There are a few verbs that are by nature reduplicated, and the simple form never occurs, examples are: dyidi-dyidirn yari-yarirn gidyi-gidyirn to shiver to show off to itch
The verb wada-wada-marn 'to forget' is a borrowing from Kukata.
Where there is a simple verb, the reduplicated stem means that the action of the simple verb is repeated. The reduplicated verb can also be a distributive, indicating that a lot of people are performing the action. Repetition is implied for instance in the following:
indirn to spill, to pour out, to come pouring out (v tr and v intr)
indi-indirn to drip (v intr)
nyildirn nyildi-nyildirn
to cry
to cry continually, to shed tears over and over again The distributive meaning prevails in the following:
ngarbirn
ngarbi-ngarbirn yugarn
yuga-yugarn
to lie down
to camp (as a group of people) to stand
to stand around (said of several people)
5.2.4 Derivatives with -rna, transitive verbaliser
The most frequently used stem-forming verbal suffix in Wirangu is the widespread -ma
'to make ' . The principal function of this suffix is to form transitive verbs from norninals. Among the numerous examples are:
yadu good yadumarn to make good, to prepare
ngandha bad ngandhamarn to ruin
dyula soft dyulamarn to loosen, to untie
Transitive verbs with -rna-can also be derived from location norninals and adverbs: gan.ga guda high up not, can't gan.garnarn gudarnarn to lift up to chase away
As is the case i n many Australian languages, English verbs are never borrowed a s such directly into Wirangu, but are borrowed as verb + -rna:
warma-rnarn to warm up dyila-rnarn to steal
-rna can very rarely be used to form derivative transitive verbs from intransitive verbs.
They imply 'bringing about a condition' rather than 'making something or somebody act in a certain way' and do not therefore have the same strictly causative meaning as the u-stems (§S.2.3(a)):
gurnhirn to hide, be hidden
gidyi-gidyirn to feel itchy
gurnhirnrnarn to hide something
gidyi-gidyilrnarn to tickle
Both these verbs were originally borrowed from Kukata (cf. Yankunytjatjara kurnpini 'to be hidden' (v intr) and kityikityini 'to tickle' (v tr) and this rare usage of -rna may be linked to a perceived need for further derivation within Wirangu.
It is more common for -rna to form derivative stems from transitive verbs, without much change of meaning except for a nuance implying 'completely ' . It is not unusual for the speed-marking suffix -rn to precede the -rna (§S.2.7(d)):
rnirgarn gandyirn to shock, to startle to get hold of rnirga-rnirgarnarn to startle gandyirnmarn to take
There is however an exceptional case with considerable distinction in meaning:
Harn to put down Harnmarn to pull out
There are allomorphic differences in some of the suffixes used with verbs formed from
-rna, particularly the imperative. These are discussed in the relevant sections. The main
feature is that the verbs formed with -rna are associated with the simple verb rnarn, rnaRarn
'to get' ; they are in fact basically compound verbs (§S.8. 1 ). In some parts of the conjugational system, such as for instance before the immediate future marker, the long form is substituted. This association with the simple verb is perhaps of a secondary nature in Wirangu, since many Pama-Nyungan languages have the transitivising suffix -rna without any parallel simple verb.
S.2.S Intransitive verbalisers (a) The suffix -ri
Apart from its other functions as reflexive-reciprocal (§S.3) the suffix -ri also serves as intransitive verbaliser. It is used to form verbs from norninals. These verbs are stative and inceptive: rninyuru dyirndu cold sun rninyururirn dyirndurirn
to be cold, to get cold to be or get hot and sunny
mingga yadu sick good minggarirn yadurirn
to be sick, to become sick to be well, to get better Thus dyina minggarirn can mean '(my ) foot is sore', or 'my foot is getting sore ' , and
gidya minggarina can mean 'the child was sick' or 'the child got sick' .
There are isolated instances of the use of -ringa, which is based on -ri, as a stem-forming suffix meaning 'to become' :
walyi* (from Mirniny) bad
marna big
walyiringarn to deteriorate
marnaringarn to grow
The use of -ri as an intransitive verbaliser is widespread and is shared by the Thura-Yura and the Western Desert languages, but the combination -ri-nga- is particularly common in the Western Desert languages and has probably been borrowed from Kukata into Wirangu.
There are two verbs in Wirangu that are formed with the intransitive verbaliser -ri: they differ from the derivative verbs mentioned above in that they are based not on a nominal, but on a verb. One is:
wali-walirirn to come hurrying along, to fly
This is appears to be based on walarn 'to run', and perhaps originally conveyed the notion of 'to get moving quickly'. The ultimate derivation is from Kukata, WD wala-wala
'quickly' , walaringanyi 'to hurry' . The other verb of this kind is warndirirn, warnda
warndirirn 'to hang, to hang down (v intr)'. The corresponding Pamkalla word, according
to the normal Parnkalla sound change of -rnd- to -rn- is 'warnirriti' , 'to be hanging, to be suspended' . Kuyani and Adnyamathanha have a simple verb warnda- 'to hang down' , which i s reflected i n the first part of the Wirangu reduplicated verb warnda-warndirirn 'to hang down' . The similarity between the Pamkalla form 'wamirriti' and Wirangu
warndirirn makes it likely that this unusual function of the intransitive verbaliser is well
established historically.
(b) Other intransitive verbalisers
-gi
This suffix is used occasionally as an intransitive verbaliser in the 'inceptive' function of
-ri and can alternate with it as in:
nhandu wet
marnaardu big
as in:
5.6 Gidya marnaardu-gi-na.
child big-become-PAST The child grew up.
nhandugirn, nhandurirn to get wet
-gidi
The suffix -gi is also found in combination with -di (§5.2.7(b)) as a compound suffix
-gidi to fonn verbs implying a change, such as minyura-gidirn 'it is getting cold',
bunggaRa-gidirn 'it is getting rotten' . The verb nguRi-nguRi-gidirn '(he) is becoming
silly' is an alternative to the equally frequent nguai-nguai-rirn, and wada-wada-gidirn 'to become forgetful' is felt to be the same as wada-wada-rirn.
These verbs are always inceptive, never stative. They are what Goddard ( 1 987: 1 1 8) calls 'transfonnation verbs' . As Gladys Miller explained: "you put -gidina on when something turns, like 'it got cold' or 'it went bad' ngantha-gidina, you can say mingga-gidina and
minggarina means the same thing" (i .e. '(she) got sick').
The suffix -di, i.e. 'ti' (without a preceding -gi) fulfils this function in Parnkalla:
kabmiti wise, aware, knowing
kabmititi kurruttiti mundultiti
to become wise, learn to become stiff
to become a European or white man, to live in European manner The use of this suffix is one of the many special features that are shared just by Parnkalla and Wirangu.