TWO STUDIES IN GOGO‐YIMIDJIR

Abstract

of Literature on Gogo-Yimidjir TVR. A. Capell, Linguistic Survey of Australia (1963), lists the language as -*-^ Jimidir , alternative spelling Kokoyimidir , under number Y 69 in his classification system. He mentions the collection of some restricted vocabulary material by K. Hale and L. West. Dr. W. E. Roth, Dictionary of Koko-Yimidir and Grammar of Koko-Yimidir (1901) based on traditional methods current in the nineteenth century, contain approximately 1300 items ; although Dr. Roth makes no mention of the phenomena discussed in this article, his work is extremely valuable, because both the dictionary and grammar are extensive ; the work was carried out sixty years ago, and GogoYimidjir is still a living language. Captain James Cook : a small vocabulary published in Lieutenant Cook's diary (1773) contains forty-eight items ; it is the earliest attempt at recording any Australian Aboriginal language, and is included in the first article. Its interest lies in its date of publication. Although it may seem a scanty record, it does provide a basis to work from. Professor A. P. Elkin stresses this aspect of data gathered by early explorers in his article Captain Cook's Journal, Vol. II, a Review (1961) in which he says :