Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
2 thoughts on “Language quiz”
The numerous affricates, ejectives, and lateral fricatives, plus the simple vowel system, the lack of labial stops, and what sounds like high vs low tones make me immediately think of Athabaskan. But the noticeable retroflexes narrow things down a bit. I believe Wikipedia lists three Athabaskan languages with retroflex stops/affricates: Gwich’in, Tanana, or Hän. For my guess, I’ll go for Gwich’in.
The language is Gwich’in (Dinjii Zhu’ Ginjik), an Athabaskan language spoken in parts of Canada and Alaska.
The numerous affricates, ejectives, and lateral fricatives, plus the simple vowel system, the lack of labial stops, and what sounds like high vs low tones make me immediately think of Athabaskan. But the noticeable retroflexes narrow things down a bit. I believe Wikipedia lists three Athabaskan languages with retroflex stops/affricates: Gwich’in, Tanana, or Hän. For my guess, I’ll go for Gwich’in.
The language is Gwich’in (Dinjii Zhu’ Ginjik), an Athabaskan language spoken in parts of Canada and Alaska.
The recording comes from YouTube.