Omniglot - the blog

Language quiz

Simon on 14 Oct 2007

Language and Quiz questions | Comments (9)

9 Responses to “Language quiz”

1. Anonymous on 14 Oct 2007 at 6:48 pm #

   Pan-Germanic, the language created by the Nazis from the Scandanavian and continental Germanic languages with heavy Hochdeutsch influence.

   It was an attempt to unify Norway, Holland, and other occupied countries with Germanic speech (and, as the Nazis saw it, ethnic) communities.

2. BG on 15 Oct 2007 at 5:43 am #

   It’s Germanic and is some kind of saying. I would write it as “Vorschluss in Sern ist Vorschluss in Hor” (knowing German).

3. Ronald Kyrmse on 15 Oct 2007 at 12:43 pm #

   lol… I admit the sample is much too short, but BG’s guess is interesting (I’m a native German speaker). But no, think again (will thinking help, I wonder?).

4. Simon on 15 Oct 2007 at 5:52 pm #

   Here’s the answer: the language in question in Xliponian, which is based on Vulgar Latin. For further information see this site, and there’s a collection of phrases in Xliponian here.

   The phrase is Foxlo sin serm est foxlo sin hor, which means “A people without a language is a people without a heart”.

5. TJ on 15 Oct 2007 at 7:08 pm #

   Tír gan teange, tír gan anam! :)

6. Ronald Kyrmse on 16 Oct 2007 at 12:52 pm #

   I think I’ll adopt the expression “Vorschluß in Hor”, a mondegreen (q.v.) of sorts, to signify “not only heartless, but wholly in the dark about the culture”. Wouldn’t you say that the barbarians who invaded Rome - and the Romans who destroyed Jerusalem - were Vorschluß in Hor?! ;-)
   But seriously: it was weird seeing a Romance language classified as Germanic, even though the sound changes were quite radical. But such are the joys of conlanging. Someone once said that that recording sounded like Brasilian Portuguese. Well, I am a Brasilian Lusophone, but intended Xliponian to sound more Balkano-Ionian (whatever that is). Thanks for the chance, Simon!

7. BG on 17 Oct 2007 at 5:06 am #

   The thing is the previous post influenced me and the words merged together and I heard what I expected. I don’t think my transcription was that far off except in word boundries. At least I got that it was a saying.

8. Ronald Kyrmse on 17 Oct 2007 at 12:23 pm #

   BG: Indeed, your transcription, if pronounced the German way, will reproduce quite closely the sound of “Foxlo sin serm est foxlo sin hor” - except perhaps for the m/n confusion.
   Anyway, Cautio noqer çe. Qau!

9. Ronald Kyrmse on 24 Oct 2007 at 1:20 pm #

   @TJ (or to whomever is proficient in Irish Gaelic):

   I am trying to find out how the phrase “Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam” is pronounced. I have looked it up and found more mentions with _teanga_ than with _teange_, so I imagine the former is standard.

   The best pronounciation I have been able to come up with is

   “ti:r gOn “t’ONg@, ti:r gOn “On@m

   (in SAMPA, q.v.).

   Could anyone confirm this? Many thanks!