Australian grammar

Australian Grammar (Australian: satarbasang astrelya) is the body of rules that describe the structure of expressions in the Australian language, one of the official languages in Australia. In Australian, there are four basic parts of speech: nouns (including pronouns), verbs, adjectives, and grammatical function words (or particles). Nouns and verbs may be basic roots, but frequently they are derived from other words by means of prefixes and suffixes.

For clarity, stressed syllables are marked with an acute ⟨á⟩, stressed syllables ending in a glottal stop with a circumflex ⟨â⟩, and unstressed syllables ending in a glottal stop with a grave ⟨à⟩, as these distinctions are phonemic in Australian phonology, though not in its orthography.

Word order

Australian has a strict verb-initial word order, wherein the order of other arguments is optional and may be rearranged for different pragmatic purposes.

B⟨in⟩acâ=ngya kerítan
⟨PAT.FOC.⟩read=3.SG.IDR book
"She reads a book"

In Australian, there is also a strong tendency to promote the focus argument, in this case the patient keritan "book" to front of an utterance, occurring directly after a verb, however this is not mandatory.

B⟨in⟩acâ kerítan ngya
⟨PAT.FOC.⟩read book 3.SG.IDR
"She reads a book."

L⟨um⟩uwás na=kú yengán=nya sa kebeyîan nyu=ng yahéyu
⟨AGE.FOC⟩go PERF=1.SG.DIR with=3.SG LOC market this=RELZ day
"I went to the market with her today."

Ultimately, the order of arguments is optional and at the discretion of the speaker, as long as the verb phrase remains the first argument.

In nominal phrases consisting of a head noun and a modifier, the order of the two may be flexible, as they remain tied with the relativizing clitic -(a)ng. Thus, the phrase "in the house" may be either da syan-g rumâ or da rumá-ng syan, the order being at the discretion of the speaker and primarily dependent on pragmatic factors such as emphasis or avoiding redundancy.

Word formation

Australian is an agglutinating language wherein words may be formed through either affixation to a root word, composition of two root words, or reduplication of a root word.

Affixation

Root words are either nouns or verbs, which may be affixed to form new words, e.g., angsyún^[1] (thought) may yield marsyún (thinks, as a verb), mampasyúsyunan (thinking), kasyúnan (philosophy), etc.

Australian uses four types of affixes: prefixes, suffixes, infixes, and circumfixes. The table below illustrates some of the most common of each type of affix:

Summary table of Australian affixation

Type of Affix	Affix	Affix meaning	Example of root word	Example of derived word
Prefix	ang-	euphonic	syún "think"	ang-syún "thought"
	da-	un-, in-	jahát "do"	da-jahát "undo"
	ma-	adjectivizer	yitém "black (n.)"	ma-yitém "black" (adj.)
	maka-	ablitative	eyâ "sadness"	makà-eyâ "can be sad"
	maN-CV~	agent noun	burú "hunt"	mam-buburú "hunter"
	mampa-CV~	instrument noun	ují "examine (v.)"	mampà-ù-ují "examination"
	paN-CV~	instrument noun	yamán "flavor"	pang-ya-yamán "seasoning"
	paka-	causative	senáng "happiness"	paka-senáng "pleasing"
	par-	reflexive	kitá "see"	par-kitá "see oneself"
	pari-	reciprocal	kep "hug"	pari-kép "hug each other"
	sa-	"whole", equational, quantitative	karísan "picture"	sa-karísan "whole picture"
	wa-	re-, again	biháng "count"	wa-biháng "recount"
Infix	-eng-	instrument noun	sujúk "show (v.)"	s-eng-ujúk "pointer finger"
	-in-	patient focus	yamít "kiss"	y-in-amít "kissed"
	-is-	instrument/ benefactive focus	yarép "want"	y-is-arép "wanted for/because of"
	-um-	agent focus	lakát "go"	l-um-akát "go"
Suffix	-(y)a	imperative	kancíng "clean"	kancíng-a "clean! (imp.)"
	-an	object, locational noun	suyúr "sleep"	suyúran "bed"
	-ken	transitivizer, applicative, benefactive	beráy "give"	beráy-ken "give unto"
	-(a)li	diminutive	egéwan "cloth"	egéwan-ali "napkin"
Circumfix	ing- -an	patient noun	kan "eat"	ing-kán-an "food"
	ka- -an	qualitative, abstract, collective, or likeness noun	awák "create"	kà-awák-an "creation"
	mampa-CV~ -an	abstract, instrument noun	sawúng "gather"	mampa-sa-sawùng-an "gathering"

In addition to native affixes, Australian may also use some from English, due to the multilingual nature of its speech community, such as anti-, pro-, -iste, and -oleji, for example.

Reduplication

Reduplication is highly productive in Australian, and is divided into two subtypes: full and partial reduplication.

