Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
7 thoughts on “Language quiz”
It’s definitely a Polynesian language (langi = sky; tangata = man; faka- verbal prefix), but which one I wouldn’t know. It’s not Hawaiian (kanaka for tangata) or one of the languages, like Maori, that have /r/ for /l/ (rangi).
I notice it seems to be undergoing various phonetic processes like stop voicing, palatalisation of /s/, and vowel syncope; whether these are just markers of informal speech or have become part of the community standard I don’t know.
Yes, this sounds very Polynesian although I can’t really tell which one this is. Samoan or Tongan, maybe?
I hear an oddly Portuguese note to some of the vowels, so I’m going to guess Tetum (though I’m sure I’m completely wrong).
Based on the /s/ and lack of glottal stop, I’ll say Tuvaluan.
Eee is right – the answer is Tuvaluan (Te ‘gana Tūvalu), a Polynesian language spoken mainly in Tuvalu, a small group of islands in the south-central Pacific.
It’s definitely a Polynesian language (langi = sky; tangata = man; faka- verbal prefix), but which one I wouldn’t know. It’s not Hawaiian (kanaka for tangata) or one of the languages, like Maori, that have /r/ for /l/ (rangi).
I notice it seems to be undergoing various phonetic processes like stop voicing, palatalisation of /s/, and vowel syncope; whether these are just markers of informal speech or have become part of the community standard I don’t know.
Yes, this sounds very Polynesian although I can’t really tell which one this is. Samoan or Tongan, maybe?
I hear an oddly Portuguese note to some of the vowels, so I’m going to guess Tetum (though I’m sure I’m completely wrong).
Based on the /s/ and lack of glottal stop, I’ll say Tuvaluan.
Eee is right – the answer is Tuvaluan (Te ‘gana Tūvalu), a Polynesian language spoken mainly in Tuvalu, a small group of islands in the south-central Pacific.
The recording comes from the Global Recordings Network.
Ah, Tuvalu, the country that rents out/sells its top level Web domain .tv for a fairly good source of income!
lol I always thought “TV” stands for …. Television? Or… was that a joke and I didn’t get it? lol