Page 45 of 79
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2021 4:11 pm
by 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).
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2021 4:40 pm
by 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.
Travis B. wrote: ↑Fri Jan 15, 2021 4:09 pm
Aero wrote: ↑Fri Jan 15, 2021 2:11 pm
Rounin Ryuuji wrote: ↑Fri Jan 15, 2021 12:56 pm
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!)
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2021 4:53 pm
by Rounin Ryuuji
Is that a significant milestone?
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2021 5:15 pm
by bradrn
Aero wrote: ↑Fri Jan 15, 2021 4:40 pm
I just realized the current rules (someone really should add them to the original post) are buried pretty far back in the thread:
Zju wrote: ↑Sun Dec 20, 2020 8:54 am
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.
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2021 3:36 am
by Aero
bradrn wrote: ↑Fri Jan 15, 2021 5:15 pm
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.
Creyeditor wrote: ↑Fri Jan 15, 2021 3:37 pm
Is it spoken in a coastal area?
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2021 4:09 am
by bradrn
Does it have either of /l/ /h/?
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2021 5:26 am
by Richard W
I'll throw in what was a long shot - is it Zia?
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2021 1:30 pm
by Aero
Richard W wrote: ↑Sat Jan 16, 2021 5:26 am
I'll throw in what was a long shot - is it Zia?
It’s Zia!
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Mon Jan 18, 2021 1:42 pm
by Richard W
Aero wrote: ↑Sun Jan 17, 2021 1:30 pm
Richard W wrote: ↑Sat Jan 16, 2021 5:26 am
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.
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:01 pm
by 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.
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:12 pm
by Karch
Is the language extinct without living descendants?
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:30 pm
by Rounin Ryuuji
Is it some manner of Austronesian language?
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:53 pm
by Qwynegold
Is it a Tibeto-Burman language?
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:30 pm
by Richard W
Karch wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:12 pm
Is the language extinct without living descendants?
Yes, though some would claim otherwise, and I think it is still changing. No plausible L1 speakers.
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:32 pm
by Richard W
Rounin Ryuuji wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:30 pm
Is it some manner of Austronesian language?
No, except possibly by some tenuous non-genetic connection.
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:32 pm
by Richard W
Qwynegold wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:53 pm
Is it a Tibeto-Burman language?
No.
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:45 pm
by Rounin Ryuuji
Richard W wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:32 pm
Rounin Ryuuji wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:30 pm
Is it some manner of Austronesian language?
No, except possibly by some tenuous non-genetic connection.
Is it geographically adjacent to them?
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:50 pm
by bradrn
Is its native writing system an abugida?
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 6:00 pm
by Richard W
Rounin Ryuuji wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:45 pm
Richard W wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:32 pm
Rounin Ryuuji wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:30 pm
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.
Re: Name That Language!
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 6:08 pm
by Rounin Ryuuji
Richard W wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 6:00 pm
Rounin Ryuuji wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:45 pm
Richard W wrote: ↑Tue Jan 19, 2021 5:32 pm
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.