Name That Language!

[Pabappa]

(yes, ive been dropping hints in the form of puns .... but theyre not *great* hints, just general clues. e.g. "Narrow" wasnt much help since Narrow Bantu is >90% of Bantu)

You really don’t need to do this — I’m fine trying to figure it out without hints.

Anyway, is it a Southern Bantu language?

Okay. Yes, the sample text should be long enough to figure it out .... so, no, not Southern Bantu.

convenience link to original post

[Qwynegold]

Is it Northeast Coast Bantu?

[Pabappa]

Nope .... I felt the urge to drop one more hint but I think I'll stay silent as suggested above ... the original sample text should provide the hints you all need. Though I'll answer other types of questions if anyone has them.

[bradrn]

Alright, I have absolutely no clue what the answer to this is, so let me guess a Bantu subgroup completely at random… Northeast Bantu?

[Pabappa]

Yes.

if no one guesses this in another three days i guess i will give more hints but i think we are near the end of this round.

[bradrn]

Is it a Bena–Kinga language?

[Pabappa]

Nope.

[bradrn]

So, it’s Northeast Bantu, but not Northeast Coast or Bena–Kinga… and it can’t be Kikuyu–Kamba or Takama, because those seem to have the wrong orthography… could it be Great Lakes Bantu?

[Pabappa]

Remember, as I said in the first post, Im using a vernacular orthography, which is all I could find, because that's how the speakers prefer to write their language. My impression is that Bantu languages dont usually mark tones in everyday writing because they carry a low information density ... kind of like Japanese ... and the languages with more than 5 vowels often write as if there were five for a variety of reasons.

So, no it is not a Great Lakes Bantu language but I would advise against ruling out those others because the linguistic orthography with all the fancy vowel symbols is not what I am using here.

[bradrn]

Remember, as I said in the first post, Im using a vernacular orthography, which is all I could find, because that's how the speakers prefer to write their language. My impression is that Bantu languages dont usually mark tones in everyday writing because they carry a low information density ... kind of like Japanese ... and the languages with more than 5 vowels often write as if there were five for a variety of reasons.

So, no it is not a Great Lakes Bantu language but I would advise against ruling out those others because the linguistic orthography with all the fancy vowel symbols is not what I am using here.

Um, I was talking about the vernacular orthography there… those languages use tildes to mark vowels, and that seems to be done pretty consistently when written (example).

But anyway, just to be totally sure: is it Kikuyu–Kamba or Takama?

[Karch]

Is it a Takama language? If yes, Nyamwezi?

[Pabappa]

I would like to consider this correct as you made the farthest jump with this guess of anyone so far ... unless you got there by pure luck.

I chose Sukuma, and I was hoping that people would notice that the song I chose had both voiceless nasals and the cluster /tʷ/, and guess correctly after finding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukuma_language#Phonology on Wikipedia. That was why I needed such a long sample text. But it's possible that Nyamwezi not having /tʷ/ is a matter of analysis, since I see from sample texts that it seems to have a very similar phonology. It seems that Sukuma may have /ŋʷ/ for every /mʷ/ in Nyamwezi, but I think it would be against the spirit of the game for me to simply say you're wrong and demand another round of guessing with no explanation that your guess was so close that some people consider it to be the same language. And if I *did* provide such a hint, the next person would be easily able to guess correctly just based on that, without having read any of the rest of the thread. Also, my source document indicates that /mʷ/ > /ŋʷ/ may have happened within the written history of Sukuma.

I chose this language for sentimental reasons, as it was the first African language I was exposed to online, and the person telling me about it was unable to convince me it was real ... I genuinely believed he was making it up, since he used the words "God" and "Jesuis" (sic) in his Bible texts, and search engines didnt exist yet so I had no other way of gathering more information.

Apologies for having to make a judgment like this, but as I said any other response would have given the game away, potentially to someone who put little effort into it.

[bradrn]

I would like to consider this correct as you made the farthest jump with this guess of anyone so far ... unless you got there by pure luck.

I can’t disagree… it appears that the distinction between Nyamwezi and Sukuma is hard to define exactly.

I chose Sukuma, and I was hoping that people would notice that the song I chose had both voiceless nasals and the cluster /tʷ/, and guess correctly after finding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukuma_language#Phonology on Wikipedia.

Yep, I noticed the /tʷ/, hence my initial guess of Botatwe, although I never got as far as noticing that Sukuma has it. But somehow I managed to completely miss the voiceless nasals!

[Karch]

Afti paŋ a va gaini sugoi n’a guɗa, gaini evek na seyemni a sisiɗa viya, gaini luwuŋ n’a ali pinzibani kiini kiini, gaini na seyemni a na war alini zi wii dama, a za nθa lai. Afti a diya sugoi na gaini gûɗi, evek na pinzibani kiini kiini viya sisiɗa pini seyemni gaini luwoŋai n’a wa alini gaini seyemni amlai war alini pinzibani kiini kiini lai.

[Pabappa]

wow that circumflex sticks out like a sore thumb, as does the lone theta occuring in an awkward position. Im going to guess Austronesian? More based on the word structure than anything ... not much evidence of inflection, for example.

[Karch]

No, it isn't Austronesian.

[bradrn]

Chadic? Or at least from sub-Saharan Africa?

[Karch]

It is indeed a Chadic language.

[bradrn]

Oh good, I happen to like Chadic languages. Let me guess… Biu–Mandara? If I had to go further I would guess Guɗe, though I’m sure it’s less obvious than that.

EDIT: Actually, no, it can’t be Guɗe, since that uses ⟨ə⟩.

EDIT2: Could it be Lamang?

[Karch]

It is Biu-Mandara, but not Gude or Lamang.