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The Marrku–Wurrugu languages are a possible language family of Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in the Cobourg Peninsula region of Western Arnhem Land. They are the extinct Marrgu and Wurrugu languages. They were once classified as distant relatives of the Iwaidjan languages, until Nicholas Evans found the evidence for Marrgu's membership insufficient, concluding that similarities were due to borrowing (including of verbal paradigms).

The genetic grouping of Marrgu and Wurrugu is supported by the following observations:

• Despite being geographically separated by the Garig-Ilgar languages, the two languages share a relatively high cognacy rate (15 out of 43 words = ~35%).
• Both languages contain an interdental phoneme , which is absent in the surrounding Iwaidjan languages.

Vocabulary

Capell (1942) lists the following basic vocabulary items:

gloss	Mara	Margu
man	gärijimar	geiag
woman	girija	njunɔn
head	maraŋuɽu	waɽi
eye	maguɽ	daːɭa
nose	djiɽi	ɣïːni
mouth	ŋaːndal	ŋaɽjad
tongue	djiːjil	ŋaɽjad
stomach	gunjan	ɣiwud
bone	ŋajigad	aruwa
blood	ŋulidji	didjaːridj
kangaroo	girmọ	wïːdjud
opossum	gudjaɳi	wiːɽiɽin
emu	djiwiɖiwiɖi	mangunuba
crow	waŋganaŋi	reimbiriri
fly	guɳɖil	mɔlg
sun	gunaru	muɽi
moon	waɖaŋari	rana
fire	waɖgar	djuːɳa
smoke	guŋoŋo	ŋoɭan
water	ŋọgọ	wobaidj

References

1. ^ Evans, N. (1996). "First and last notes on Wurrugu." University of Melbourne Working Papers in Linguistics, 16, 91–97
2. Nicholas Evans (2016). 1. As intimate as it gets? Paradigm borrowing in Marrku and its implications for the emergence of mixed languages. In Felicity Meakins, Carmel O'Shannessy (Eds.), Loss and Renewal: Australian Languages Since Colonisation (pp. 29–56). Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter.
3. Capell, Arthur. 1941-1942, 1942-1943. Languages of Arnhem Land, North Australia. Oceania 12: 364-392, 13: 24-51.

• Marrku–Wurrugu languages
• Language families
• Non-Pama-Nyungan languages
• Indigenous Australian languages in the Northern Territory