Marringarr language

Marri Ngarr
Marri Ngarr
Marrengarr
Native to	Australia
Region	Daly River
Ethnicity	Marringarr
Native speakers	5 (2016 census)
Language family	Western Daly Marti Ke–Marringarr Marri Ngarr; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	zmt
Glottolog	mari1418
AIATSIS	N102
ELP	Marringarr
	Maringarr is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

The Maringarr language (Marri Ngarr, Marenggar, Maringa) is a moribund Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Marri Ngarr along the northwest coast of the Northern Territory.

Phonology

Consonants

		Bilabial	Apical		Laminal		Dorsal
		Bilabial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Dental	Palatal	Dorsal
Stop	voiceless	p	t		t̪	c	k
Stop	voiced	b	d
Fricative		β		ʐ		ʝ	ɣ
Nasal		m	n			ɲ	ŋ
Lateral			l
Rhotic			r
Approximant		w		ɻ		j

/p/ may also be heard as a bilabial fricative [ɸ] in intervocalic positions.
/c/ may also be heard as a fricative [ʒ] in intervocalic positions.
/r/ may also be heard as a tap [ɾ], and can be realized as [r̥] within the position of voiceless consonants.
/t, d, l/ are often be realized as retroflex [ʈ, ɖ, ɭ] when following a non-front vowel.
/t̪/ may also be heard as a fricative [ð] in intervocalic positions.
/β/ may also be heard as a voiceless [ɸ], in various word-initial positions.

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Mid	ɛ
Low	ɐ ~ æ

Sounds /i, u/ have lax allophones of [ɪ, ʊ] in word-medial and unstressed positions. They are mainly heard as [i, u] in stressed positions, in word-final positions or following glide sounds.
/u/ can be realized as [ɔ] when preceded or followed by a peripheral consonant. When preceding a palatal consonant, it is realized as a diphthong [ɔɪ].
/ɐ/ is often heard as [æ] when following a palatal consonant. When preceding a palatal consonant, it is realized as a diphthong [aɪ].

Grammar

The vocabulary is limited; therefore the relations and positioning of the words matter to make sense of the construction according to the situation. It is a polysynthetic language.

ex:

niwinj

3DU

yi

that

gudingi-derrkurr-fingi-gawunh

3DU.SBJ.DI.R.IPFV-sharpen-now-3DU.SBJ.SIT.R

'Those two fellas are sharpening their knives now.'

Marringarr also contains ergativity, which is marked by the postposition -ŋarrin.

Vocabulary

Maringarr	English
mi bakulin	billygoat plum
nhanjdiji marri	cycad
a marri	bush cockroach
a wayelh	goanna lizard
a dhan gi	saltwater prawn

References

1 2 N102 Marri Ngarr at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
↑ Tryon, Darrell T. (1974). Marengar. In Tryon, Darrell T, Daly Family Languages, Australia. (Pacific Linguistics: Series C, 32.): Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. pp. 120–137.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
1 2 Bicevskis, Katie (2023). A grammatical description of Marri Ngarr. University of Melbourne.
↑ Fortescue, Michael; Fortescue, Michael D.; Mithun, Marianne; Evans, Nicholas (2017). The Oxford handbook of polysynthesis. Oxford. p. 312. ISBN 9780199683208.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
↑ Sands, Kristina (1996). The ergative in Proto-Australian. München: Lincom Europa. p. 43. ISBN 9783895860539.

External links

Marri Ngarr at the Dalylanguages.org website.

[AIATSIS-1] 1 2 N102 Marri Ngarr at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

[2] Tryon, Darrell T. (1974). Marengar. In Tryon, Darrell T, Daly Family Languages, Australia. (Pacific Linguistics: Series C, 32.): Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University. pp. 120–137.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)

[:1-3] 1 2 Bicevskis, Katie (2023). A grammatical description of Marri Ngarr. University of Melbourne.

[polysynthesis-4] Fortescue, Michael; Fortescue, Michael D.; Mithun, Marianne; Evans, Nicholas (2017). The Oxford handbook of polysynthesis. Oxford. p. 312. ISBN 9780199683208.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

[5] Sands, Kristina (1996). The ergative in Proto-Australian. München: Lincom Europa. p. 43. ISBN 9783895860539.