Name That Language!

[Richard W]

Actually, looking at the sample text again, is it spoken in Cameroon by any chance?

Yes.

[bradrn]

OK, so after four weeks of inactivity, I might as well admit formally that I am giving up on this problem. No-one else seems to want to guess either, so it’s probably safe to ask now — what’s the answer?

(Well, I suppose I could guess further, but given that I am by no means an expert on the Chadic languages, any further guesses on my part would have to be random until I stumble across the final answer, a strategy which is distinctly unappealing to me. Let me refrain from saying any more about how a rule-change would make this game much quicker and much more interesting…)

[Moose-tache]

I came back to this thread for the first time in weeks only to find that the last comment I made here seems to have caused a chain reaction that strangled the game to death.

Oops.

[Richard W]

I think the problem is that there is a mismatch in the skills and knowledge of the players, and not enough players to split it into leagues. In this case, answering guesses/questions isn't high enough on Karch's list of priorities. I thought I could narrow things down by looking up a place name, only to disqualify myself by running into the text itself. In this case, I think Karch has found a real stinker - to me it doesn't look like its close relatives. It's sufficiently obscure that 'further reading' is not a cheap option.

[Moose-tache]

I thought I would try an experiment. Here is the Name That Language game, rebooted. Below is a text in an unidentified language. There are three rules:
1. First, questions should be yes-or-no questions.
b) Second, until you make your final guess you must ask substantive questions, i.e. not “is it this family/subgroup/language?”. You may ask as many of these questions as you like before making your guess.
3a: Third, when you do make your guess of which language it is, that’s your one and only chance so make it count. If you get it wrong, you don’t get a second guess. You can continue to ask substantive questions, to help other people who haven't guessed yet.

tawa edeni goropci teeluŋu asimuna nari purettei beiŋdexenindee. beiŋdegecci cii biccinindee. xaiddee böyömböni mastaa baramba waaganinda. andailli nari nimerixenindee. töyöbujji gɛɛda waŋgaiwa waaxanindaa. bargixanindaa. bargigacci töyöxönindee. mittei dullee ejjɛɛ böörö uccinindee. tawatakki dullee bööru. esiwi böörö uccinindee. meene depciwi. munalisiwi. tari nari caa dolbonnɛɛ cadu aundaxanindaa. gɛɛda mama unjiweni tolcicixanin. aa. xaiwaddaa gapɛɛddaa xaiwaddaa waapɛɛddaa mittei eccɛɛli böörö. xumanami elee bujiwi. cimanaa sindu gese ŋennɛɛlemi. isumi itetteerii. eri duxu geem taullillaa. sɛɛltee punektee omi taullillaa unjiweni tolcicixanindaa tari nari. cimanaani cimai teegecci ŋenexenindee. gɛɛdara aundagacci isuxanindaa. tededdee tari duxu geem anaanda. laxee isuwacci itexenindee. sɛɛltee punektee omi geem ree tauluxanindaa. cikee biccinde goropci teeluŋu.

Again, ask questions that are not just asking what language or group of languages this sample is taken from. When you think you're ready, feel free to take your one shot at naming the language.

FAQ:
Q: But what if I want to just read off a list of all the world’s languages until I happen upon the right one?
A: Try the existing Name That Language game.
Q: How could I possibly come up with an interesting question? Do you take me for some kind of wizard?
A: Here are some examples: “Is this language spoken in Nepal?” “Does it have more than 1000 speakers?” “Are there adjectives?” “Has it been mentioned on this site recently?” “Is any native speaker of this language famous?” “Does it have multiple described dialects?” “Is it secretly derived from Basque?” The possibilities are endless.
Q: If I'm stuck, can I just google it?
A: Of course. But if you do make it a little easier on yourself, please be considerate of other players who are trying to do things the hard way.
Q: I didn't read the whole thing, and I have a question that was already covered by the FAQ. Should I ask it anyway?
A: No. Please try reading the whole thing again to discover that your question was already answered.

[Vilike]

Is this language spoken mainly by cattle herders in East Africa?

[Moose-tache]

Is this language spoken mainly by cattle herders in East Africa?

Excellent question. No!

Your reward (if you want it) for asking such a detailed question is the following bonus information:

More: show

Both halves of the question are wrong.

[Richard W]

Is its speakers' usual written language?

[Moose-tache]

Is its speakers' usual written language?

Not usually, no.

[Vilike]

Are there person prefixes on both verbs and nouns?

[Zju]

Is it spoken on the Asian coastline of the Arctic Ocean?

[Moose-tache]

Are there person prefixes on both verbs and nouns?

Eeeeeh... No.

[Moose-tache]

Is it spoken on the Asian coastline of the Arctic Ocean?

Weeeeell... No.

[fusijui]

Is it Oroch?

If it is, the transcription is making me doubt my sanity (more).

[Moose-tache]

Is it Oroch?

