Mangarrayi (Manggarrai, Mungerry, Ngarrabadji) is an Australian language spoken in the Northern Territory. Its classification is uncertain.
Documentation Margaret Sharpe originally sought to record the language but turned to the study of Alawa after the station owner where her informants lived denied her access, having tired of the presence of researchers on the property.
Speakers The 2016 Australian Bureau of Statistics official census indicates that there are no speakers of Mangarrayi remaining, however elders Sheila Conway and Jessie Roberts are both speakers of Mangarrayi. Conway continues to make an important contribution to language revitalization projects in the Jilkminggan community.
Phonology
Consonants PeripheralLaminalApicalGlottalLabialVelarPalatalAlveolarRetroflexPlosivepkctʈʔNasalmŋɲnɳRhoticɾɻLaterallɭApproximantwj
Vowels FrontCentralBackHighiuMideoLowa Vowels /i, u, e, o/ can have lax allophones of [ɪ, ʊ, ɛ, o̞].
Vocabulary Capell (1940) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Mungarai (Mangarayi):Capell, Arthur. 1940. The Classification of Languages in North and North-West Australia. Oceania 10(3): 241-272, 404-433.
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! gloss ! Mungarai |- | man | malaṉ |- | woman | gaɖugu |- | head | gaia |- | eye | djib |- | nose | miliŋ |- | mouth | djäɽäb |- | tongue | djawi |- | stomach | daɽa |- | bone | dama |- | blood | guranjin |- | kangaroo | garawi |- | opossum | widjwidj |- | crow | wagwag |- | fly | mɔːdj |- | sun | ganjwar |- | moon | giidj |- | fire | damaia |- | smoke | gunburau |- | water | ŋogo
Numeric system Mangarrayi has a number system that extends only to three.
Notes and references
Notes
References
Bernard Comrie. 2013. Numeral Bases. In: Dryer, Matthew S. & Haspelmath, Martin (eds.) The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. (Available online at http://wals.info/chapter/131, Accessed on 2017-04-27.) Jessie Garalnganyjak Roberts et al., 2011, Mangarrayi and Yangman plants and animals : Aboriginal biocultural knowledge from Elsey and the Roper River, north Australia, Darwin : Dept. of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sport : Diwurruwurru-Jaru Aboriginal Corp./Mimi Aboriginal Art & Craft Merlan, F., 1982, Mangarayi, Lingua Descriptive Series, vol. 4, Amsterdam