Mantharta is a partly extinct
dialect cluster spoken in the southern
Pilbara
The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a g ...
region of
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
. 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
, 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".
References
{{Reflist
Extinct languages of Western Australia