Mangarla language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mangarla
Mangala
Native toAustralia
RegionWestern Australia
EthnicityMangala people
Native speakers
68 (2016 census)[1]
Dialects
  • Juwarliny
Language codes
ISO 639-3mem
Glottologmang1383
AIATSIS[2]A65
ELPMangala
Mangarla is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Mangarla, also spelt Mangala, is a Pama–Nyungan language of Western Australia. It is spoken by the Mangarla people of the north-western area of the Great Sandy Desert, inland from the coast.

Phoneme Inventory[edit]

Mangala's phoneme inventory is typical of Australian languages, and is identical to the inventories of the other Marrngu languages. There are 17 consonant phonemes.


Peripheral Apical Laminal
Bilabial Velar Alveolar Retroflex Palatal
Obstruents p k t ʈ ɟ
Nasals m ŋ n ɳ ɲ
Laterals l ɭ ʎ
Rhotics ɾ ɻ
Approximants w j

/ɾ/ may also occasionally be heard as a trill [r].

Also typical of Australian languages, there are only three vowel phonemes.

Front Back
High i u
Low a

/i, u, a/ in unstressed syllables may be heard as [ɪ, ʊ, ə].

References[edit]

  1. ^ ABS. "Census 2016, Language spoken at home by Sex (SA2+)". stat.data.abs.gov.au. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  2. ^ A65 Mangarla at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

Agnew, Brigitte Louise. 2020. The core of Mangarla grammar. University of Melbourne.