If it is, the transcription is making me doubt my sanity (more).

fusijui's guess is... incorrect. You are welcome to keep asking questions, but no more guessing specific languages or language families (we might give everyone a second guess later if the thread becomes inactive).

In light of fusijui's valiant sacrifice, I will give out some optional bonus information.

More: show

I got this sample from a linguistics paper, so clarity was probably more important than proper orthography.

[bradrn]

I thought I would try an experiment. Here is the Name That Language game, rebooted. Below is a text in an unidentified language. There are three rules:

Excellent! We need new rules for this game.

1. First, questions should be yes-or-no questions.

I agree.

b) Second, until you make your final guess you must ask substantive questions … You may ask as many of these questions as you like before making your guess.

Agreed.

i.e. not “is it this family/subgroup/language?”.

Hmm… not so enthused about this one. I agree that ‘is it this subgroup’ questions are useless and boring (see: Sino-Tibetan, Chadic, Austronesian, Niger-Congo…), but perhaps we should still let people ask about top-level families. After all, asking about top-level families is often no less restrictive than asking any of those other questions you listed!

3a: Third, when you do make your guess of which language it is, that’s your one and only chance so make it count. If you get it wrong, you don’t get a second guess. You can continue to ask substantive questions, to help other people who haven't guessed yet.

I completely agree. Perhaps this will stop this game dragging out for too long.

FAQ:
Q: But what if I want to just read off a list of all the world’s languages until I happen upon the right one?
A: Try the existing Name That Language game.

…um, this thread is the ‘existing Name That Language game’, isn’t it?

Q: How could I possibly come up with an interesting question? Do you take me for some kind of wizard?
A: Here are some examples: “Is this language spoken in Nepal?” “Does it have more than 1000 speakers?” “Are there adjectives?” “Has it been mentioned on this site recently?” “Is any native speaker of this language famous?” “Does it have multiple described dialects?” “Is it secretly derived from Basque?” The possibilities are endless.

I appreciate you giving some examples — thank you, it really helps! I think “Has it been mentioned on this site recently?” should be disallowed, though; it narrows down the list of possible languages far too much.

Q: If I'm stuck, can I just google it?
A: Of course. But if you do make it a little easier on yourself, please be considerate of other players who are trying to do things the hard way.

Completely disagree. The game becomes very boring when you allow Googling. (We had this conversation already way back at the beginning of the thread.)

---------------

But all this bikeshedding notwithstanding, I shall adhere to your rules when making my guess(es):

tawa edeni goropci teeluŋu asimuna nari purettei beiŋdexenindee. beiŋdegecci cii biccinindee. xaiddee böyömböni mastaa baramba waaganinda. andailli nari nimerixenindee. töyöbujji gɛɛda waŋgaiwa waaxanindaa. bargixanindaa. bargigacci töyöxönindee. mittei dullee ejjɛɛ böörö uccinindee. tawatakki dullee bööru. esiwi böörö uccinindee. meene depciwi. munalisiwi. tari nari caa dolbonnɛɛ cadu aundaxanindaa. gɛɛda mama unjiweni tolcicixanin. aa. xaiwaddaa gapɛɛddaa xaiwaddaa waapɛɛddaa mittei eccɛɛli böörö. xumanami elee bujiwi. cimanaa sindu gese ŋennɛɛlemi. isumi itetteerii. eri duxu geem taullillaa. sɛɛltee punektee omi taullillaa unjiweni tolcicixanindaa tari nari. cimanaani cimai teegecci ŋenexenindee. gɛɛdara aundagacci isuxanindaa. tededdee tari duxu geem anaanda. laxee isuwacci itexenindee. sɛɛltee punektee omi geem ree tauluxanindaa. cikee biccinde goropci teeluŋu.

Is it spoken in Africa? In its centre? With vowels /a ɛ e i ɔ o u/ + length?

[Moose-tache]

Thank you for your feedback! I will keep this constructive criticism in mind. Anyone who runs this game after me is of course free to make adjustments as well. I'm sure there are things that could be done better.

Is it spoken in Africa? In its centre? With vowels /a ɛ e i ɔ o u/ + length?

Three great questions. In order: No, No, and No.

[bradrn]

Anyone who runs this game after me is of course free to make adjustments as well.

In the spirit of continuing to give feedback: please don’t do this!!! The only thing worse than having bad rules would be having rules which change every time a new text is submitted… (And for the record: I consider the previous rules bad, and yours a great improvement on them.)

Is it spoken in Africa? In its centre? With vowels /a ɛ e i ɔ o u/ + length?

Three great questions. In order: No, No, and No.

Ah, pity In that case, it’s more likely to be a Papuan language, I reckon. (Papuan isn’t a genetic grouping, so it should be fine to ask, right?) If I had to go further I’d say it’s most probably from the north coast of PNG?

[fusijui]

Oh, CRAP. I see I just made a stupid mistake that I've dreaded for years making in public.

But I like the revised game!

[Zju]

Do verbs conjugate differently depending on if the direct object is definite or not?