Mantharta language

Mantharta
RegionWestern Australia
EthnicityTharrkari, Wariangga, Tenma, Jiwarli, ?Malgaru
Native speakers
2 Dhargari (2005)[1]
1 (2007)[2]
Dialects
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
dhr – Dhargari
wri – Warriyangga
iin – Thiin
dze – Djiwarli
Glottologmant1266
AIATSIS[1]W21 Tharrkari, W22 Warriyangka, W25 Thiin, W28 Jiwarli
Mantharta languages (green) among other Pama–Nyungan (tan).

Mantharta is a partly extinct dialect cluster spoken in the southern Pilbara region of Western Australia. There were four varieties, which were distinct but largely mutually intelligible. The four were:[3][4]

  • Tharrgari (Tharrkari, Dhargari), still spoken c. 2005
  • Warriyangka (Wadiwangga), still spoken c. 1973
  • Thiin (Thiinma), still spoken c. 2021[5]
  • Jiwarli (Tjiwarli), extinct 1986

The name mantharta comes from the word for "man" in all four varieties.

Phonology

The following is of the Thargari dialect:[6][7]

Consonants

Peripheral Laminal Apical
Labial Velar Dental Palatal Alveolar Retroflex
Plosive p/b k/ɡ t̪/d̪ c/ɟ t/d ʈ/ɖ
Nasal m ŋ n̪ ɲ n ɳ
Rhotic ɾ
Lateral l̪ ʎ l ɭ
Approximant w j ɻ
  • /d̪/ can also be lenited as a fricative [ð] in intervocalic positions.
  • /ɾ/ can also be heard as a trill [r].

Vowels

Front Back
Close i, iː u, uː
Open a, aː

Language revival

As of 2020, the Warriyangga dialect is one of 20 languages prioritised as part of the Priority Languages Support Project, being undertaken by First Languages Australia and funded by the Department of Communications and the Arts. The project aims to "identify and document critically-endangered languages — those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers".[8]

References

  1. ^ a b W21 Tharrkari at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies  (see the info box for additional links)
  2. ^ Dhargari at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  3. ^ Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press. p. xxxviii.
  4. ^ International Conference on Historical Linguistics (15th : 2001 : Melbourne); Bowern, Claire, 1977-; Koch, Harold James; International Conference on Historical Linguistics (15th : 2001 : Melbourne, Australia); Workshop on Reconstruction and Subgrouping in Australian Languages (2001 : Melbourne, Australia) (2004), Australian languages : classification and the comparative method, John Benjamins Pub, ISBN 978-1-58811-512-6{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ "Peter Salmon is the only known speaker of his language — he wants to change that before it's too late". ABC News. 15 January 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  6. ^ Klokeid, Terry J (16 August 2018), Thargari phonology and morphology, Pacific Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University, retrieved 10 October 2024
  7. ^ Austin, Peter K. (2015). A Reference Grammar of the Mantharta Languages, Western Australia.
  8. ^ "Priority Languages Support Project". First Languages Australia. Retrieved 13 January 2020.