The second person pronoun, like the first, originally had at least an absolutive--ergative distinction, as in the other Thura-Yura languages, but there is little evidence of it now. The
neighbouring most conservative Thura-Yura language, Kuyani, has a three-ways distinction with the forms nhina (NOM), nhinanha (ACC) and nhuntu (ERG).
Black ( 1 9 17:4) gives the only clear evidence we have that there originally was a distinct ergative in the second person pronoun in Wirangu. He lists this as yurni* 'ju:ni' , 'by you, causative' and as in the case of the first person he quotes an example of an intransitive sentence: 'ju:ni waI)ga wirUIJ' , 'you talk Wirrung' . He quotes 'nu:ni ' , 'thou' as a nominative form and gives two examples of its use with the verb 'to go' . This 'nu:ni' clearly stands for
nhurni*, and corresponds to Provis ( 1 886) 'no-one' . So it seems that early this century,
when Black did his fieldwork, the original nominative-ergative distinction had faded in the second person pronoun and the original ergative form was taking over as subject of intransitive verbs. There was thus a system in place that was exactly parallel to the present situation of the first person:
Intransitive subject Transitive subject Object
yurni*, nhurni* yurni*
no examples, presumably nhurni*
It is not clear what happened after this, but yurni* certainly disappeared. Wiebusch gives 'nuni' for 'you' and says it is for someone 'unrelated' and 'njura' for 'you, strangers' . This is the last evidence we have of a form equivalent to nhurni*: all subsequent sources give
nyurni, usually spelt 'nyuni' , or 'njuni ' . Where this came from is not quite certain: it is
highly likely that the combined influence of the plural pronoun nyura and of the Kukata second singular pronoun nyuntu brought about a change from nhurni* to nyurni.
The reduced system noted by Black has broken down now and there is no further sign of any ergative. The new form nyurni is used in all nuclear functions not only today, but already in Daisy Bates's data, as well as in J.T. Platt's recordings. The following examples illustrate this, the first example for each function being from Daisy Bates, the second from a modem speaker:
TRANSITIVE SUBJECT 'Nyuni kundama' (DB)
4. 1 8 Nyurni kurnda-na.
you kill-PAST You have killed (him).
4. 1 9 Ngana nyurni yadu-ma-rn?
what you good-make-PRES
What are you making? INTRANSITIVE SUBJECT
Daisy Bates (n.d. l) writes: 'Nyuni ngantha' , 'you are no good' . This is equivalent to: 4.20 Nyurni ngandha.
you bad
4.21 Dhala nyurni wi-rn?
where you go-PRES
Where are you going? OBJECT
Daisy Bates writes: 'Ngadha nyuni yungun maba' , 'I will give you food' which is equivalent to:
4.22 Ngadhu nyurni yunggu-rn maba.
I you give.CAUS-PRES food
I will give you food.
This indirect object represents the only example in the works by Daisy Bates. For a parallel usage in the first person see §4.2.2(b».
There are numerous examples from modern speakers:
4.23 Buba-ngu nyurni gaRi badyi-rl.
dog-ERG you soon bite-IMM The dog is going to bite you directly.
As is evident from this, all the nuclear cases of the second person singular in Wirangu are
expressed by one single form, nyurni.
(b) The genitive and dative
Unlike the first person pronoun, the second person singular does not have a separate form for the genitive: there is no record in the language of the old Thura-Yura possessive nhun(g)gu* 'your' (Parnkalla 'nunko', Adnyamathanha and Kuyani nhungku). All we have are newly derived forms with the genitive-dative-allative marker -guo The earliest record of a second person possessive is from Black ( 1 9 1 7:5) who gives 'nunjugu' , 'yours' and this same form nhunyugu was used just once by a speaker recorded by J.T. Platt in the sixties. Recent speakers, who say only nyurni for the nuclear cases of the pronoun, have a possessive form derived from this, namely nyurnigu. This is also the only second person singular possessive used by Daisy Bates. Recent examples are :
4.24 Maga nyurnigu ngura nhala.
not your camp here
It' s not your place here.
4.25 Nyurnigu mardn bala?
your wife she
Is she your wife? and in the dative function:
4.26 Maga nyurni-gu wayi!
not you-DAT frightened (I' m) not scared of you !
The stem form is frequently used instead of the possessive, particularly in the case of inalienable possession, or when a double possessive is involved, as in the sentence quoted by
Daisy Bates (n.d. l): 'Nganaga nyuni gabbi ini?' , 'What is the name of your country?' This is equivalent to
4.27 Nganaga nyurni gabi ini?
what you water name
What is the name of your water (i.e. rockhole)?
The locative is formed from nyurni with the addition of the locative marker -nga:
4.28 Ngadhu nyurni-nga
I you-LaC
I am listening to you.
miRa-rn.
hear-PRES
A cornitative has been attested by Daisy Bates (n.d. !): 'Ngadhu nyuni-dinga we-en' , 'I am corning with you' .
4.29 Ngadhu nyurni-dinga wirn.
I you-COM go
I am corning with you.
Apart from the collapse of the nuclear case system the second person singular pronoun clearly followed the regular case marking found in nouns. This collapse of the nuclear case system is shared by the following personal pronouns:
i . A l l second person pronouns. ii. The first person dual and plural.
4.2.5 THE SPECIAL PRONOUN dyana
The very first documentation on the Wirangu language, the word list by Eyre ( 1 845) contains the entry: 'janna', 'thou'
There are two other published attestations of this word: in the list supplied by A. Cole from Yardea to Taplin in 1 879 we find 'channa thou', and in the 1 887 Streaky Bay list by Richardson we find 'tchanna' . This form survived: a second person singular pronoun dyana
was used as a polite form, but only occasionally, by the most senior of the speakers recorded by Platt in 1 966. It was used particularly to address John Platt himself; when for instance he asked - as all of us have- for a translation of 'I have a sore foot' people would answer:
4.30 Dyana dyina mingga.
you (polite) foot sore You have a sore foot. and for 'I was getting cold last night' :
4.3 1 Dyana minyura ngarbi-na maldhi-nga.
you (polite) cold lie.down-PAST night-LaC You slept cold last night.
One kindly person even said dhana wara 'you poor thing', i.e. 'I feel sorry for you'. People from the Gawler Ranges preferred dyana, and presumably those from the far west as indicated by Eyre's 'janna' , people from the central Wirangu area said dhana (see §2. 1 .4). There is one recorded locative form in answer to the sentence: 'He showed me a spear' .
4.32 Dyana-nga gadyi nyindima-na.
you.polite-LOC spear show-PAST (He) showed you a spear.
Dyana represents the well-known Pama-Nyungan third person plural pronoun reflected in
Kuyani by thadna, Adnyamathanha yadna (cf. also Kukata tyana). It was a 'polite' substitution of the third person plural for the second singular: Schebeck ( 1 973:5) notes that in Adnyamathanha yadna-mathanha 'them people' was used to refer to persons of one's own or alternate generation level and of one's own moiety. It seems that as a second person pronoun form it was used in addressing strangers, and presumably senior people of one' s own group. It has become obsolete now.