mangarayi is thought to be one of the gunwingguan languages. francesca merlan published a grammar of the language in 1982, one that is notable also for the difficulty it presents for determining whether it is a tensed or non-tensed language. the linguist margaret sharpe was deterred from pursuing more intensive studies of mangarayi by a station owner who grew annoyed with the presence of metropolitan anthropologists and linguists coming to study the indigenous people on his cattle run.