Full reduplication is the most productive pluralizing morphology, wherein an entire root is reduplicated, eg., jahán (place) yields jahán-jahán (places.) Full reduplication may also be used with roots to denote a plural-adjacent meaning, in particular this is productive with temporal and spatial roots, e.g., yahéyu (day) yields yahéyu-yahéyu (daily, every day), kapán (when) yields kapán-kapán (whenever, at any time). Likewise, the earlier jahán-jahán may mean either "places" or "any place, anywhere".

Partial reduplication involves repition of only part of a root. typically the first syllable, and is most productive in conjunction with a preceding prefix. In particular, it is the most productive formation of the imperfective form of verbs, e.g., suwû (to grow) yields su-suwû (to be growing). Partial reduplication is also present when used in conjunction with some aforementioned derivational affixes, e.g., sawá (laugh) when combined with the circumfix mampa- -an yields mampa-sa-sawâ-an (laughter).

Compounding

Compounding is perhaps the least productive strategy for new word formation, and typically results from reanalyzing two separate words as one. Compounding is typically head-initial, and may require the relativizing affix -(a)ng between the two roots, e.g., mabúwek (hairy) and lawâ (spider) together yield mabúwekanglawà (tarantula). However, this may not always apply, as in other roots this affix is absent, such as in satarbasa (grammar, from satar "rule" and basa "language").

Nouns

Common derivational affixes for nouns include maN- (denoting an agent characterized by the root), mampa-( -an) (denoting an instrument, instance of a root occurring, or the process of the root), -an (denoting object, place, likeness, or a state resulting from the root), ka- -an (qualities, abstractions, collectives, or likeness), and ing- -an (denoting a patient or state characterized by the root).

Nouns in Australian do not typically inflected for gender, case, or number, however, reduplication may be used at time to explicitly denote a plural, chiefly in the written language.

Nouns are, however, preceded by case-marking particles. These follow a symmetrical voice, and are divided into three categories: direct (i/sing), indirect (nung/ning), and oblique (sa/king). Proper nouns, such as the names of people and places, take the particles sing/ning/king, whereas all other nouns take the particles i/nung/sa. In some dialects, particularly in and around Canberra and in the northern end of the dialect continuum, this is reanalyzed as a human-nonhuman animacy system, wherein sing/ning/king is used for all human nouns and i/nung/sa is used for all nonhuman nouns. For clarity and brevity, this article will focus on the traditional distinction, rather than the more innovative human-nonhuman animacy distinction. Furthermore, in most dialects, the direct case marker i/sing is omitted in both spoken and written Australian. Its use is maintained in highly formal Australian, or they may be used sporadically at times by speakers to emphasize or clarify the direct argument, or for euphonic purposes, such as to prevent a cluster, especially in poetry and song.

In Australian, the direct case marks the noun which has a special relation to the verb in the clause. Here, it is the verb's trigger that determines what semantic role (agent, patient, etc.) the noun is in. The indirect case marks the agent or patient, or both, that isn't explicitly marked by the direct case. The oblique case marks a location, benefactor, instrument, or any other oblique argument that isn't explicitly marked by the direct case.

In clauses using the agent trigger, the direct case marks the agent of the verb (corresponding to the subject in the English active voice), the indirect marks the patient (direct object), while any other argument is marked by the oblique case. In the object trigger, this relationship is reversed, and the direct case marks the patient and the indirect case marks the agent. When other verb triggers are used, such as the instrumental or benefactice trigger, both agent and patient are marked by the indirect case, the focused oblique argument is marked with the direct case, and any other argument by the oblique case.

The indirect case marker is often reduced to a clitic =(a)ng, especially in spoken and informal Australian.

These case markers and their relationship are illustrated by the table below:

Australian case markers

	Direct	Indirect	Oblique
Proper Noun	sing	ning	king
Common Noun	i	nung, -(a)ng	sa

Pronouns

Pronouns inflect for case, rather than being preceeded by a case marker as with nouns. Pronouns inflect for the same direct, indirect, and oblique cases that nouns do, as well as for number and clusivity, as illustrated below:

Australian personal pronouns

	Direct	Indirect	Oblique
1st person singular	akú, ku	ku	nakú
1st person plural, inclusive	kitá	ta	nitá, natá
1st person plural, exclusive	kamí	mi	namí
2nd person singular	angká(w), ka(w)	yu	nayú, nu
2nd person plural	kamú	mu	nyamú
3rd person singular	ya	ngya	nya
3rd person plural	siyá, sya	diyá, dya	niyá, nya

There is some variation in the use of pronouns, in particular with the 3rd person plural pronouns, which may be either siyá/diyá/niyá or sya/dya/nya, the latter being preferred in spoken Australian. Likewise, ku, ka(w), and natá are preferred over akú, angká(w), and nitá in the spoken language.

