Marra
Marra is a Mangarrayi-Maran language spoken in Australia. Glottolog rates it nearly extinct.
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Marra, sometimes formerly spelt Mara, is an Australian Aboriginal language, traditionally spoken on an area of the Gulf of Carpentaria coast in the Northern Territory around the Roper, Towns and Limmen Bight Rivers. Marra is now an endangered language. The most recent survey was in 1991; at that time, there were only 15 speakers, all elderly. Most Marra people now speak Kriol as their main language. The remaining elderly Marra speakers live in the Aboriginal communities of Ngukurr, Numbulwar, Borroloola and Minyerri.
Marra is a prefixing language with three noun classes (masculine, feminine, and neuter) and a singular-plural-dual distinction. It is characterized by an intricate aspectual system, elaborate kin terms, no definite structure for relative clause construction, and a complex demonstrative system. Unlike many languages in the area, it has little avoidance language and no difference in the speech of male and female speakers.
From Wikipedia · Marra language · CC BY-SA 4.0
Words in Marra
| Meaning | Word | Romanization |
|---|---|---|
| name | 5iyin* | |
| ear | guwada* | |
| nose | tyiri* | |
| tooth | guyuru* | |
| tongue | tyiyil* | |
| hand | murtyi* | |
| blood | malawara* | |
| skin | 5adin* | |
| knee | midimal* | |
| breast | Nurgman* | |
| liver | waduwadu* | |
| water | Nugu* | |
| fire | wadgar* | |
| sun | gunaru* | |
| star | gamirintyi* | |
| stone | manuga* | |
| leaf | mbilal* | |
| night | namiri* | |
| dog | garwiri* | |
| fish | balgur* | |
| louse | balabalaNara* | |
| one | wa5gity* | |
| two | warutya* | |
| I | Ninara* | |
| you | niyara* | |
| we | narwu5a* | |
| drink | gul* | |
| see | minani* | |
| hear | guwada* | |
| die | Nabar* |
* in the simplified ASJP transcription
Most similar languages
Vocabulary
- WandarangMangarrayi-Maran32% alike
- AlawaMangarrayi-Maran25% alike
- KunbarlangGunwinyguan10% alike
- WubuyGunwinyguan10% alike
- NyawaygiPama-Nyungan10% alike
- North MofuAfro-Asiatic9% alike
Vocabulary compares 40 basic words (ASJP); grammar compares 195 features (Grambank). Similar is not always related.
Nearby languages
Elsewhere
Glottolog · mara1385 · Wikipedia (English) · Ethnologue · mec