Language quiz

Here’s a recording in a mystery language.

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

February 27th, 2011 in Language, Quiz questions

Comments (17)

xarxaFebruary 27th, 2011 at 12:18 pm

very vague feeling that its something spoken near somalia..? but then we had bench last time… not sure at ll!

joe mockFebruary 27th, 2011 at 12:21 pm

Subcontinent somewhere – related to Hindi/Urdu, Muslim names but ‘t sound like Punjabi or any of the dialects I’m familiar with.

xarxaFebruary 27th, 2011 at 12:33 pm

i have the vague idea that this is spoken somewhere near s*malia (it wouldnt let me post last time when i spelled out the word)..? but having had bench already… im not sure!

d.m.falkFebruary 27th, 2011 at 2:17 pm

Pashto?

d.m.f.

DaydreamerFebruary 27th, 2011 at 5:12 pm

Weird suggestion: the Dravidian language Brahui spoken in Pakistan?

Christopher MillerFebruary 27th, 2011 at 6:00 pm

All I can say is that the overall sound — syllable structure, stress patterns, intonation, word endings etc. — sounds Dravidian to me. With the apparent Arabic loanwords sprinkled here and there throughout the recording, I would guess this might be Brahui from southwestern Pakistan. But it might just be a southern Dravidian language like Kannada or Telugu spoken by a Muslim from those areas….

Or not Dravidian at all… I tried listening for the trilled L sound of Pashto but couldn’t hear any, so I’m guessing it probably isn’t Pashto.

Hmmm…

HurrdurrFebruary 27th, 2011 at 9:47 pm

Eastern indian accent, with slight intonation. My guess is manipuri…

TJFebruary 27th, 2011 at 10:33 pm

Ok gona try my luck once more here !
Argobba?

Chinese TranslatorFebruary 27th, 2011 at 10:37 pm

Maybe Konkani???- spoken in India.

P.February 28th, 2011 at 3:53 am

Malayalam? (Just a wild guess)

SimonFebruary 28th, 2011 at 9:14 am

Here’s a clue – this language is spoken mainly in Sudan.

bennieFebruary 28th, 2011 at 11:24 am

Simon’s been throwing pretty hard ones at us lately. Using his hint, another wild guess–>

Anuak??

Giovanni 'Prestige'February 28th, 2011 at 3:15 pm

Because South Sudan is in the news lately, my guess is Dinka (Thuongjang).

SimonFebruary 28th, 2011 at 5:49 pm

Another clue – this language is spoken in northern Sudan, around Darfur, and also in Chad.

Christopher MillerFebruary 28th, 2011 at 7:46 pm

I’ll hazard a relatively wild guess at Fur and not venture any further than that.

(For what it’s worth, I can console myself with the fact that “Darfur” and the first two syllables of “Dravidian”at least share certain consonants, vowels and C place/V height features!)

jimutavahanaMarch 1st, 2011 at 3:37 am

Zaghawa? I don’t know anything about linguistics but this should be the only language that matches the geographical location

SimonMarch 1st, 2011 at 10:25 am

The answer is Zaghawa, a Nilo-Saharan language spoken in Sudan, Chad and Libya.

The recording comes from the Global Recordings Network.