ngai

The tu, of course, is non-radical, the Gudang form being ngai. Nga, expressive of the first person, is as common as ngi, equivalent to the second. Thus, nga-nya, nga-toa, nga-i, nga-pe = I, me, in the Western Australian, New South Wales, Parnkalla, and Encounter Bay dialects. It has already been said that, in many languages, the pronoun of the third person is, in origin, a demonstrative.

John MacGillivray - Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During the Years 1846-1850. : Including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. to Which Is Added the Account of Mr. E.B. Kennedy's Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist to the Expedition. — Volume 2

The pronouns in question are compound rather than simple; i.e. instead of nga = me, and ngi = thee, we have nga-tu and ngi-du. What is the import and explanation of this? I hazard the conjecture that the two forms correspond with the adverbs here and there; so that nga-tu = I here, and ngi-du = thou there, and nu-du = he there. Eyre gives the double form ngai and nga-ppo each = I or me.

John MacGillivray - Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During the Years 1846-1850. : Including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. to Which Is Added the Account of Mr. E.B. Kennedy's Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist to the Expedition. — Volume 2

Bahnar, hangai; Annam, ngai; Khmêr, chhngay; Lemet, sngay; Sue chngai may be compared with the Khasi jing-ngai. Amwi shnjngoi seems to be a closer form to the above than Khasi jing-ngai. To weep, to cry. Mon, yam; Khmer, yam; Khmu Lemet and Palaung, yam, are clearly the same as Khasi iam, with which also may be compared Ho yam.

P. R. T. (Philip Richard Thornhagh) Gurdon - The Khasis