The indirect pronouns are also used to denote a genitive when following a head noun, e.g., ina ku (my mother).

In central dialects, the third person plural pronouns are seldom distinguished from the third person singular pronouns, with the singular form being used for both singular and plural subjects, except where required for disambiguation.

In other dialects, in particular southeastern dialects around Canberra, Sydney, and Tasmania, the plural forms for the second and third person forms may be replaced with sangkáw (lit. "all you") and sayá (lit. "all him/her"). These forms do not decline for case, and so are marked with the case particles i/nung/sa when necessary.

When used in succession, pronouns may be written as one singular word, often with their short forms, e.g., kumita angkaw ngya (you see her) yields kumita kangya.

Demonstratives

Demonstrative pronouns in Australian do not decline for case or number, and are further divided into proximal, medial, and distal. In the spoken language, medial demonstratives may be preferred over the distal demonstratives.

Australian demonstratives

	Proximal	Medial	Distal
Neutral	niyú, nyu	itú, tu	iyú, yu
Locative	dinyú	ditú	diyú, dyu
Modal	baginyú, ginyú	bagitú, gitú	bag(i)yú, g(i)yú
Quantitative	saniyú, sanyú	saitú, satú	saiyú, sayú

In informal Australian, the modal demonstratives ginyú, gitú, and g(i)yú are preferred over baginyú, bagitú, and bag(i)yú.

Verbs

Australian verbs are inflected under the following circumstances:

• Seven focus triggers (three agent focus triggers, two patient focus triggers, and two instrumental/benefactive focus triggers)
• Two aspects (perfective and imperfective)
• Transitivity (transitive and intransitive, though, in informal speech this is optional)
• Two moods (realis and imperative)

In the following chart for verbal morphology, the following conventions are used:

• CV~ stands for reduplication of the first syllable of a root word; that is, the first consonant (if any) and the first vowel of the word
• N stands for nasal consonant, which are m, n, or ng
  • m precedes b and p
  • n precedes d, t, s, sy, j and c
  • ng precedes g, k, y, w and vowels
  • N is omitted before m, n, ng, l and r

• ∅ means that the verb root is used, therefore no affixes are added
• Punctuation marks indicate the type of affix a particular bound morpheme is:
  • Hyphens mark prefixes if placed after the morpheme (e.g., mar-), or suffixes if placed before it (e.g., -ken)
  • ⟨⟩ marks infixes, which is typically placed before the first vowel of the word, and after the first consonant if there is any. Thus, the word "kumerít" (k⟨um⟩erít) is composed of the root word kerit and the infix ⟨um⟩
  • ~ is used to separate the reduplicated morpheme (CV), from the root word, such that "kekerít" is written as (ke-kerít) and "kumekerít" as (k⟨um⟩e~kerít)

Australian verbal conjugation

	Perfective	Imperfective	Infinitive
Agent trigger I	⟨um⟩ kumerít	C⟨um⟩V~ kumekerít	⟨um⟩ kumerít
Agent trigger II	nar- narkerít	nar-CV~ narkekerít	mar- markerít
Agent trigger III	⟨um⟩...-ken kumerítken	C⟨um⟩V~...-ken kumekerítken	⟨um⟩...-ken kumerítken
Object trigger I	⟨in⟩ kinerít	C⟨in⟩V~ kinekerít	⟨in⟩ kinerít
Object trigger II	⟨in⟩...-ken kinerítken	C⟨in⟩V~...-ken kinekerítken	⟨in⟩...-ken kinerítken
Instrumental/Benefactor trigger I	⟨is⟩ kiserít	C⟨is⟩V~ kisekerít	⟨is⟩ kiserít
Instrumental/Benefactor trigger II	⟨is⟩...-ken kiserítken	C⟨is⟩V~...-ken kisekerítken	⟨is⟩...-ken kiserítken

The transitive marker -ken has two allomorphs, -en when following g, k, or ng (e.g., umuháng "study" and bumenúk "shape" yield umuhángen and bumenúken) and -gen when following n (e.g., sáyan "clothes" yields sáyangen "to clothe")

The imperative is marked with the suffix -(y)a, e.g., káci (to leave) becomes káciya in the imperative. In southeastern dialects around Canberra and Sydney, the suffix -la or -le is more productive among younger speakers, whence kácila, kácile.

Verbs in Australian may also take abilitative, reflexive, reciprocal, and causative forms through the use of prefixes. In these forms, the transitive suffix -ken is typically omitted.

The prefix maka- is used to create abilitative verbs, e.g.,

• kitá (see) → makakitá (can see)
• angkán (eat) → makakán (can eat)
• eyâ (sadness) → makàeyâ (can be sad)
• sirâ (light) → makasirâ (can be light)

In the perfective and imperfective, maka- is realized as naka- and nakaka- respectively, hence nakáeyâ "could be sad" and nakakàeyâ "is able to be sad".

