Language quiz

Here’s a recording in a mystery language.

Can you guess the language and where it’s spoken?

Comments (17)

praseJuly 11th, 2010 at 10:28 am

It sounds a lot like French, but it clearly isn’t French. To make a guess, I take Breton, even if I don’t think it really is Breton.

Trond EngenJuly 11th, 2010 at 10:33 am

The beginning sounds mock French; the rhythm, melody and (rough) phonology is there, except there’s both [r} and (uvular) [R], but I don’t recognize a word before “… (coumme?) Brazil, la vie …”. The middle is still French in melody but more, er, maybe North African in phonology. Towards the end there are a few sequences that could be Spanish phrases. Maybe whatever it is is spoken with a heavy French accent? That doesn’t help in narrowing the search, though, so I’ll rather try a French-based creole with substantial Iberian input. Apparently there are none of those left in Africa, so I’ll have to look elsewhere. Did he really say “Brazil”? Karipúna? But I’m probably totally off base.

Christopher MillerJuly 11th, 2010 at 11:28 am

It sounds like a Mayan language to me (and the background music even sounds Mexican!). I’d hazard a guess at Cakchiquel…

Matthew HowieJuly 11th, 2010 at 12:20 pm

Is it Galician (Galego) spoken in NW Spain and N Portugual?

joe mockJuly 11th, 2010 at 12:25 pm

I’ll go with a native language from somewhere in Latin America. It’s not Quechua (final stress rules that out) and probably not Nahuatl (no tl’s), but large enough to be used on the radio – so,perhaps Mayan or Guarani.

José FigueroaJuly 11th, 2010 at 2:06 pm

I’d say some Amerindian language, based on the cadence and a few Spanish words like “Junio”.

michael farrisJuly 11th, 2010 at 3:15 pm

I’m about 98 % sure this is something Mayan, but I have no way of knowing which of the 20 or so Mayan languages it is.

I’ll guess Tzotzil.

Petréa MitchellJuly 11th, 2010 at 3:59 pm

I think I heard Spanish month names, so I’d go with something Mesoamerican.

DaydreamerJuly 11th, 2010 at 9:12 pm

I’m torn between Basque spoken in Northern Spain and South Western France and Garífuna spoken in Belize.

MaggieJuly 12th, 2010 at 1:50 am

It’s definetely not Basque…I was actually kind of thinking Catalan, maybe?

Christopher MillerJuly 12th, 2010 at 3:34 am

My first impression (because of the repeated -ik) was of Basque-but-not-quite-there, and because of this I was stuck for a while not quite able to put my finger on what it might be. I doubt it’s Basque, because it has no trilled r, nor three different sibiliants, but *does* have an ejective k’ near the end and syllables ending in -k, -tx (-ch), -j and -l (that I can make out from the recording), which seems like what I recall of Mayan languages. Basque would normally have an -e following tx at the end of a word, and the -txt- that appears to be in the middle of one word in the recording would be impossible in Basque (it would reduce to -xt-); also, syllables cannot end in -j in Basque. The overall sense I get from the phonological structure here is that it seems like what I know of Mayan languages and doesn’t resemble anything else I know of.

I just listened to some YouTube samples of Garifuna, but what they have seems to have much more open syllables, with some nasal finals. I doubt that’s what it is.

Well, I’m curious to see what Simon reveals to us tomorrow!

TJJuly 12th, 2010 at 5:17 am

I would guess something related to Mayan. There seem to be many glottal stops in between.

AronJuly 12th, 2010 at 6:05 am

I first thought it was Basque, then a Mayan language.

Jim MorrisonJuly 12th, 2010 at 1:45 pm

I think it’s sound has more Spanish influences than French. It is definitely not Catalan and I don’t think it is Basque.

Wild Guess: Quechua!

Dennis KingJuly 12th, 2010 at 5:16 pm

Maya certainly. Yucatec?

SimonJuly 12th, 2010 at 8:24 pm

The answer is Tsotsil (Bats’i k’op), which is spoken in the Mexican state of Chiapas.

The recording comes from YouTube.

michael farrisJuly 12th, 2010 at 9:25 pm

Suck It Biotches! I effin’ RULE!!!!!

… uhm sorry about that I was just happy at having guessed right, though the only reason I said Tzotzil was that I was once in the area where it (and Tzeltal) are spoken.