Here is a recording of a song (2MB) in a mystery language, and a recording of speech in the same language. Any ideas what language it is?
This is a language with a relatively small number of speakers with no official status.
7 thoughts on “Name the language”
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In my opinion it’s Corsican, the language of the French island of Corsica (la Corse), Napoleon’s native tongue.
A dialect of Occitan.
It can’t be Corsican – Corsican is much closer to Italian than French, and the sounds of this mystery language seem distinctly French.
Guido R. is right: French accordion in the song and heavy italian influence in the language – that’s the way Corsican sounds. Not to mention the spoken piece, where the woman announces a broadcast of “Radio Mille…” from the town of Bastia, undoubtedly situated on the island of Corsica.
… or perhaps Provencal?
I thought heard some nasalizations and Corsican doesn’t have any nasalization according to Omniglot, but it’s probably still Corsican because of the mention of Bastia.
The answer is Corsican and the recording come from the Corsican radio station Voce Nustrale.
Corsican does have nasals, according to this site, and I’m going to correct the pronunciation chart on my Corsican page.