The prefix par- is used to create reflexive verbs, e.g.,

• kitá (see) → parkitá (see oneself)
• bunû (kill) → parbunû (kill oneself, commit suicide)
• congyáng (bath) → parcongyáng (bathe oneself)
• suhúng (help) → parsuhúng (help oneself)

This infinitive form is also used for the perfective. To form the imperfective, the first syllable of the root word is reduplicated, hence parsuhúng (helped oneself) yields parsusuhúng (helping oneself).

The prefix pari- is used to form reciprocal verbs, e.g.,

• kitá (see) → parikitá (see each other)
• bunû (kill) → paribunû (kill each other)
• congyáng (bath) → paricongyáng (bathe each other)
• suhúng (help) → parisuhúng (help each other)

Like with par-, this infinitive form is also used for the perfective. To form the imperfective, the first syllable of the root word is reduplicated, hence parisuhúng (helped each other) yields parisusuhúng (helping each other).

The prefix paka- is used to create abilitative verbs, e.g.,

• kitá (see) → pakakitá (show)
• angkán (eat) → pakakán (feed)
• eyâ (sadness) → pakàeyâ (sadden)
• sirâ (light) → pakasirâ (lighten, illuminate)

Like with par- and pari-, this infinitive form is also used for the perfective. To form the imperfective, the first syllable of the root word is reduplicated, hence pakáeyâ (sadden) yields pakakàeyâ (saddening).

The prefixes da- (un-) and wa- (re-) are treated as the first syllable of a root when inflected for voice infixes and aspect, hence dajahát (undo) with the first object trigger yields the perfective and imperfective forms dinajahát and dinadajahát, respectively. Likewise, wabiháng (recount) yields winabiháng and winawabiháng.

Auxiliary verbs and particles

Outside of the obligatory verbal inflection through derivational morphology, Australian also uses a handful of auxiliary verbs and particles to modify the meaning of a head verb for factors such as tense, aspect, mood, and other factors. These are divided into particles, which are placed immediately after a head verb, and auxiliary verbs, which precede the head verb and are typically mediated by a subject.

	Particle of Auxiliary	Example of root verb	Example of derived phrase
Particle	jangan (prohibative)	linikut "leave behind"	jangan linikit ku "don't leave me behind."
	huya (hortative)	umuní "sing"	huya umuní "lets sing!"
	na (past tense)	matáy "die"	matáy na siya "they died."
	keng (future tense, comitative mood)	sumakít "sick"	sumakít keng angkaw "you will get sick."
	haji (negative)	masenáng "happy"	haji masenáng aku "I'm not happy."
	jas (just, only)	syumúngen "think about"	syumusyúngen jas kungya "I'm only/just thinking about it."
	ba (interrogative)	yuwú "hungry"	yuwú ba ka? "are you hungry?"
Auxiliary	iwér/yarép (want)	káci "leave"	iwér kung kumáci/yarép kung káci "I want to leave."
	kuháng (need)	angkán "eat"	kuháng kang kumán apá-apá "you need to eat something."
	yapá (should)	kitá "see"	haji yapá kang kitá niyú "you shouldn't see this."
	sayém (know)	jahát "do"	sayém yang jinahát dyu "he knows how to do that."
	daténg (habitual, lit. "come")	wérk "work"	daténg yang wumewérk "she's been working, she's often working."
	ruyî (may, can)	marsyát "smoke"	haji ruyî kang marsyát dinyú "you may not smoke here."
	ayíri (keep, stay)	yarép "want"	ayíri keng kung yarép yu "I will keep wanting you."
	kirá (think, guess)	pakasawá "funny"	kirá kung pakasawá ya "I think it's funny."

Adjectives

In Australian, adjectives typically operate as stative verbs. They may stand alone in a verb phrase (e.g., pakasawà yu "you are funny") or they may modify a head noun when used with the relativizing clitic =(a)ng (e.g., lakíjang pakasawà "a funny man").

To form superlatives, the adverb sawíng (most) is used before the adjective, hence:

• Sawíng masamán angkaw "you are the prettiest"
• Báyjang sawíng masamán "the prettiest woman"

Likewise, to form comparatives, the adverb lewíng "more" is used. Comparative verb phrases are formed using a locative construction, involving sa:

• Lewíng maráya itúng lakíja (sa nyamú) "that man is bigger (than you)"
• Lakíjang lewíng maráya (sa nyamú) "a man that is bigger (than you)"

In equational phrases, the prefix sa- is used before the adjective. Equational verb phrases are also formed using a locative construction with sa:

• Samajahát (sa nakú) "as bad (as I am)"
• Sâi-sâing samajahát (sa nakú) "someone who is as bad (as I am)"