Mantharta language
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, extinct by 2004
- Jiwarli (Tjiwarli), extinct by 2004
| Mantharta | |
|---|---|
| Region | Western Australia |
| Ethnicity | Tharrkari, Wariangga, Tenma, Jiwarli, ?Malgaru |
Native speakers | 2 Dhargari (2005)[1] (1 cited 2007)[2] |
Pama–Nyungan
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Variously:dhr – Dhargariwri – Warriyanggaiin – Thiindze – Djiwarli |
| Glottolog | mant1266 |
| AIATSIS[1] | W21 Tharrkari, W22 Warriyangka, W25 Thiin, W28 Jiwarli |
 Mantharta languages (green) among other Pama–Nyungan (tan). | |
The name mantharta comes from the word for "man" in all four varieties.
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".[5]
References
- W21 Tharrkari at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (see the info box for additional links)
- Dhargari at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- Dixon, R. M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. Cambridge University Press. p. xxxviii.
- Bowern & Koch (2004) Australian Languages: Classification and the Comparative Method
- "Priority Languages Support Project". First Languages Australia. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
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