Marra language

Not to be confused with the Maran languages of the Pama–Nyungan family, or with the Sino-Tibetan Mara language.

Marra
Marranbala
Pronunciation[mara]
Native toAustralia
RegionArnhem Land, Northern Territory
EthnicityMarra people
Native speakers
8 (2016 census)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3mec
Glottologmara1385
AIATSIS[2]N112
ELPMarra

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.[3] 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.

  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. ^ N112 Marra at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
  3. ^ "Ethnologue report for language code: mec". Ethnologue.com. Retrieved 31 July 2011.