Name That Language!

[bradrn]

Is it a language isolate?

Sort of… it’s in one of those weird small families with only a few languages in them.

I wanted to directly make a guess, but I'll hold off .... but to help narrow it down, is tr standing for /tʃ/?

My source is frustratingly vague about the orthography, but I don’t believe so.

[Nortaneous]

is it spoken in Peru?

[bradrn]

is it spoken in Peru?

Yes.

[Nortaneous]

is it Huitotoan?

[bradrn]

is it Huitotoan?

I already said it’s not Bora-Witotoan.

[Nortaneous]

oh lol I can't read. it's probably not in PHOIBLE, so time to read Dixon and Aikhenvald. Yagua?

edit: yes, Payne 1985

an easy one and a hard one:

1.

"Mêe qii xii la bbo, neebbâ dê hmi sonzîi ggee téamá'zhüan bbo, zûu ggee ma'xî. Dê hmi sonzîi ggee teazhüêe xin," jii'riu. Zâggiôn jji râ lhuâicôn ggee bbo cí, sée, gîi, rezhíi, sshêcon zzii. Dô nôn sshekre jjiôn, gasû jjiôn, miâ jjion're dêajjion dêajjion zzhí neacâ qîi. Buunîsân mî ggia kelhâzii xxialhâzii deazíi mâ'hran ggee bbo xxiahnián jiiddînddîmi ggon ggezzîi, peacon pêahrân teazzhon güe'si zzii, jii. Día zûu gêazai ggon zhinzhu ggêe neaddüi kêe bbô, "konton" jii. Gawû jîi ggêe lealián ggáo, jiitón wu neaxîi'sî ggia chuâ ggêe ggeqion.

2.

Tíhkaan áhtárú úren yáá enaa ánkáman me kaaín, maahnaáún áátáh kawin, írá aíhaan kaáúh yen kókon wíyon óriyaan umá kurinaín mái yánááh ámáh kaaín, maahnaáúmpín waaháken áátáh káwin, ááhma keín máih yamúh maah úwáh yen máipín tááriyaamíh. Úhpín manaahaa káákan úráran wáhkan, nómpín manaahaa úráran wáhkan, míhan úhkan, manaahaa úráran áyún pahkel awínen kaáín waah iyaamíh. Yunáán unáh yen tááh yen yanon woóren káwé kúh yen ánápín tápo kúh yan, inaaru tían ten wanááan karuhyáretín, yunáán apé íntin, nánoóno. Tíren áátárema yóh yákeín máipíntéh mínoh yunáán unáh yen, mah yamúh wáántá anaati káákan yunáán tááh yen, yáá enáá máh yen, mairah uwíh yen, áná ayóhan meériyaan káwé ayóhan meériyaán úren, manaa wáántá ano owááren temíh.

[bradrn]

Yagua?

edit: yes, Payne 1985

Yes, you got it!

(Also, which book of Dixon and Aikhenvald did you use? I don’t remember either them saying anything about Yagua, apart from a brief reference to the language in Ergativity.)

[Nortaneous]

(Also, which book of Dixon and Aikhenvald did you use? I don’t remember either them saying anything about Yagua, apart from a brief reference to the language in Ergativity.)

The Amazonian Languages. There's a chapter on the various small families, and it mentions that the only permissible coda in Yagua is /j/.

[bradrn]

(Also, which book of Dixon and Aikhenvald did you use? I don’t remember either them saying anything about Yagua, apart from a brief reference to the language in Ergativity.)

The Amazonian Languages. There's a chapter on the various small families, and it mentions that the only permissible coda in Yagua is /j/.

Oh, I didn’t know about that one! Amazonian languages are pretty interesting — I’ll have to see if I can find that book.

[bradrn]

1.

"Mêe qii xii la bbo, nee-bbâ dê hmi son-zîi ggee téamá'zhüan bbo, zûu ggee ma'xî. Dê hmi son-zîi ggee teazhüêe xin," jii'riu. Zâggiôn jji râ lhuâicôn ggee bbo cí, sée, gîi, rezhíi, sshê-con zzii. Dô nôn sshe-kre jjiôn, gasû jjiôn, miâ jjion're dêa-jjion dêa-jjion zzhí neacâ qîi. Buunîsân mî ggia kelhâzii xxialhâzii dea-zíi mâ'hran ggee bbo xxiahnián jiiddîn-ddîmi ggon gge-zzîi, pea-con pêa-hrân tea-zzhon güe'si zzii, jii. Día zûu gêazai ggon zhinzhu ggêe neaddüi kêe bbô, "konton" jii. Gawû jîi ggêe lealián ggáo, jiitón wu nea-xîi'sî ggia chuâ ggêe ggeqion.

