Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
5 thoughts on “Language quiz”
Hmmm… those implosives, occasionally breathy vowels, and back unrounded vowels are making me think of Vietnamese… but it doesn’t sound like each syllable has its own tone, so I’m thinking it’s one of the (many) Austro-Asiatic languages that (unlike Vietnamese) have not developed tone. So my guess is a minority Austro-Asiatic language spoken in Vietnam or the immediately surrounding area? Am I close?
Not particuarly close. This is an Austronesian language, and is spoken quite a bit north of Vietnam.
Hm, then I’m really stumped. An Austronesian language from north of Vietnam – then it must be one of the Formosan languages indigenous to Taiwan. With all the amazing diversity of indigenous Formosan languages, I would have no idea which one to guess. To me, they really all sound very different from each other (some sound like their Malayo-Polynesian relatives, others sound totally different, with uvulars, and lots of typologically uncommon fricatives…).
The language is Tsou, an Austronesian language spoken in central Taiwan.
Simon, when are you going to do an interview with Sameer? Most of us here are amateur phoneticians, and I’ll bet many of us, like me, were surprised that there exist professionals. I’d be curious to know
– how he got started
– what his academic work is like
– how does he go about solving these quizzes (e.g. how does he know that indigenous Formosan languages are so diverse!)
– what are some cool/interesting/unique phonetic features of obscure languages,
– etc.
If you two could find the time to do one I’m sure it’d be fascinating.
Hmmm… those implosives, occasionally breathy vowels, and back unrounded vowels are making me think of Vietnamese… but it doesn’t sound like each syllable has its own tone, so I’m thinking it’s one of the (many) Austro-Asiatic languages that (unlike Vietnamese) have not developed tone. So my guess is a minority Austro-Asiatic language spoken in Vietnam or the immediately surrounding area? Am I close?
Not particuarly close. This is an Austronesian language, and is spoken quite a bit north of Vietnam.
Hm, then I’m really stumped. An Austronesian language from north of Vietnam – then it must be one of the Formosan languages indigenous to Taiwan. With all the amazing diversity of indigenous Formosan languages, I would have no idea which one to guess. To me, they really all sound very different from each other (some sound like their Malayo-Polynesian relatives, others sound totally different, with uvulars, and lots of typologically uncommon fricatives…).
The language is Tsou, an Austronesian language spoken in central Taiwan.
The recording comes from YouTube.
Simon, when are you going to do an interview with Sameer? Most of us here are amateur phoneticians, and I’ll bet many of us, like me, were surprised that there exist professionals. I’d be curious to know
– how he got started
– what his academic work is like
– how does he go about solving these quizzes (e.g. how does he know that indigenous Formosan languages are so diverse!)
– what are some cool/interesting/unique phonetic features of obscure languages,
– etc.
If you two could find the time to do one I’m sure it’d be fascinating.