Language quiz

Here’s a recording in a mystery language.

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

July 24th, 2011 in Language, Quiz questions

Comments (10)

michael farrisJuly 24th, 2011 at 7:56 am

At first I thought something dravidian but then I noticed – no fricatives, so now I’m thinking something Australian, but I have no earthly idea which aboriginal language it could be.

P.July 24th, 2011 at 8:28 am

Gosh, this sure sounds like something in the Formosan group. My guess would be Rukai, though I don’t think that’s it. (Amis? Saisiyat?)

bennieJuly 24th, 2011 at 10:47 am

It sounds like an Australian Aboriginal language because of the retroflex ‘R’s. I was hoping for an English loan word or the name of a modern city somewhere in the passage which could easily confirm this as an Australian Aboriginal language if it was pronounced with an Australian acccent like the one that Simon put up a few months ago. But there was none. But I’m still going with an indigenous Australian language.

Chris MillerJuly 25th, 2011 at 3:04 am

It sounds very much like an Australian Aboriginal language to me too, because of the retroflex /ɻ/ sounds and also the final palatal /ɲ/ and what seems to be initial word stress.

Of course, that leaves one with a continent’s worth of languages!

Just because there is a final palatal nasal in the name of Yidiny, I toss a wild guess that way…

Jonathan K.July 25th, 2011 at 4:12 am

Sounds Australian to me too. I’ll put in a well-known one: Warlpiri.

AndréJuly 25th, 2011 at 9:04 am

Yolngu Matha?/a dialect thereof?

SimonJuly 25th, 2011 at 7:12 pm

The answer is Djambarrpuyngu, a Pama-Nyungan language spoken in the Northern Territory of Australia.

The recording comes from the Global Recordings Network.

TJJuly 26th, 2011 at 4:18 am

hehe ok … we need a now a pronunciation guide to say the language’s own name!

AndréJuly 27th, 2011 at 6:10 am

woahh first time i’ve ever been right then! :D

d.m.falkJuly 29th, 2011 at 4:46 am

It’s ironic that I didn’t give an answer this time– I recognised it as a language from northern Northern Australia (that may seem redundant, but isn’t), as it were similar to the words of the great Aboriginal singer Gurrumul ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Gurrumul_Yunupingu ), whose voice is one of the most beautiful in any language. If you’ve never heard Gurrumul sing, you’re missing a treat! (And it’s worth it just to buy his CD- I bought mine direct from Australia, although it’s domestically available here in the US– I knew the money from my purchase would go directly towards furthering Aboriginal arts, as the label in Australia it’s released on is Aboriginal-owned.)

He has several videos on YouTube.

(And yes, one of the languages he sings in is this week’s language challenge.)

d.m.f.