Guess the Language, anyone?

[Nannalu]

Damn, almost had it

Next:

Iri harisi shoko racho rakarurama, usandisiye, ndingakubatsira here? ndiri kuda kubatsirwa nokukurumidza. vakatenga mukaka nechingwa.

[Xephyr]

Swazi?

[Nannalu]

Swazi?

Nope.

[kuroda]

OK, I'm kinda playing 20 Questions, exactly like I abhorred last week -- but I feel like I'm close, and maybe taking a 1:3 or 1:4 gamble with this guess: Venda?

[Nannalu]

OK, I'm kinda playing 20 Questions, exactly like I abhorred last week -- but I feel like I'm close, and maybe taking a 1:3 or 1:4 gamble with this guess: Venda?

Nope.

[Qwynegold]

Chichewa?

[Nannalu]

Chichewa?

No.

[kuroda]

OK, one more guess in the dark (well, dimness) and then I'll shut up: Shona?

About fifteen years ago I read a bunch about southern-zone Bantu languages for a conlang idea I had (which never went anywhere) -- which is why I feel like this sample must be one of them. I'm kind of dismayed about the kind of stuff that turns out to be brushed into the neglected and grimy corners of my head ;(

[Nannalu]

OK, one more guess in the dark (well, dimness) and then I'll shut up: Shona?

About fifteen years ago I read a bunch about southern-zone Bantu languages for a conlang idea I had (which never went anywhere) -- which is why I feel like this sample must be one of them. I'm kind of dismayed about the kind of stuff that turns out to be brushed into the neglected and grimy corners of my head ;(

Well done! Your turn.

[kuroda]

What, really??? I mean, um, indeed, thank you! Like I said above, the only reason I even tried out for this one is because of old conlang-prep reading I'd done, which left me pretty sure this was a southern-group Bantu language, but it didn't look like Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana etc. for mostly orthographic/phonetic reasons. I wasn't certain that it wasn't from a more northerly East African Bantu language (I think most of us immediately pegged it, just from our general ling-nerdery and gut feeling, as coming from somewhere between Joburg and Nairobi, right?), but figured it was worth making a guess.

Don't entirely feel like I earned that one, but I'll seize the moment and offer up this one:

Tanaq qulan qļhlenk k'iļknen qnaŋ nwen mestanke maʔ l'aŋeʔn. Tanaq nweʔn esqçaq kriwatqzuknen: Mizwin isx kk'oļknen. Tanaq mejim alxpeļ ksisxeŋļʔin.

Let me just say right off: no, this is not a conlang. But with words like ksisxeŋļʔin, can you blame me for being drawn to it for not-purely-academic reasons?


I, too, am playing with some extra rules:
1) No language family or geographical guesses until 24 hours after this is posted;
2) No more than one answer at a time. Until I've said yes or no to your first one, I'm just going to ignore all the others.
3) I find far more fun and interest when people explain (however briefly) why they make the proposal they do -- whether it's right or wrong. OK, that's not a rule, but a suggestion for Maximum Game Fun;
4) I'll provide more text if requested (is this really 'enough'?);
5) If five days go by without anyone proposing an identification, I'll just post the answer to keep the ball in play.

[Qwynegold]

I'm guessing Northwest America, so... Gitxsan?

[Nortaneous]

You said you were interested in Mongolic and Tungusic languages, and WALS shows one language up there with ejectives, so... Itelmen?

(Cedillas, <z>, and no underlines means, if it's spoken in North America, that's probably not its standard orthography. <z j> could be /ts_> tS_>/ or something but that irregularity doesn't seem that likely, especially given that there's also <r>, which is probably a rhotic, and rhotics aren't that common in that part of the world. Cedillas are also used for some Latin transcriptions of Nivkh, so that also points to Siberia.)

[din]

I think we have a winner.

[kuroda]

Yes, sorry for my delay in responding! Nortaneous wins. with bells on!!

I am both without all my computery and all my print library at the moment, so took a sample of what I had immediately to hand. If I win another round, obviously I need to go further abroad, so my known predilections aren't such a give-away to players

How can a conlanger not look at Itelmen and immediately smile?

[Edit; FTR, the mystery sample came from Die Itelmenische Sprache (Stefan Georg & Alexander Volodin), though I don't remember who they said the text itself was provided and recorded by -- don't have the book with me right now, either.]

[Nortaneous]

This is also not a conlang, despite the apostrophe abuse.

"Meikhu-nuu in 'a a'do ther daat plii, a'do ther kre daat pli", m'dit thungbi ngu, "an 'o: leibak rek 'u nei 'u k'dai rîm 'i k'rip ca daat pi ngi, baak k'kanaa thung 'i m'lu dok daat thungbi ngu, tun kat daat 'i ngu, k'ptxhi k'mam ca vang k'cen vang 'u k'do noor kree daat pii."

Same rules as last round, but I typed in a lot more text so I'll post that if no one gets it by whenever.

[kuroda]

Whoa. Whoa. I am genuinely at a loss of where to begin speculating.

[----]

Is it a Mon-Khmer language?

[Nortaneous]

It's not.

[Bristel]

Is it Sino-Tibetan?

[Porphyrogenitos]

Is it Cushitic?

[Nortaneous]

Sino-Tibetan.

[Qwynegold]

Pa'O?

[Nortaneous]

No.

[Birdlang]

Japhug?

[gaiusmarchaave]

Lahu? (changed my mind)