Language quiz

Here’s a recording in a mystery language.

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

January 29th, 2012 in Language, Quiz questions

Comments (12)

andreJanuary 29th, 2012 at 8:27 am

Well the repetition and slow speaking suggests it’s from a language course of some sort, I got that far… I’m fairly sure I heard the alveolar lateral affricate as well :) (Pointing towards Amerindian languages)

TJJanuary 29th, 2012 at 8:58 am

hmmm not sure but does it sound like counting Navajo or Heidi?

Anthony LauderJanuary 29th, 2012 at 5:52 pm

My guess is Maranao

David CraigJanuary 30th, 2012 at 12:33 am

Sounded Navajo to me, but it could have been Apache.

Dennis KingJanuary 30th, 2012 at 2:34 am

It seems to be mainly Navajo number words, possibly a telephone number: 2, 4, 5, 8, 9 are in there.

PRJanuary 30th, 2012 at 10:53 am

Yes, I also think it is Diné bizaad (Navajo).

SimonJanuary 30th, 2012 at 2:51 pm

The answer is, I don’t know. This clip was sent in by someone who thinks it might be Navajo.

penniferJanuary 31st, 2012 at 5:22 am

Siiiiimon! No fair! I didn’t have a guess, but was surprised to hear folks thought it was Amerindian.

David CraigFebruary 1st, 2012 at 11:47 pm

I worked for one winter with a lot of Navajo and, while I don’t know anything theoretical about the language or how to describe any of the phonemes of Diné bizaad I know what the language sounds like. This sample sounds like Navajo. I have heard it said that Apache is very close to Navajo and differs mainly in the speed in which it is spoken but I can’t swear to that myself. There are some youtube samples of counting in Navajo so Dennis King’s comment can be checked out.

RauliFebruary 4th, 2012 at 8:34 am

I checked out a video on YouTube and then browsed through Wiktionary and I’m quite sure she says this in Navajo:

ánéeltʼeʼ ádin náhástʼéí dį́į́ʼ tseebíí náhástʼéí námboo ádin náhástʼéí naaki ashdlaʼ naaki

Ánéeltʼeʼ and námboo both seem to mean ‘number’. Translated, it would be:

Number 0 9 4 8 9 number 0 9 2 5 2

d.m.falkFebruary 7th, 2012 at 9:54 am

Fascinating! Considering the pattern, it’s strongly reminiscent of spy numbers stations one occasionally finds on shortwave radio- Usually these are in English, Spanish, French, German, Russian and Chinese, but more obscure languages are not unheard of.

d.m.f.
(longtime shortwave radio listener)

P.February 9th, 2012 at 5:34 am

I think d.m.falk’s comment about numbers stations is spot on. The repetitions are identical — I checked in a waveform editor — so this is clearly a series of pre-recorded samples being assembled into a code of some kind. The recording is much clearer than a typical shortwave recording, so I’m not sure if it’s a numbers station per se, but it absolutely has that “feel”.