Language quiz

Here’s a recording in a mystery language.

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

December 9th, 2012 in Language, Quiz questions

Comments (10)

DaydreamerDecember 9th, 2012 at 11:40 am

I’d rather be surprised, if it were not a Niger-Congo language, spoken in Central or West Africa.

SimonDecember 9th, 2012 at 1:24 pm

You’ve got the right language family – just need to narrow it down a bit.

DaydreamerDecember 9th, 2012 at 4:32 pm

Funny, but the rather uncommon consonant cluster “kr” brings the name of the great politician Kwame Nkrumah to my mind.
So, if I have to narrow my choice, I narrow it geographically to Ghana and linguistically to the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo languages.
But then, I’m lost.

SimonDecember 9th, 2012 at 6:09 pm

Right country, wrong branch.

DaydreamerDecember 9th, 2012 at 7:56 pm

Then, it should to be the Gur branch. What about Frafra, otherwise known as Gurenne?

SimonDecember 10th, 2012 at 9:32 am

Closer, but not quite there yet.

SimonDecember 10th, 2012 at 4:59 pm

The answer is Deg (Mo), a Gur language spoken in Ghana and Ivory Coast.

The recording comes from the GRN (Picture 14).

DaydreamerDecember 10th, 2012 at 8:08 pm

Ok, Simon, you’ve won again. But, believe me, it’s really hard to guess a language that you haven’t even heard the name of.
So give us another chance next Sunday.

SimonDecember 11th, 2012 at 11:28 am

I’m always amazed when anyone gets the language, or gets close, especially the really obscure languages. If I didn’t know the answers I would find it difficult to work them out or guess them.

RauliDecember 11th, 2012 at 1:12 pm

Quite the dialogue here. Well done, Daydreamer, for getting so close.