Name That Language!

[Karch]

It is indeed a Papuan language.

[bradrn]

Is it a Sepik language?

[Karch]

No.

[Zju]

Mès-meakim epe sàpra ma-màanem, tis ka in watmat kàp-hari; usus epe manengop duv ndad-kahavèkat. Koⁱ-hu ngat upe rah kindap-kumàkem. Oramheⁱs-ngat daᵉt. Tis ka kadum-ᵒà usak; karik dum-kusàkti, ja kadis-ᵒà akobea; tanama ndumì-ᵒarau, a ahi-mànem epe.

Is it a Yam language?

[bradrn]

Are we resurrecting this game? Great! Hopefully I’m more competent at it now…

Anyway, Yam seems unlikely to me. Something in southern New Guinea could be possible, though. Perhaps Marindic? [EDIT: or Kolopom]

[Karch]

Perhaps Marindic?

And it's indeed a Marindic language!

[Zju]

Bipim?

[bradrn]

Perhaps Marindic?

And it's indeed a Marindic language!

Wow. I’m a bit shocked I actually got something right for a change!

(I’ll wait till Zju is answered before posting any next guess of my own.)

[Karch]

Bipim?

No.

[bradrn]

OK then, Marindic. Let’s see what the options are…

(using my trusty Languages and Linguistics of the New Guinea Area, which I’m assuming is allowed since it doesn’t contain anything remotely approaching that sample text)

• Marind itself… seems highly unlikely, considering those superscript vowels.
• Bian — I don’t actually know anything about this, but the name alone makes it a possible candidate.
• Yaqay has a seven-vowel system. It could fit, given ⟨à è v⟩.
• Bipim is already out.
• Boazi could fit, but the vowel system seems wrong.
• Zimakani I know nothing about.

So, I guess Yaqay, followed by Bian.

[Karch]

Neither of these!

[bradrn]

Look, at this point, guessing language names randomly is no fun for anyone. So let’s just say Zju won this round and can post the next text.

(In the future, maybe we can say that a person wins once they narrow it down to a group of ~5 languages, discretion to the original poster.)

[Nortaneous]

According to Olsson's grammar of Coastal Marind, tis ka, which appears clause-initially twice with no other ka, is a common discourse marker. Checking Glottolog, I see that Olsson recently published an edition of Petrus Drabbe's Marind texts; given the intensification of regional trends in orthography over time, the current meta is to use older transcriptions. Wurm's 1954 article on Drabbe contains many names which I assume are from Drabbe and contain many grave accents, so while I can't find Drabbe's texts online I'd imagine it's Marind and drawn from there - and Olsson's edition contains the same story in normalized orthography. Then he threw at the dog, he threw a stick at the dog, but the dog disappeared. Skip me tho I just Ctrl+Fed in a grammar

[Karch]

And it's indeed Marind. I used an older transcription because at the time I wasn't aware of Olsson's grammar (nor anything newer than Drabbe's texts, which I took the example from). I assume the meta's still "use what your source uses", but I don't think transcribing your snippet into an orthography that's actually used more widely should be frowned upon. And as for the next text, I guess anybody who wants to can post one, maybe Zju or bradrn?

[bradrn]

OK then, I’ll go next:

Muc Pannakkula way kayepecø kucamakkakka pickul̪økayicca. Ŋa karrpøcamakkakaɲi. Kane kawanakka ɲapuriŋ kancerra ŋacenuŋ kacu ŋapuriŋ ŋalkinpene kaɲmeŋacaŋ. Ŋa karrmeŋkaɲi. Medeɲɲuŋ ŋaŋkape karrmeŋkaɲi. Yu meneɲɲuŋ ŋaŋkape yaŋkenkirrwanuŋ ŋaŋkape kaɲmeŋacaŋ memempenakarraŋ.

(Note: the source didn’t supply any punctuation in the text. And, to forestall questions, ⟨ø⟩ is indeed a front rounded vowel.)

[abahot]

This looks suspiciously like an Aboriginal Australian language (although my knowledge of languages in general is not nearly enough to figure out which one or even which group.)

[bradrn]

This looks suspiciously like an Aboriginal Australian language (although my knowledge of languages in general is not nearly enough to figure out which one or even which group.)

Darn. I was hoping people would take longer to work that out. Yes, it is an Aboriginal Australian language.

[Nortaneous]

Australian, front rounded vowel, no apparent long vowels, geminates, <d>.

North Australian? Probably not - no geminates. What's <d>? Not sure. A transcription difference, maybe; can't rely on it. Can we rely on geminates?

ø is common in Daly, so the first thing to look for is a Daly language with no long vowels, geminates, and a lot of words ending in -aŋ -iŋ -uŋ. Tryon 1974 is on ANU Open Research and has short samples of many Daly languages. Pungupungu has a lot of geminates. Bachamal/Batjamalh/Wadjiginy?

Should Medeɲɲuŋ read Meneɲɲuŋ? (pg. 204)

[bradrn]

Bachamal/Batjamalh/Wadjiginy?

Yes, well done. Your turn.

(One of these days, I’ll find a language you can’t immediately guess…)

Should Medeɲɲuŋ read Meneɲɲuŋ? (pg. 204)

Yes, indeed it should.

[Nortaneous]

Jadi ẽ' haruka ẽ', edi'iu araė' ẽ' mahkota, tapi di'iu ahoak ẽ' nė'ėn ẽ' kidi'iu aka'. Aka' iur uahau ẽ', mė' kamah ẽ'. Ẽ' haruk ẽ' kahinu, nė'ėn ẽ' hopari' eiah nė kur none'e, kapari' parna, kapari' puru aiam, kalo kahinu ẽ' ke'par, ke'par kinė'ė kidi'iėm, kidipĩ' ẽ' puru koi - puru koi ẽ' kirhia' jadi ean, edih kuaha kiki kãhã. Nė'ėn kapkupe' ite' muo, ẽ' ehear - haru kak kahinu ẽ' ke'par kinė'ė - epurdu koi, purdu o kãhã koi ẽ' ka'par aka'.