Name That Language!

[bradrn]

Phonotactically that language looks like bronze-age Mediterranean IE to me. Or at least it reminds me a lot of Proto-Italic/Celtic/Hellenic, with some phonemes removed. Maybe the "φ" was literally Φ in the original.

dewrad already said:

All right, I’ll make a guess even though I still don’t have a clue… is it Indo-European?

No.

[WeepingElf]

This should be easy:

holaiez naφoθ ziazi maraz maw sialχweiz awiz ewisθo zeronaiθ ziwai aker tawarzio wanalasial zeronai morinail holaiezi φokiasiale zeronaiθ ewisθo towerona rom haralio ziwai eptezio arai tiz φoke ziwai awiz sialχwiz marazm awiz aomai

That's the Lemnos Stele - related to Etruscan.

Can you guess this:

In ́n Schneuklöcksken ess eun Stoff, iut den inner modernen Medezüin eun Meddel jiejen Ollersdoddelgkeut maket wärd; de Stoff kann de Alzheimer-Krankheut uphaulen. Öber vör ollen sind Schneuklöcksken de Frohtüit ühre Boten, wänn seu bloihen, hät de Winter baule eun Enne.

[bradrn]

In ́n Schneuklöcksken ess eun Stoff, iut den inner modernen Medezüin eun Meddel jiejen Ollersdoddelgkeut maket wärd; de Stoff kann de Alzheimer-Krankheut uphaulen. Öber vör ollen sind Schneuklöcksken de Frohtüit ühre Boten, wänn seu bloihen, hät de Winter baule eun Enne.

A High German language? But I’m guessing not Standard German.

[Linguoboy]

In ́n Schneuklöcksken ess eun Stoff, iut den inner modernen Medezüin eun Meddel jiejen Ollersdoddelgkeut maket wärd; de Stoff kann de Alzheimer-Krankheut uphaulen. Öber vör ollen sind Schneuklöcksken de Frohtüit ühre Boten, wänn seu bloihen, hät de Winter baule eun Enne.

A High German language? But I’m guessing not Standard German.

A High German language? With maket?

[Travis B.]

That's definitely Low German.

But there are some curious aspects to it, because it is a Low German variety with /ʃn/ rather than /sn/, and /au/ rather than what I would assume would be /uː/.

[WeepingElf]

That's definitely Low German.

But there are some curious aspects to it, because it is a Low German variety with /ʃn/ rather than /sn/, and /au/ rather than what I would assume would be /uː/.

Right so far. A hint, which probably won't help much at this point, though: it is the L1 of my paternal grandparents.

[Travis B.]

That's definitely Low German.

But there are some curious aspects to it, because it is a Low German variety with /ʃn/ rather than /sn/, and /au/ rather than what I would assume would be /uː/.

Right so far. A hint, which probably won't help much at this point, though: it is the L1 of my paternal grandparents.

Eastphalian?

[WeepingElf]

That's definitely Low German.

But there are some curious aspects to it, because it is a Low German variety with /ʃn/ rather than /sn/, and /au/ rather than what I would assume would be /uː/.

Right so far. A hint, which probably won't help much at this point, though: it is the L1 of my paternal grandparents.

Eastphalian?

Close, but no cigar.

[Travis B.]

Right so far. A hint, which probably won't help much at this point, though: it is the L1 of my paternal grandparents.

Eastphalian?

Close, but no cigar.

Westphalian then?

[WeepingElf]

Eastphalian?

Close, but no cigar.

Westphalian then?

Yes, a Westphalian variety, though a specific one.

[bradrn]

A High German language? But I’m guessing not Standard German.

A High German language? With maket?

Outside of English (and a tiny bit of Afrikaans), I’m horribly unfamiliar with Germanic. (I’m horribly unfamiliar with most Indo-European, actually.) I always thought that High German looked more like Standard German, and Low German looked more like Dutch — so I guessed High German. But I see someone more familiar with the area solved it while I was sleeping, so there isn’t any point in making another guess.

[Travis B.]

Outside of English (and a tiny bit of Afrikaans), I’m horribly unfamiliar with Germanic. (I’m horribly unfamiliar with most Indo-European, actually.) I always thought that High German looked more like Standard German, and Low German looked more like Dutch — so I guessed High German. But I see someone more familiar with the area solved it while I was sleeping, so there isn’t any point in making another guess.

Key indicators are the use of de instead of der or die, the use of maket, and the use of up- (StG auf-).

[Linguoboy]

Outside of English (and a tiny bit of Afrikaans), I’m horribly unfamiliar with Germanic. (I’m horribly unfamiliar with most Indo-European, actually.) I always thought that High German looked more like Standard German, and Low German looked more like Dutch — so I guessed High German. But I see someone more familiar with the area solved it while I was sleeping, so there isn’t any point in making another guess.

Key indicators are the use of de instead of der or die, the use of maket, and the use of up- (StG auf-).

The Benrath Line, arguably the chief dividing line between Low German and High German, is the isogloss that separates varieties with maken from those with machen.

[WeepingElf]

OK, I declare it solved, Travis B. was right. It is a Westphalian variety, spoken in the district of Lippe (between the Teutoburg Forest and the Weser river).

[Travis B.]

ahiiā. yāsā. nəmaŋhā. ustānazastō.1 rafəδrahiiā.maniiə̄uš.2 mazdā.3 pouruuīm.4 spəṇtahiiā. aṣ̌ā. vīspə̄ṇg.5 š́iiaoϑanā.6vaŋhə̄uš. xratūm.7 manaŋhō. yā. xṣ̌nəuuīṣ̌ā.8 gə̄ušcā. uruuānəm.9:: (du. bār)::ahiiā. yāsā. nəmaŋhā. ustānazastō. rafəδrahiiā.maniiə̄uš. mazdā. pouruuīm. spəṇtahiiā. aṣ̌ā. vīspə̄ṇg. š́iiaoϑanā.vaŋhə̄uš. xratūm. manaŋhō. yā. xṣ̌nəuuīṣ̌ā. gə̄ušcā. uruuānəm.::

[Linguoboy]

Looks like straight-up Old Avestan. What's the twist?

[Travis B.]

Looks like straight-up Old Avestan. What's the twist?

Solved on the first try - it is Avestan! (Maybe I shouldn't use Wikipedia for language samples, they may be too recognizable.)

[Kuchigakatai]

Solved on the first try - it is Avestan! (Maybe I shouldn't use Wikipedia for language samples, they may be too recognizable.)

I don't think that's much of a problem as opposed to Avestan being very recognizable in its conventional romanization (iiā uuī uuā iiao xš xr), which people are usually familiar with because of IE studies.

[Linguoboy]

Oh damn, that means I have to pick something? Let's see what I have on my shelves...

Edit: Okay, this should be pretty easy. (I couldn't find the book I was looking for so I just grabbed something convenient.)

tale hata besa čokma, hoyã, hoyã
tak(a)losa tamaha na tahã, noweya, noweya
sapõta(k) bolokfa belesõ
taek sepe (hene) hattak sawa hene
ape losa šno aya-kšo rehkən hatta šni mayokoba
coka komə̃sa šno aya-kšo

[Karch]

Is it spoken in North America?