Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
7 thoughts on “Language quiz”
What strikes me is the Arabic word Allah for Godn both on its own and combined with the Turkic plural suffix -lar in a language that does not seem to have other Turkic features.
So, to start the guessing I point my fingers at the Caucasian languages.
Yes, some apparent Arabic or similar influences there, at least a couple of Semitic-sounding gutturals and possibly some loanwords, but the language itself is of different stock. Causasian is a possibility, although the consonant inventory seems too limited for the Northwestern group. Intriguing, this one!
I’d still vote for Turkic. Khalaj, perhaps, with “-la” being instrumental (“by Allah”)?
Evenki or Oroqen?
The answer is Dargwa (дарган мез), a North East Caucasian language spoken mainly in the Russian republic of Dagestan.
Dagestan! That was among my initial guesses! Go figure 🙂
And, seeing the Bible passage, it seems my hunch that [‘dja:vilis] means “devil” might be correct as well. I find this language very pleasant-sounding, by the way. That, together with Albanian, makes two.
What strikes me is the Arabic word Allah for Godn both on its own and combined with the Turkic plural suffix -lar in a language that does not seem to have other Turkic features.
So, to start the guessing I point my fingers at the Caucasian languages.
Yes, some apparent Arabic or similar influences there, at least a couple of Semitic-sounding gutturals and possibly some loanwords, but the language itself is of different stock. Causasian is a possibility, although the consonant inventory seems too limited for the Northwestern group. Intriguing, this one!
I’d still vote for Turkic. Khalaj, perhaps, with “-la” being instrumental (“by Allah”)?
Evenki or Oroqen?
The answer is Dargwa (дарган мез), a North East Caucasian language spoken mainly in the Russian republic of Dagestan.
The recording comes from the Institute of Bible Translation, and is part of Matthew, Chapter 4.
Dagestan! That was among my initial guesses! Go figure 🙂
And, seeing the Bible passage, it seems my hunch that [‘dja:vilis] means “devil” might be correct as well. I find this language very pleasant-sounding, by the way. That, together with Albanian, makes two.