This sounds very very Tibeto-Burman with some Austro-Asiatic and/or Tai-Kadai influence.
It’s definitely not a language from the Karen sub-branch, nor is it a Chin-Mizo-Kuki language. It also does not sound anything like a Tibetan-based language like Ladakhi, Sherpa, Dzongkha etc.
I’d go for something like Lahu, Lisu or Akha spoken in Shan State in Burma and neighbouring Yunnan province in China.
My first impression was something Polynesian with few consonants and glottal stops. After ten seconds or so it started sounding more tonal and with Chinese-like phonology. So I think about a language from south China, and to guess one particular, let’ say Zhuang.
Actually, I thought there were similarities between Wa and Khmer. There were some strange sounds and I couldn’t understand a word of it, but it still sounded a lot like Cambodian.
Tibeto-Burman? That narrows it down to about 400 languages and somewhere in SE Asia.
After a couple more listenings, maybe it’s not Asian at all – S. American? Over to the experts…
Hard one this, could easily be Asian ,Austrolasian or from the Americas. I will plump for North American
tones and monosyllables – ??? East Asian
This sounds very very Tibeto-Burman with some Austro-Asiatic and/or Tai-Kadai influence.
It’s definitely not a language from the Karen sub-branch, nor is it a Chin-Mizo-Kuki language. It also does not sound anything like a Tibetan-based language like Ladakhi, Sherpa, Dzongkha etc.
I’d go for something like Lahu, Lisu or Akha spoken in Shan State in Burma and neighbouring Yunnan province in China.
Sounds a little bit like Thai or Cambodian but I would guess that it’s from some place West of those two countries. A minority language from Burma?
This is in Burmese. I happened to need a translator for a client one time .
My first impression was something Polynesian with few consonants and glottal stops. After ten seconds or so it started sounding more tonal and with Chinese-like phonology. So I think about a language from south China, and to guess one particular, let’ say Zhuang.
The answer is Wa (Va), a Palaungic language spoken in Yunan in southwestern China
The recording comes from the GRN.
Oh my…..what a surprise! Wa sounds absolutely nothing like the other Austro-Asiatic languages I’ve come across (i.e. Vietnamese, Khmer and Mon).
One could say this is a good example of an Austro-Asiatic language whose phonology is heavily influenced by the surrounding Tibeto-Burman languages.
Actually, I thought there were similarities between Wa and Khmer. There were some strange sounds and I couldn’t understand a word of it, but it still sounded a lot like Cambodian.
Navajo. In Farmington area.