Maran or Maric is an extinct branch of the Pama–Nyungan family of Australian languages formerly spoken throughout much of Queensland by many of the Murri peoples. The well attested Maric languages are clearly related; however, many languages of the area became extinct before much could be documented of them, and their classification is uncertain. The clear Maric languages are: : Bidyara (numerous varieties) : Biri (several varieties) : Warrungu (& Gugu-Badhun, Gudjal) :( Kingkel?): Darumbal Dharumbal was added by Bowern (2011); it had been classified in the Kingkel branch of Waka–Kabic. It is not clear if the other Kingkel language, Bayali, is also Maric; Bayali and Darumbal are not close.

Unclassified languages

Ngaro Ngaro ("vanished") is mentioned as a delicacy of the dead in a Māori legend from the far north of the North Island of New Zealand. Te Atarahi was five days and five nights in Te Reinga, the place from where the spirits of the dead leap into ...

and Giya (Bumbarra), spoken on the coast, may also have been Maric, the latter perhaps a dialect of Biri. Of the interior, to the west, Breen (2007) writes of " Karna–Mari fringe" languages which are "a discontinuous group of languages, mostly poorly attested, scattered between

Karnic The Karnic languages are a group of languages of the Pama–Nyungan family. According to Dixon (2002), these are three separate families, but Bowern (2001) establishes regular paradigmatic connections among many of the languages, demonstrating ...

and Mari languages but not showing much connection with either or with one another. The only one well attested is also the most remote geographically, Kalkutungu". This includes the

Ngura languages Ngura is a disputed and possibly spurious ethnic and language designation of central Australia. The name 'Nura', short for Ngurawarla, means 'empty camp', referring to lands abandoned after a massacre. It is not a language or ethnic designation. ...

, several of which belong to the Karnic branch of Pama–Nyungan (such as the Wilson River dialects spoken by the Galali and Wangkumara, though not the Bulloo River dialects spoken by the same). However, Bowern (2011) lists the Badjiri variety as Maric. Other poorly attested interior languages which may have been Maric include Ngaygungu (Dixon 2002),

Bindal Bindal is a municipality in the Helgeland region in the extreme southwest part of Nordland county, Norway. The administrative centre is the village of Terråk. Other villages include Bindalseidet, Holm, Vassås, Horsfjord and Åbygda. The m ...

(Bowern 2011),

Barna Barna (Bearna in Irish) is a coastal village on the R336 regional road in Connemara, County Galway, Ireland. It has become a satellite village of Galway city. The village is Irish speaking and is therefore a constituent part of the regions ...

(Bowern 2011), Dhungaloo (doubtful in Bowern, not listed at AIATSIS), and Yirandhali (Dixon, Bowern). Yiman near the coast was ethnically Bidjara. Dixon's "Greater Maric" area listed in Bowern (2011) also includes Guwa (Goa) and Yanda. See also Karnic languages for additional varieties from the area.

References

Indigenous Australian languages in Queensland {{ia-lang-stub