9 thoughts on “Language Quiz

  1. I would heartily agree with Emanuel. Has to be Pacific Northwest with those sounds. Somehow, as well, I think the speaker has possibly learned it as a second language but I am not quite sure why I think that.

  2. I also think that. Her first language is perhaps not the one she speaks in the recording. It’s very often the vowels that betray us.

  3. I’ve yet to learn to distinguish the different North American language families by ear but I can also hear that this is probably a native English speaker. I heard the /lh/ and /k’/; is that what gives it away for Pacific Northwest Hank?

  4. Karl,
    I think in some respects it does. If you were to look at any of the Pacific Northwest languages in the language family section, you will be amazed at the complex consonants and consonant clusters as well as the mind-blowing ways they have of transcribing them. A real eye opener.

  5. Possibly, Hank. I guess it is at least from somewhere in that region and/or related to Gwich’in. I couldn’t find the recording, though.

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