Mangarrayi (Manggarrai, Mungerry, Ngarrabadji) is an Australian language spoken in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...

. Its classification is uncertain. 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.

Numeric system

Mangarrayi has a number system that extends only to three.

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. :

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 {{Refend Mangarrayi–Maran languages Northern Territory