Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
7 thoughts on “Language quiz”
Seems to me some African language influenced by Arabic a bit.
I think I heard “insán” and “donya” [human, life, respectively].
Here’s a clue: this is a language isolate that contains many loanwords from Urdu and from other languages, such as Persian and Sanskrit, via Urdu.
Ah, googling “Baaj Sambaa” and variants gave mainly North Indian hits, but I couldn’t get it to be an Indo-Aryan language. I’ve pondered Kusunda from western Nepal, but with the primarily Urdu influence I guess I’ll have to say Burushaski, even if it doesn’t sound like I imagined. And on the odd chance that my searchstring has anything to do with anything: Are these speakers Srinagar Burushi?
I m taking a bet on Burushaski as well
Trond is right – the answer is Burushaski, a language isolate spoken in the Hunza and Yasin valleys in northern Pakistan and Kashmir.
The recording comes from the YouTube. I don’t know where these particular speakers are from
Finally! It’s been a long time. But truly undeserved this time, since I was completely at loss and just happened to be the first to come by after the hint.
Wow, I didn’t even bother to guess this one. I would’ve thought maybe Balochi, just because that’s the closest Pakistani minority language *I* have ever heard!
Seems to me some African language influenced by Arabic a bit.
I think I heard “insán” and “donya” [human, life, respectively].
Here’s a clue: this is a language isolate that contains many loanwords from Urdu and from other languages, such as Persian and Sanskrit, via Urdu.
Ah, googling “Baaj Sambaa” and variants gave mainly North Indian hits, but I couldn’t get it to be an Indo-Aryan language. I’ve pondered Kusunda from western Nepal, but with the primarily Urdu influence I guess I’ll have to say Burushaski, even if it doesn’t sound like I imagined. And on the odd chance that my searchstring has anything to do with anything: Are these speakers Srinagar Burushi?
I m taking a bet on Burushaski as well
Trond is right – the answer is Burushaski, a language isolate spoken in the Hunza and Yasin valleys in northern Pakistan and Kashmir.
The recording comes from the YouTube. I don’t know where these particular speakers are from
Finally! It’s been a long time. But truly undeserved this time, since I was completely at loss and just happened to be the first to come by after the hint.
Wow, I didn’t even bother to guess this one. I would’ve thought maybe Balochi, just because that’s the closest Pakistani minority language *I* have ever heard!