (to the South of the gulf of Carpentaria). Everywhere we find singular, plural, dual, with the personal pronoun. Discrimination of transitive and in transitive forms, of inclusive and exclusive forms is originally unknown. With the Minyung (and Kumbainggeri?) are found a division of the nouns into animate and inanimate beings, the first subdivided into male, female and animal, the latter into things and places and concordance of the adjectival and pronominal suffixes with the class of the substantive.
(4) The Narrinyeri group, along the course of Murray river; but insignificantly influenced by the Central group. To it belong: South and North Narrinyeri ; Bangerang, Dhudhuroa, Pallanga middah, the three latter greatly blended with Kulin, Kurnai, Yuin, Kuri. Here r- and 1- occur as initials, ld (It) as a medial sound and double consonantic final sound. Originally the dual and prob ably the difference between transitive and intransitive forms with the personal pronoun were absent. Comparative forms with the adjective are found.
(5) The Wiradjuri-Kamilaroi group, a blend of languages of the east coast with those of the Yuin-Kuri and the North Central group, divides into a South group: Wiradyuri, Wongaibon, Ngeum ba, Burrabinya, Wailwun, and a North group: Kamilaroi, Yualeai (Euahlayi), Ngoorie, Wirriwirri. Affixal forms of the possessive and subjective pronouns are found here.
(6) The Yuin-Kuri group is related to the Eastern languages and to the Central group and, in its grammatical structure, to the Victoria languages. It comprises the Yuin sub-group (Yuin, Ngunawal, Thurga, Dyirringan, Tharumba, Wodi-Wodi, Illawarra, Thurawal) and the Kuri sub-group (Kuri, Gundunggura, Dhar ruk, Port Jackson language, Darkinnung, Awabakal, Kutthung, Biripi). Suffixing of the possessive and the subjective pronoun is more strongly pronounced in this group, the second in age of the Southern languages.
(7) The Victoria languages are the oldest group of the Southern languages and are the least influenced by the Central group. They are divided into an Eastern sub-group consisting of the Kurnai and a Western subgroup, comprising the Piangil, Buandik, Koli jon and Kulin, with the dialects Ngenngenwurro, Wuddyawurru, Bunurong, Woiwurru, Taunguwurru. It is the only Australian group that places the (affixless) genitive after the word governed and the possessive with the noun and the subjective pronoun with the verb are therefore suffixed. The personal pronoun possesses everywhere singular, plural, dual, in some languages also trial. A characteristic of these languages is the discrimination of inclusive and exclusive in the first person plural of the personal pronoun. Discrimination of transitive and intransitive, however, is lacking.