Mantharta language facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mantharta
Region	Western Australia
Ethnicity	Tharrkari, Wariangga, Tenma, Jiwarli, ?Malgaru
Native speakers	2 Dhargari  (2005)aiatsis (1 cited 2007)
Language family	Pama–Nyungan Kanyara–Mantharta Mantharta
Dialects	Dhargari Warriyangga Dhiin Jiwarli
AIATSIS	W21 Tharrkari, W22, W25
Mantharta languages (green) among other Pama–Nyungan (tan).

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:

• Tharrgari (Tharrkari, Dhargari), still spoken c. 2005
• Warriyangka (Wadiwangga), still spoken c. 1973
• Thiin (Thiinma), still spoken c. 2021
• Jiwarli (Tjiwarli), extinct by 2004

The name mantharta comes from the word for "man" in all four varieties.

Language revival

As of 2020^[update], 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".