Enlarged, there will always be found points of resemblance, either in the
dialects compared, or in some intermediate dialect, which will bear out
the conclusion assumed. [Note 97 at end of para.] This view is still
further strengthened, by including in the comparison the weapons, habits,
customs, and traditions, of the various tribes.
[Note 97. I may here refer to a curious mathematical calculation, by
Dr. Thomas Young, to the effect, that if three words coincide in two
different languages, it is ten to one they must be derived in both cases
from some parent language, or introduced in some other manner. "Six words
would give more," he says, "than seventeen hundred to one, and eight near
100,000; so that in these cases, the evidence would be little short of
absolute certainty." - Vestiges of the Creation, p. 302.]
It must be admitted, however, that where the languages spoken by two
tribes, appear to differ greatly, there is no key common to both, or by
which a person understanding one of them thoroughly, could in the least
degree make out the other, although an intimate acquaintance with one
dialect and its construction, would undoubtedly tend to facilitate the
learning of another. A strong illustration of this occurs at Moorunde,
where three dialects meet, varying so much from each other, that no
native of any one of the three tribes, can understand a single word
spoken by the other two, except he has learnt their languages as those of
a foreign people.
The dialects I allude to, are first that of the Murray river, called the
"Aiawong" and which is spoken with slight variations from the Lake
Alexandrina, up to the Darling. Secondly, the "Boraipar," or language of
the natives to the east of the Murray, and which appears in its
variations to branch into that of the south-eastern tribes; and thirdly,
the "Yak-kumban," or dialect spoken by the natives, inhabiting the
country to the north-west and north of the Murray, and which extends
along the range of hills from Mount Bryant to the Darling near Laidley's
Ponds, and forms in its variations the language of the Darling itself;
these tribes meet upon the Murray at Moorunde, and can only communicate
to each other by the intervention of the Aiawong dialect, which the
north-western or south-eastern tribes are compelled to learn, before they
can either communicate with each other, or with the natives of the
Murray, at their common point of rendezvous.
To the tables already given, it is thought desirable to add two of the
dialects, spoken in the country to the eastward of South Australia, and
which were published for the House of Commons, with other papers on the
Aborigines, in August 1844.
[Note: At this point in the book two table appear, with the following
headings. These tables have not been reproduces in this eBook.]
A SPECIMEN OF THE DIFFERENCE OF DIALECTS SPOKEN BY THE NATIVE TRIBES OF
PORT PHILLIP.
SPECIMEN OF FIVE DIALECTS SPOKEN BY THE ABORIGINES OF THE NORTH-WESTERN
DISTRICT.
Captain Flinders observed the same difference to exist in various parts
of New Holland, which he visited, and yet that judicious navigator
inclined to the opinion that all the various tribes had originally one
common origin. Vol. ii. p. 213-14, he says,
"I do not know that the language of any two parts of Terra Australis,
however near, has been found to be entirely the same; for even at Botany
Bay, Port Jackson, and Broken Bay, not only the dialect, but many words
are radically different; and this confirms one part of an observation,
the truth of which seems to be generally admitted, that although
similarity of language in two nations proves their origin to be the same,
yet dissimilarity of languages is no proof of the contrary position.
"The language of Caledon Bay (north-west coast) may therefore be totally
different to what is spoken on the east and south coasts, and yet the
inhabitants have one common origin; but I do not think that the language
is absolutely and wholly different, though it certainly was no better
understood by Bongarrco (a Sydney native) than by ourselves. In three
instances I found a similarity. The personal pronoun of Port Jackson,
'Ngia' (I), was used here, and apparently in the same sense. When inquiry
was made after the axe, the natives replied 'yehangeree-py,' making signs
of beating, and py signifies to beat in the Port Jackson language. The
third instance was that of the lad Woga calling to Bongarree in the boat,
which after he had done several times without being answered, he became
angry, and exclaimed Bongarree-gah in a vehement manner, as Bongarree
himself would have done in a similar case."
Captain Grey, in speaking of the Aborigines of New Holland, says (vol.
ii. p. 209),
"One singularity in the dialects spoken by the Aborigines in different
portions of Australia is, that those of districts widely removed from one
another, sometimes assimilate very closely, whilst the dialects spoken in
the intermediate ones differ considerably from either of them. The same
circumstances take place with regard to their rights and customs."
And again, after comparing some of the dialects of South Australia and
New South Wales with those of Western Australia, Captain Grey says (vol.
ii. p. 216),
"Having thus traced the entire coast line of the continent of Australia,
it appears that a language the same in root is spoken throughout this
vast extent of country, and from the general agreement in this, as well
as in personal appearance, rites and ceremonies, we may fairly infer a
community of origin for the Aborigines."
Had we a collected and an authentic account of the dialects, weapons,
habits, customs, and traditions of all the tribes of Australia with whom
Europeans have already been in close or friendly contact, and which, with
very few exceptions, would embrace the circuit of the whole continent, we
should have a mass of valuable and interesting information, that would
enable us, not only to form a probable opinion as to the community of
origin of the various tribes, and the point from which they first
overspread the continent, but also to guide us in conjecturing the routes
which the various offsets have taken from the parent tribe, the places of
contact where they have met from opposite extremities of the continent,
and the gradual change which has taken place in the habits, customs, and
dialects of each.
