Lower Arrernte is one of five aboriginal

Australian Aborigines

Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...

 dialects of the Arrernte language, all spoken by a few thousand people around the Alice Springs region in Central Australia

Central Australia

Central Australia/Alice Springs Region is one of the five regions in the Northern Territory. The term Central Australia is used to describe an area centred on Alice Springs in Australia. It is sometimes referred to as Centralia; likewise the people of the area are sometimes called Centralians...

. Lower Arrernte originates from the Finke River

Finke River

The Finke River is one of the largest rivers in central Australia. Its source is in the Northern Territory's MacDonnell Ranges, and the name Finke River is first applied at the confluence of the Davenport and Ormiston Creeks, just north of Glen Helen. From here the river meanders for approximately...

 area, close to Alice Springs.

Lower Arrernte is a dying language. Only one person is known to speak it fluently enough to hold a conversation - Brownie Doolan, who doesn't know his exact age but should be in his early nineties. He learned the language from his mother and grandmother.

Gavan Breen, an Australian linguist, has been able to compile a dictionary of Lower Arrernte comprising about a thousand words by recording talks he had with Doolan.

Sources

• http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22448699-5006790,00.html
• http://www.omniglot.com/writing/arrernte.htm
• http://aboriginalart.com.au/culture/arrernte4.html
• http://www.usmob.com.au/factsheets/Fact_Sheet_03.pdf