First Nations Language Collection

Union Street, Toowong, S. W. 1. March 5th, 1943.

Dear Sir,

Referring to your letter of 4th inst. with enclosure of memo from the Railway Commissioner's Office relative to the suggested place name Singola, I have to advise you that I have no knowledge of the word or its meaning. Probably, the initial letter S in the name is an anglicised version of that peculiar consonant used by the natives,which has no representative in the English language but which writers on aboriginal languages render variously as dh, t, d, eh and j, the former of which in my opinion is most appropriate. It is really a palatal converted to a dental which may be best imitated by, in pronouncing the word jam, to avoid touching the palate with the tongue , touching the teeth only. If it should be decided to use the name, I would suggest that, to suit English utterance, that it be spelled "Dhingola". I think the accent should be on the first syllable, as is usual in aboriginal orthoepy. The sibilant S does not occur in any South Queensland language, nor, I think, in any other Queensland language.

In a vocabulary of a native tribe near Mt. Mulligan in N. Q., by Francis Richards, which contains upwards of three hundred words, the letter S does not appear. The initial digraph, ch- however, frequently appears, and is probably is used in the place of the one which I have described as dh.

As an instance of the sibilant being miss-used in a North Queensland, I may mention the name Tarzali, on the Millaa Millaa branch line. A local resident who had been a good deal in contact with the local aborigines told me that its pronunciation should be Tardhali. (I am sorry to say that I forget whether it was the name of a tree or the personal name of a local native.)

Yours faithfully,

(F. J. Watson).

Mr. Sydney May, Hon. Secretary, Q. P. N. Committee, University of Queensland.

(I enclose herewith the memo from the Railway Commissioner's Office).

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