Name That Language!

[Karch]

Mada?

[Raholeun]

Not Mada.

[Karch]

Ninkyob?

[Glass Half Baked]

All the Ninzic languages I can find evidence for have much bigger phonologies than what is suggested in that sample. Again, does this orthography skip over any phonological information?

[Raholeun]

All the Ninzic languages I can find evidence for have much bigger phonologies than what is suggested in that sample. Again, does this orthography skip over any phonological information?

It is somewhat surprising that you have been able to find any information on the Ninzics at all, as there is not a lot to go by. What information there is, seems to be rather underspecified. However, what I can say is that the text where the quote originates from does in fact employ some IPA characters for the vowels, but not with extreme frequently. Had the snippet been more prolix, you might have found <ɛ ɔ>.

The language is not Ninkyob by the way.

[Karch]

However, what I can say is that the text where the quote originates from does in fact employ some IPA characters for the vowels, but not with extreme frequently. Had the snippet been more prolix, you might have found <ɛ ɔ>.

This rules out Ce. Numana?

[Raholeun]

Negative.

[Karch]

Nungu?

[Glass Half Baked]

I was able to find this resource:
https://www.rogerblench.info/Language/N ... au/Ninzic/
No idea how trustworthy it is, but it looks like all these languages have a more complex consonantal phonemic inventory than what is seen in this spinnet.

[Raholeun]

I am happy to share the link to the source of the quote, which is not from Nungu by the way, so you can do some statistical analysis on phoneme frequency.

[Karch]

Wild guess (given that it only has a couple hundred speakers), but Ayu?

[Raholeun]

Not Ayu. I'd like to give a hint, but there's nothing I know about the language apart from the name.

[Karch]

I've honestly googled every Ninzic language and only found Blench's wordlists and 2 Bible translations, none of which matched the sample, so I'm also stumped. Let's however see what we have left (besides the languages I've already guessed, and Ninzo and Bu, which I've already ruled out because of the Bible translations not matching the sample):

Ce (but that uses underlines on vowels, so that's also ruled out), Kanufi, Gbetsu, Nko.

Is it any of these four?

[Raholeun]

It was Kanufi. Luke 18 :8

[Karch]

It was Kanufi. Luke 18 :8

Yeah. People like to complain about Papuan languages being hard to guess, but small Nigerian languages are way worse. Who'll post the new text?

[Karch]

Since I got the closest and nobody said anything, here's a new text:

Mípï ärä mâ, ká ádá gökõ ndákpã í ꞌdéé, kă lëmë ádá nî bï ámä kã. Ĩshíí ká löwó ë ꞌdéé, mä ndïpï ärä mâ kã nëë, mókö sálã lẽmbẽ rŏmó ũŋgú ë ꞌdéé, kä yüsú lámbã nî gĩ äpá jũjũ ëyí ꞌdéé, käḷã ïgï këshé ká dáꞌbã nî kã, ĩshíí bẽdé ndákpã ë ă kõkõ ũŋgú ë ꞌdéé, kä yüsú lámbã nî gĩ äpá jũjũ ïgï ã kã, “Õvó ãyá Kópõ ndákpã” õrõ glĭsï tẽndẽ ĩgí ŋbĕké jũjũ lãgá nẽ, ĩshíí ḷŏŋgö ílĩ kĩŋgĩ nẽ ká tẽndẽ ẽshẽ ká dáꞌbã. Ĩshíí bíbí jũjũ nî jóŋó nî ãyá mbû tẽndẽ, wãlã jóŋó nî ãyá ũyũ mbämbä, ĩshíí mümü nî ãyá gãná mëmë õshõ. Ĩshíí lãgá nî õvó ãyá ŋbãḷã ë ꞌdéé, küsú käꞌbã ílĩ õshõ gbãyá, ĩshíí õjõ ẽpé ãyá ũyũ ë ꞌdéé, kënjé ëté nẽ kã, ĩshíí lëmë nî ãyá lögö gũlũ ũyũ kpáŋbáḷá. Ẽŋgẽ sálã lẽmbẽ rŏmó ẽpé gĩ ãꞌbã ḷẽké lãsã nẽ, ĩshíí gãŋgã shẽshẽ góvó sëpë ă yĩgí ẽshẽ ílĩ ãkpã nî. Ĩshíí ílĩ mümü nî ãyá gãná gãŋgã ájã ë ꞌdéé, kõmó ŋgé kõtõ krõtó ĩshí ã kã.

[Nortaneous]

Ubangian?

[Karch]

Ubangian?

No.

[Travis B.]

For starters, is it spoken in sub-Saharan Africa?

[Karch]

For starters, is it spoken in sub-Saharan Africa?

Yes.