Name That Language!

[Rounin Ryuuji]

I was thinking it looked rather Polynesian, but perhaps has too many voiced stops for that (it also looks vaguely Japonic, but again, has some invalid words and most Japonic languages that aren't Japanese have really weird phonologies).

[Aero]

I just realized the current rules (someone really should add them to the original post) are buried pretty far back in the thread:

• Everyone gets four opportunities to guess the language or family. There is no limit on other yes-or-no guesses.
• There is no time limit on guesses. You may make them as close or as far apart as you want to. (I know we were concerned earlier about people monopolising the game, but I actually don’t think this will be a problem; my reasoning is that, if you do try this, you’ll end up using up all four of your guesses pretty quickly and lose the opportunity to use them later.)
• The game ends when someone guesses the language correctly, or after four days, whichever is first. If after four days there is no correct guess, I will assign the winner using phylogenetic distance, or geographic distance if that is impossible.

Is this an East or Southeast Asian language?

Does this rule out New Guinea? And if it is not ruled out, is this a Papuan language?

Yes, the language is Papuan (New Guinea being part of Oceania.)

(Congrats on post #2000 btw!)

[Rounin Ryuuji]

Is that a significant milestone?

[bradrn]

I just realized the current rules (someone really should add them to the original post) are buried pretty far back in the thread:

I agree with the guy who earlier said that rules better don't change willy-nilly each round. To that end, I propose to keep them as-is. Let's see if I remember them:

• Everyone has 96 hours to guess the language (equal to 4 astronomical days). If nobody guesses it in that timeframe, the closest guess wins. (but what if there are no guesses? or guesses only from different language families?)
• Each player has three attempts in total to guess the language. One of those may be spent as a question about linguistic genealogy OR as a question about geographic placement instead. One guess 24 hours per player.
• Unlimited number of yes/no questions.
• Fair play, no googling of parts of the prompt, etc.

Surely the ‘current rules’ would be the ones I suggested after Zju:

• Everyone gets four opportunities to guess the language or family. There is no limit on other yes-or-no guesses.
• There is no time limit on guesses. You may make them as close or as far apart as you want to. (I know we were concerned earlier about people monopolising the game, but I actually don’t think this will be a problem; my reasoning is that, if you do try this, you’ll end up using up all four of your guesses pretty quickly and lose the opportunity to use them later.)
• The game ends when someone guesses the language correctly, or after four days, whichever is first. If after four days there is no correct guess, I will assign the winner using phylogenetic distance, or geographic distance if that is impossible.

Though this is admittedly a quibble, and it is of course fine if you want to use Zju’s ruleset.

[Aero]

Surely the ‘current rules’ would be the ones I suggested after Zju:

• Everyone gets four opportunities to guess the language or family. There is no limit on other yes-or-no guesses.
• There is no time limit on guesses. You may make them as close or as far apart as you want to. (I know we were concerned earlier about people monopolising the game, but I actually don’t think this will be a problem; my reasoning is that, if you do try this, you’ll end up using up all four of your guesses pretty quickly and lose the opportunity to use them later.)
• The game ends when someone guesses the language correctly, or after four days, whichever is first. If after four days there is no correct guess, I will assign the winner using phylogenetic distance, or geographic distance if that is impossible.

Though this is admittedly a quibble, and it is of course fine if you want to use Zju’s ruleset.

Guess I got lost as well, thanks for catching this! Edited my post above with the actual rules.

Is it spoken in a coastal area?

[bradrn]

Does it have either of /l/ /h/?

[Richard W]

I'll throw in what was a long shot - is it Zia?

[Aero]

I'll throw in what was a long shot - is it Zia?

It’s Zia!

[Richard W]

I'll throw in what was a long shot - is it Zia?

It’s Zia!

I need to double check my challenge text - the sample comes from a book. It should be ready on Tuesday night.

[Richard W]

OK, here it is:

jaaŋ maŋkalaŋ tuata tsa hi sinta yiŋ tsu tsa te wakaa
sutta naaŋ naati kat tsan hti ahta tiŋ tsan tsa maŋkalaŋ

te tsi taŋ teva tevana tsappa paa[pa]vinaa tsa phaŋ
tsappa lɔka hi tat taja maŋkalaŋ taŋ panaa ma he

eva me tsu taŋ ekaŋ tsama yaŋ phakkawa tsa wɔt hti
yaŋ wihalati seta wane [an]ahta pen li kat tsa
elaa me

ahtaa kho aan nya talaa tevataa
anik kantayaǎ latî ya anik kantaa waan naake
vaala kap paŋ seta [wa]naŋ ophǎ se tua

It's a transcription (not mine) of a text that is written in a non-Roman script that would be a total give-away. I don't understand the significance of the spaces. There may be some lurking errors in it - I have restored the three missing syllables within square brackets. The contrasts between 'j' and 'y' and between 'v' and 'w' appear to be scribal whim. As far as pronunciation goes, it's not the by any means the 'standard' dialect, but I'm not asking you to identify the dialect, and there are no dialect words in it.

[Karch]

Is the language extinct without living descendants?

[Rounin Ryuuji]

Is it some manner of Austronesian language?

[Qwynegold]

Is it a Tibeto-Burman language?

[Richard W]

Is the language extinct without living descendants?

Yes, though some would claim otherwise, and I think it is still changing. No plausible L1 speakers.

[Richard W]

Is it some manner of Austronesian language?

No, except possibly by some tenuous non-genetic connection.

[Richard W]

Is it a Tibeto-Burman language?

No.

[Rounin Ryuuji]

Is it some manner of Austronesian language?

No, except possibly by some tenuous non-genetic connection.

Is it geographically adjacent to them?

[bradrn]

Is its native writing system an abugida?

[Richard W]

Is it some manner of Austronesian language?

No, except possibly by some tenuous non-genetic connection.

Is it geographically adjacent to them?

You're really getting 2 or 3 questions answered in one. This dialect's speakers mostly have a Tai L1; I subscribe to the view that Tai-Kadai is part of Austronesian.

[Rounin Ryuuji]

No, except possibly by some tenuous non-genetic connection.

Is it geographically adjacent to them?

You're really getting 2 or 3 questions answered in one. This dialect's speakers mostly have a Tai L1; I subscribe to the view that Tai-Kadai is part of Austronesian.

Accidental; I don't have much knowledge of the languages of the area — the original simply reminded me a little of Malay.