Can you identify the language, and do you know where it’s spoken?
6 thoughts on “Language quiz”
Chippewa. Finally Googling around for words I thought hearing paid off.
An Ojibwe (“Chippewa” in US parlance) language or dialect. Whether it’s Odawa, Algonquin, Saulteaux or another variety, I can’t tell. “Anishnaabe” means (“real”) person. The -ing at the end of a word is the locative suffix.
I heard Ishpeming twice, yes. It might possibly refer to that town, but since place names from aboriginal North American languages are generally descriptive, it might just refer to some place that meets that description. For example, a well-known “big river” whose headwaters are in Ojibwe-speaking lands shares its name with a less well-known one just west of Ottawa, Ontario: Mississippi from miizhiziibi. This is what Wikipedia has to say of the meanings of ishpiming:
Well, I tried using the “blockquote” html and I think I got it wrong. Retrying:
The name Ishpeming comes from the Anishinaabe language ishpiming, meaning “on top” or “from above” or “upon high.” Ishpeming, in the Ojibwa dialect of the Anishinaabe language, also means “Heaven”.
The answer is Chippewa (Ojibwemowin) an Algonquian language spoken in northern Michigan and North Dakota in the USA.
Chippewa. Finally Googling around for words I thought hearing paid off.
An Ojibwe (“Chippewa” in US parlance) language or dialect. Whether it’s Odawa, Algonquin, Saulteaux or another variety, I can’t tell. “Anishnaabe” means (“real”) person. The -ing at the end of a word is the locative suffix.
Did I hear him say Ishpeming?
I heard Ishpeming twice, yes. It might possibly refer to that town, but since place names from aboriginal North American languages are generally descriptive, it might just refer to some place that meets that description. For example, a well-known “big river” whose headwaters are in Ojibwe-speaking lands shares its name with a less well-known one just west of Ottawa, Ontario: Mississippi from miizhiziibi. This is what Wikipedia has to say of the meanings of ishpiming:
Well, I tried using the “blockquote” html and I think I got it wrong. Retrying:
The answer is Chippewa (Ojibwemowin) an Algonquian language spoken in northern Michigan and North Dakota in the USA.
The recording comes from the GRN.