Comments on: Language guessing http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2006/07/26/language-guessing/ language-related musings - one language is never enough / ერთი ენა არასოდეს არაა საკმარისი Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:25:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.1 by: adi87 http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2006/07/26/language-guessing/#comment-45803 Mon, 14 May 2007 17:53:12 +0000 http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2006/07/26/language-guessing/#comment-45803 persian can have an 's' sound followed by a 't' sound in its words. Arabic or hebrew rarely do. So persian is indo-european, like english, french, hindi, russian, etc. whereas arabic and hebrew are semitic. there's the difference persian can have an ’s’ sound followed by a ‘t’ sound in its words. Arabic or hebrew rarely do. So persian is indo-european, like english, french, hindi, russian, etc. whereas arabic and hebrew are semitic. there’s the difference

]]> by: TJ http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2006/07/26/language-guessing/#comment-5738 Thu, 27 Jul 2006 14:55:05 +0000 http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2006/07/26/language-guessing/#comment-5738 Thanks for the info! well im not quite good with language classification much I would say the vowel I was talkin about is something like the irish way to say the last "A" in "FlanagAn" .... I know it when I hear it but it's kind of hard to describe vowels for me!! :) Thanks for the info!
well im not quite good with language classification much

I would say the vowel I was talkin about is something like the irish way to say the last “A” in “FlanagAn” …. I know it when I hear it but it’s kind of hard to describe vowels for me!! :)

]]> by: Sean Flanagan http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2006/07/26/language-guessing/#comment-5711 Thu, 27 Jul 2006 09:29:24 +0000 http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2006/07/26/language-guessing/#comment-5711 What you're describing in Persian is actually a vary back low "a" vowel, which is less like the "oa" in boat (at least for an American like me) as it is a very backed equivalent of "aw" in "saw". Sometimes, when they're adopting a poetic affect in their speech, Persians will stretch that sound out further to a very long, rounded dipthong "aaou", making a line from Rumi like "did Musaa yek shebaani raa be raah" into "did Musaaou yek shebaauni raau be raau". They'll adopt this sound sometimes when they're being facetiously pedantic. Also, just want to mention, that although Azeri is full of Persian and Arabic vocabulary, it is neither Semitic nor Indo-Iranian. It's a Turkik language. What you’re describing in Persian is actually a vary back low “a” vowel, which is less like the “oa” in boat (at least for an American like me) as it is a very backed equivalent of “aw” in “saw”. Sometimes, when they’re adopting a poetic affect in their speech, Persians will stretch that sound out further to a very long, rounded dipthong “aaou”, making a line from Rumi like “did Musaa yek shebaani raa be raah” into “did Musaaou yek shebaauni raau be raau”. They’ll adopt this sound sometimes when they’re being facetiously pedantic.
Also, just want to mention, that although Azeri is full of Persian and Arabic vocabulary, it is neither Semitic nor Indo-Iranian. It’s a Turkik language.

]]> by: AR http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2006/07/26/language-guessing/#comment-5662 Wed, 26 Jul 2006 21:10:01 +0000 http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2006/07/26/language-guessing/#comment-5662 Guessing languages is fun, but guessing writing systems and the languages they are used for is even more fun. I find it easier to distinguish the subfamily than the language itself. Chinese, Scandinavian, Slavic, Indic, Semitic. Languages that are commonly heard (on TV or in personal experience) are easy to distinguish such as French, Arabic, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, German, etc. Being of indian descent, I can identify an Indian language when I hear one. It may be interesting to note the strong difference between the sounds and intonations of the Indo-Aryan languages and the unrelated Dravidian languages. To me, Dravidian languages have a lot of repeated syllables, long words, many retroflex sounds, and little consonant clusters (except for nasal+stop). Take the city name Thiruvananthapuram. But then again, my Bengali language probably sounds like o-sho-sho-to-sho. Guessing languages is fun, but guessing writing systems and the languages they are used for is even more fun.

I find it easier to distinguish the subfamily than the language itself. Chinese, Scandinavian, Slavic, Indic, Semitic. Languages that are commonly heard (on TV or in personal experience) are easy to distinguish such as French, Arabic, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, German, etc.

Being of indian descent, I can identify an Indian language when I hear one. It may be interesting to note the strong difference between the sounds and intonations of the Indo-Aryan languages and the unrelated Dravidian languages. To me, Dravidian languages have a lot of repeated syllables, long words, many retroflex sounds, and little consonant clusters (except for nasal+stop). Take the city name Thiruvananthapuram. But then again, my Bengali language probably sounds like o-sho-sho-to-sho.

]]> by: AR http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2006/07/26/language-guessing/#comment-5660 Wed, 26 Jul 2006 20:55:14 +0000 http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2006/07/26/language-guessing/#comment-5660 I know some persian speakers and for "Iran" they say "eeROAN" with falling pitch on the stressed syllable. just as TJ described. I know some persian speakers and for “Iran” they say “eeROAN” with falling pitch on the stressed syllable. just as TJ described.

]]> by: TJ http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2006/07/26/language-guessing/#comment-5655 Wed, 26 Jul 2006 17:39:32 +0000 http://www.omniglot.com/blog/2006/07/26/language-guessing/#comment-5655 Just a tip to identify persian or Farsi, is that they tend to make words sometimes longer (i mean in normal quiet conversation) ... they have a tendency to make the letter Alef (when it is used as a long vowel A) .... they tend to make it more like "OA" like in "Boat" for example when a persian (this is what we usually hear here) wants to say "Uzbekistan" you would hear him say something like "oozbakistoan" in fact, when I listen or try to read some irish gaelic, i get some feeling that it is sometimes close to the sound of farsi and sometimes to indian! The characteristics mentioned above not necessarily only applied for persians but also there are other indo-iranian or indo-aryan languages that can behave something like that ............... like azeri ... and maybe tajik (since it is so close to persian that for long scientists classified it as a dialect not a language separate from persian). Just a tip to identify persian or Farsi, is that they tend to make words sometimes longer (i mean in normal quiet conversation) …
they have a tendency to make the letter Alef (when it is used as a long vowel A) …. they tend to make it more like “OA” like in “Boat”
for example when a persian (this is what we usually hear here) wants to say “Uzbekistan” you would hear him say something like “oozbakistoan”

in fact, when I listen or try to read some irish gaelic, i get some feeling that it is sometimes close to the sound of farsi and sometimes to indian!

The characteristics mentioned above not necessarily only applied for persians but also there are other indo-iranian or indo-aryan languages that can behave something like that …………… like azeri … and maybe tajik (since it is so close to persian that for long scientists classified it as a dialect not a language separate from persian).

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