Is it Sino-Tibetan? At the very least, I’m pretty sure this one’s spoken in Asia.

2.

Tíhkaan áhtárú úren yáá enaa ánkáman me kaaín, maahnaáún áátáh kawin, írá aíhaan kaáúh yen kókon wíyon óriyaan umá kurinaín mái yánááh ámáh kaaín, maahnaáúmpín waaháken áátáh káwin, ááhma keín máih yamúh maah úwáh yen máipín tááriyaamíh. Úhpín manaahaa káákan úráran wáhkan, nómpín manaahaa úráran wáhkan, míhan úhkan, manaahaa úráran áyún pahkel awínen kaáín waah iyaamíh. Yunáán unáh yen tááh yen yanon woóren káwé kúh yen ánápín tápo kúh yan, inaaru tían ten wanááan karuhyáretín, yunáán apé íntin, nánoóno. Tíren áátárema yóh yákeín máipíntéh mínoh yunáán unáh yen, mah yamúh wáántá anaati káákan yunáán tááh yen, yáá enáá máh yen, mairah uwíh yen, áná ayóhan meériyaan káwé ayóhan meériyaán úren, manaa wáántá ano owááren temíh.

Is this one spoken somewhere in the Americas?

[Nortaneous]

Is it Sino-Tibetan? At the very least, I’m pretty sure this one’s spoken in Asia.

yes

Is this one spoken somewhere in the Americas?

no, which is why I picked it (^:

[bradrn]

Is it Sino-Tibetan? At the very least, I’m pretty sure this one’s spoken in Asia.

yes

Which one are you saying yes to? Or are you being purposely ambiguous?

Is this one spoken somewhere in the Americas?

no, which is why I picked it (^:

I see. This is going to be one of those frustrating ones, methinks.

EDIT: Could it be Papuan?

[Nortaneous]

Which one are you saying yes to? Or are you being purposely ambiguous

both - ST, spoken in Asia

I see. This is going to be one of those frustrating ones, methinks.

EDIT: Could it be Papuan?

dang. yes

[bradrn]

Which one are you saying yes to? Or are you being purposely ambiguous

both - ST, spoken in Asia

Thanks for the clarification!

Alright, so I’m almost certain the orthographically doubled stops are prenasalised. And this looks like one of the weird Pinyin varieties they use for non-Mandarin languages. I’d guess Naxi, except that one uses tone letters rather than diacritics. Is it Qiangic or rGyalrongic? Or if not, is it a Tibetan language?

I see. This is going to be one of those frustrating ones, methinks.

EDIT: Could it be Papuan?

dang. yes

Don’t know anything about Papuan languages, so I won’t make any more guesses.

[Nortaneous]

Alright, so I’m almost certain the orthographically doubled stops are prenasalised. And this looks like one of the weird Pinyin varieties they use for non-Mandarin languages. I’d guess Naxi, except that one uses tone letters rather than diacritics. Is it Qiangic or rGyalrongic? Or if not, is it a Tibetan language?

Qiangic. (Orthographic standardization is not entirely real.)

[bradrn]

Alright, so I’m almost certain the orthographically doubled stops are prenasalised. And this looks like one of the weird Pinyin varieties they use for non-Mandarin languages. I’d guess Naxi, except that one uses tone letters rather than diacritics. Is it Qiangic or rGyalrongic? Or if not, is it a Tibetan language?

Qiangic. (Orthographic standardization is not entirely real.)

Could it be Pumi then? It apparently has a semi-standardised Pinyin-based romanization, although it doesn’t seem to use circumflexes. (In that case, the doubled letters would represent voicing rather than prenasalisation.)

[Frislander]

2. TNG?

[Karch]

2 is Agarabi in the old orthography.

[Nortaneous]

Could it be Pumi then?

yes - I would've converted to tone letters but it's not straightforward

2 is Agarabi in the old orthography.

yes

[bradrn]

Could it be Pumi then?

yes - I would've converted to tone letters but it's not straightforward

I can’t believe I actually guessed one correctly!

So, does this mean that I get to choose the next text? I think we’d better decide whether we’re sticking to that rule or not.