Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
20 thoughts on “Language Quiz”
Most likely Slavic, and I’ll guess from somewhere near the Caucuses just for the heck of it.
Well, I was wrong, but by the way does anybody know what the deal is with the miracle guesser that shows up from time to time? They only post a single word answer, never give any argument or motivation, never capitalize their answer, and are exactly correct. All I can guess is that we either have an autistic savant or someone who can programatically content-match against all of Wikitongue’s videos.
While the details of how they do it could be interesting from a programming point of view, I would much rather read people’s phonological guesses or one of Sameer’s masterful analyses here. I don’t know if you’ve considered it, Simon, but I’d be just as happy if you were to remove these completely correct and utterly uninformative responses.
Some Romance language from around Gallo-Italic region. Doesn’t sound like Ligure or Lumbaart that I’ve heard, so, perhaps, something less obvious. Piemonteis?
I left a reply but I think I either was out of range for the ‘Net or forgot to press Post Comment. Anyway I guessed Slavic as well and wondered too if it were in the Caucusus.
Jonathan – I’ve deleted the mysterious miracle guesser’s answer, so the rest of you have chances to guess the language.
This sounds to me like a Hellenic language (or perhaps a variety of Greek). Tsakonian or Yevanit?
It is some dialect of Greek, though I don’t think it’s Tsakonian.
It’s a Romance language, perhaps, Mirandese.
My comment didn’t come up, it is a Romance language. There’s definite Spanish in it, with some Portuguese sounds. I guessed Mirandese, but it could be a Mexican dialect of Spanish.
When do we get the answer?? Thanks.
On Saturday
Griko from Southern Italy perhaps …
Along with everyone else here, I’m pretty sure this is a Romance language from the western Mediterranean: Iberia, southern France, northern Italy, or one of the islands. I think I hear a “th sound” [θ] and a [dz] affricate in a couple of places, which would narrow things down a bit, but it could still be a couple different languages in northern Italy (e.g. Emilian, Romagnol) or (if the [dz] isn’t there) Spain (e.g. Aragonese), at least.
I stick will Greek. I hear Greek numbers, articles and the word Athina.
It sounds like a mixture of Greek and Romance elements, so it will probably be Aromanian. (I am sure it is not Aragonese neither any Iberian moniritary Romances).
Hey Simon,
Has anyone guessed yet? Aside from mysterious…
I’m liking the Griko guess.
Yes, there has been one correct guess.
The answer is Tsakonian (τσακώνικα), a variety of Greek spoken in the Tsakonian region of the Peloponnese in southern Greece.
The recording comes from YouTube:
This was a really good one, Simon. Once Greek had been mentioned I could easily hear it, but I never would have come up with it on my own.
I’ve realized that I don’t think of Greek as being part of a large family of similar sounding languages, like Romance, Bantu, Gaelic, or Athabaskan. Poor Greek, sitting off on its own, with hardly any cousins. I wonder if others have the same image, or if I’m just ignorant of a whole group of languages.
Most likely Slavic, and I’ll guess from somewhere near the Caucuses just for the heck of it.
Well, I was wrong, but by the way does anybody know what the deal is with the miracle guesser that shows up from time to time? They only post a single word answer, never give any argument or motivation, never capitalize their answer, and are exactly correct. All I can guess is that we either have an autistic savant or someone who can programatically content-match against all of Wikitongue’s videos.
While the details of how they do it could be interesting from a programming point of view, I would much rather read people’s phonological guesses or one of Sameer’s masterful analyses here. I don’t know if you’ve considered it, Simon, but I’d be just as happy if you were to remove these completely correct and utterly uninformative responses.
Some Romance language from around Gallo-Italic region. Doesn’t sound like Ligure or Lumbaart that I’ve heard, so, perhaps, something less obvious. Piemonteis?
I left a reply but I think I either was out of range for the ‘Net or forgot to press Post Comment. Anyway I guessed Slavic as well and wondered too if it were in the Caucusus.
Jonathan – I’ve deleted the mysterious miracle guesser’s answer, so the rest of you have chances to guess the language.
This sounds to me like a Hellenic language (or perhaps a variety of Greek). Tsakonian or Yevanit?
It is some dialect of Greek, though I don’t think it’s Tsakonian.
It’s a Romance language, perhaps, Mirandese.
My comment didn’t come up, it is a Romance language. There’s definite Spanish in it, with some Portuguese sounds. I guessed Mirandese, but it could be a Mexican dialect of Spanish.
When do we get the answer?? Thanks.
On Saturday
Griko from Southern Italy perhaps …
Along with everyone else here, I’m pretty sure this is a Romance language from the western Mediterranean: Iberia, southern France, northern Italy, or one of the islands. I think I hear a “th sound” [θ] and a [dz] affricate in a couple of places, which would narrow things down a bit, but it could still be a couple different languages in northern Italy (e.g. Emilian, Romagnol) or (if the [dz] isn’t there) Spain (e.g. Aragonese), at least.
I stick will Greek. I hear Greek numbers, articles and the word Athina.
It sounds like a mixture of Greek and Romance elements, so it will probably be Aromanian. (I am sure it is not Aragonese neither any Iberian moniritary Romances).
Hey Simon,
Has anyone guessed yet? Aside from mysterious…
I’m liking the Griko guess.
Yes, there has been one correct guess.
The answer is Tsakonian (τσακώνικα), a variety of Greek spoken in the Tsakonian region of the Peloponnese in southern Greece.
The recording comes from YouTube:
This was a really good one, Simon. Once Greek had been mentioned I could easily hear it, but I never would have come up with it on my own.
I’ve realized that I don’t think of Greek as being part of a large family of similar sounding languages, like Romance, Bantu, Gaelic, or Athabaskan. Poor Greek, sitting off on its own, with hardly any cousins. I wonder if others have the same image, or if I’m just ignorant of a whole group of languages.