Omniglot - the blog

Language quiz

Simon on 17 Mar 2007

Language and Quiz questions | Comments (9)

9 Responses to “Language quiz”

1. Anders on 17 Mar 2007 at 6:26 pm #

   “very widely-distributed” - must be indo-european. Sounds Indian to me. I guess Hindi.

2. AR on 17 Mar 2007 at 9:56 pm #

   Definitely not Hindi. The phonology does not at all support it. If Indian at all, it might have been Tamil, but I doubt it. Besides the Dravidian languages are not widely distributed.
   My guess is Kiswahili. It is part of the widely distributed Niger-Congo language family.

3. d.m.falk on 18 Mar 2007 at 2:13 am #

   It’s a west-African tonal language of the Xhosa family, perhaps Xhosa itself.

   d.m.f.

4. d.m.falk on 18 Mar 2007 at 2:16 am #

   ….Now having heard it and thought about it….I’m in the mood for some cora music… ;)

   d.m.f.

5. Daydreamer on 18 Mar 2007 at 8:43 am #

   I think I’ve heard a bilabial “f” sound in the recording. That makes me believe it’s an African language, but one that can do without a final vowel in every word. Maybe Wolof?

6. d.m.falk on 18 Mar 2007 at 11:59 am #

   Wolof is a possibility, and it is a member of the Xhosa family (as is Yoruba and a few others).

   d.m.f.

7. Simon on 18 Mar 2007 at 4:21 pm #

   The answer is Malagasy, the main language of Madagascar. The recording comes from this site.

8. BG on 19 Mar 2007 at 1:40 am #

   Well, the Austronesian family is very widely-distributed.

9. ISPKN on 19 Mar 2007 at 6:22 pm #

   I knew it was an austronesian language when I heard it but I was going to guess Tagalog.