Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
9 thoughts on “Language Quiz”
Sounds somewhat like Korean or a Philippino based language.
To me it sounds like one of the (smaller) Turkic languages, possibly one of those spoken in the former Soviet Union or in China …
Feels Uralic to me, perhaps Samoyedic branch? Something like Nenets?
I think we’re in Nepal or Northeast India. Is that correct?
I’m hearing the South Asian rising pitch across each word, plus South Asian aspiration and coronal sounds. The specific realization of the slightly-retroflex-alveolar stops is very Nepali/Bengali/Assamese-like, as are the very fronted affricates. Other than the English borrowings at the beginning (which sound like how a Nepali speaker would say them), there are almost no words that I recognize, though, suggesting it’s not an Indo-European language of South Asia (like Nepali), rather likely a Tibeto-Burman language. One of the only non-English words I might be recognizing, though, is [ʌnusʌnd̪ʱa(n)] (twice around 0:23), which is the Nepali word for ‘research’ or ‘investigation’.
Sameer has got the closest so far – it is spoken in Nepal, and is a Sino-Tibetan language.
It’s Assamese , Bangla or Kokborok .
Newari?
I’m with Luke! Given that it has such an Indo-Aryan sound while having all Tibeto-Burman words, I’d also go with Newari (a.k.a. Newar/Newah/Nepal Bhasa), since it’s the main Tibeto-Burman spoken in the Kathmandu capital region and would have the most influence from Indo-Aryan languages like Nepali, Tharu, and Maithili.
The answer is Chamling (Rodong), a Kiranti language spoken in parts of Nepal, India and Bhutan.
Sounds somewhat like Korean or a Philippino based language.
To me it sounds like one of the (smaller) Turkic languages, possibly one of those spoken in the former Soviet Union or in China …
Feels Uralic to me, perhaps Samoyedic branch? Something like Nenets?
I think we’re in Nepal or Northeast India. Is that correct?
I’m hearing the South Asian rising pitch across each word, plus South Asian aspiration and coronal sounds. The specific realization of the slightly-retroflex-alveolar stops is very Nepali/Bengali/Assamese-like, as are the very fronted affricates. Other than the English borrowings at the beginning (which sound like how a Nepali speaker would say them), there are almost no words that I recognize, though, suggesting it’s not an Indo-European language of South Asia (like Nepali), rather likely a Tibeto-Burman language. One of the only non-English words I might be recognizing, though, is [ʌnusʌnd̪ʱa(n)] (twice around 0:23), which is the Nepali word for ‘research’ or ‘investigation’.
Sameer has got the closest so far – it is spoken in Nepal, and is a Sino-Tibetan language.
It’s Assamese , Bangla or Kokborok .
Newari?
I’m with Luke! Given that it has such an Indo-Aryan sound while having all Tibeto-Burman words, I’d also go with Newari (a.k.a. Newar/Newah/Nepal Bhasa), since it’s the main Tibeto-Burman spoken in the Kathmandu capital region and would have the most influence from Indo-Aryan languages like Nepali, Tharu, and Maithili.
The answer is Chamling (Rodong), a Kiranti language spoken in parts of Nepal, India and Bhutan.
The recording comes from YouTube: