Do you know or can you guess the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
7 thoughts on “Language Quiz”
The syllable structure seems to point towards something Austronesian/Oceanic, but I wouldn’t be able to be more specific than that.
I agree with Deabkikker. Certainly there are sounds that make me think of the south Pacific. There is one vowel sound, though, that resembles both something Japanese as well as Russian (ы) but I still think it must be Austronesian/Oceanic as suggested above.
The music is reminiscent of Hawaiian slack key, but Hawaiian has a very limited consonant inventory that doesn’t seem to match.
Yes, it sounds Polynesian, and if it wasn’t for two instances of /s/ I’d say we’re listening to a song in the dialect of Ni’ihau, Hawai’i …
Not exactly sure why but I am going to guess Wallisian.
I agree with emanuel. That / s / misleads me, since it does not exist in Hawaiian – I think. She exchanges / k / with / t / and / l / with / r / as in Ni’ihau … For example, the mythical Hawaiian Kanaloa appears as Tangaroa in other Polynesian myths, although its functions do not exactly coincide.
The language is Rukai (Drekay), a Formosan language spoken in parts of southern Taiwan.
The syllable structure seems to point towards something Austronesian/Oceanic, but I wouldn’t be able to be more specific than that.
I agree with Deabkikker. Certainly there are sounds that make me think of the south Pacific. There is one vowel sound, though, that resembles both something Japanese as well as Russian (ы) but I still think it must be Austronesian/Oceanic as suggested above.
The music is reminiscent of Hawaiian slack key, but Hawaiian has a very limited consonant inventory that doesn’t seem to match.
Yes, it sounds Polynesian, and if it wasn’t for two instances of /s/ I’d say we’re listening to a song in the dialect of Ni’ihau, Hawai’i …
Not exactly sure why but I am going to guess Wallisian.
I agree with emanuel. That / s / misleads me, since it does not exist in Hawaiian – I think. She exchanges / k / with / t / and / l / with / r / as in Ni’ihau … For example, the mythical Hawaiian Kanaloa appears as Tangaroa in other Polynesian myths, although its functions do not exactly coincide.
The language is Rukai (Drekay), a Formosan language spoken in parts of southern Taiwan.
The recording comes from YouTube