Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
8 thoughts on “Language quiz”
I’m going to make a bold guess this time: I could swear I heard the word ‘tiktaal’ in there, which sounds like the first part of Tiktaalik, so I’m going to guess Inuktitut
For some reason I’ve become convinced it’s Maltese, so I’ll go with that.
something from central america? no idea really.
Timothy – you’re in the right area.
My guess was also “something Mesoamerican” (I wondered if the [mutʃi] at 0:12 and 0:17 was from Spanish ‘mucho’), but beyond that I wasn’t sure. It’s definitely not Mayan (even though I thought I heard the word ‘Maya’ somewhere), since there are no ejectives at all. It’s also not one of the especially complex tone(+phonation) languages from the Otomanguean or Mixe families. (I hear no breathy or creaky voicing, and the variations in pitch that I’m hearing strike me as typical for a stress language, not a tone or pitch accent language, but that’s not a super informed guess.)
If it’s specifically Central American, my first guess would be Miskito, as a fairly widely spoken language with a phonology that fits these characteristics. Am I close?
Sameer – you’re in the right area, but have guessed the wrong language. It isn’t a Mayan language, or related to Miskito.
There aren’t too many guesses left, when it comes to a non-Mayan language spoken in Central America. What about Pipil?
Daydreamer is right – the language is Pipil (Nawat/Náhuat), an Uto-Aztecan language spoken in El Salvador.
I’m going to make a bold guess this time: I could swear I heard the word ‘tiktaal’ in there, which sounds like the first part of Tiktaalik, so I’m going to guess Inuktitut
For some reason I’ve become convinced it’s Maltese, so I’ll go with that.
something from central america? no idea really.
Timothy – you’re in the right area.
My guess was also “something Mesoamerican” (I wondered if the [mutʃi] at 0:12 and 0:17 was from Spanish ‘mucho’), but beyond that I wasn’t sure. It’s definitely not Mayan (even though I thought I heard the word ‘Maya’ somewhere), since there are no ejectives at all. It’s also not one of the especially complex tone(+phonation) languages from the Otomanguean or Mixe families. (I hear no breathy or creaky voicing, and the variations in pitch that I’m hearing strike me as typical for a stress language, not a tone or pitch accent language, but that’s not a super informed guess.)
If it’s specifically Central American, my first guess would be Miskito, as a fairly widely spoken language with a phonology that fits these characteristics. Am I close?
Sameer – you’re in the right area, but have guessed the wrong language. It isn’t a Mayan language, or related to Miskito.
There aren’t too many guesses left, when it comes to a non-Mayan language spoken in Central America. What about Pipil?
Daydreamer is right – the language is Pipil (Nawat/Náhuat), an Uto-Aztecan language spoken in El Salvador.
The recording comes from the GRN.