Spot the Language 30

Just no. You’re never getting this one either.You will never get the language, so just give me the general region where it is spoken and if possible the language family this is a part of.

I like to toss out this language when I ask linguist morons who insist that all languages are equally difficult or easy to learn. I ask them,

Is (this language) as easy to learn as Malay? Is Malay as difficult to learn as (this language)?

This language actually has 15,000 speakers. It is spoken in a part of the world where there are many small languages spoken by different tribal groups. They typically have only small numbers of speakers, and in general they are not official languages where they are spoken.

This language is interesting because studies have shown that it is so complicated that even native speakers often make errors when they speak. There is also a possibility that there may be 70,000 possible forms of any verb.

Unfortunately, this language has no official status. For the first five years of education, another language in this group, albeit with many more speakers, is used as the mode of education. After that it switches over to education in the large language of the state which these people are citizens of, which is completely different from this language. As a result, children have a better command of the state language than their native tongue.

Nevertheless, most people over age 35 are fluent speakers of this tongue and it is still the first language of most children. It has two different alphabets, a non-Latin one which is most used and a Latin one, an example of which can be seen below.

Neither are much used and speakers of this language are more literate in the language used in the first five years of elementary school than they are in this language. These languages are known, in addition to their maddening complexity, for having very large inventories of both vowels and consonants. And just to give you a huge hint, yes, the speakers of this language are Muslims, as are almost all speakers of this language family.

Kʼetʼus Hunar

Zewnoƛax zewčʼeyƛax bˤeƛon bocʼin zirun qayno. Sidaquł šigoħno sadaqorno boyno ħukmu: yaqułtow begira bocʼi ħonƛʼār miƛʼeł xizāz xizyo rišʷa yoł. Bˤeƛā begirno qay łˤāł xizāz, bocʼin zirun regirno ħonƛʼār miƛʼeł xizāz. Ɣudod, žedi raynosi beƛʼez reqenyoxor, ziru boqno uhi-ehƛada buq boƛāxzāzarno boqno. Zirus uhi-ehi teqxoy, ɣʷaybi kʼoƛin elār, bocʼi buq bātuzāzarno boqno bikʼin reqenyoƛer, besurno ƛʼarayaw miƛʼi. Miƛʼin bisno bocʼin zirun xizor rutin qʼayƛʼār.

Rizirno cʼidoƛʼor ƛoħon begirno łāƛʼor qay. Kikxogon zewno bočʼikʼxo kʼetʼu. Qayir zewāčʼey rikʷayxo; nešuruxay nełor rikʷayxo zewčʼey. Kʼetʼu, ełor baynosi qay, boqno kʼekʼbikʼa. Kʼekʼbikʼni teqnosi, qay łikin rixerčʼeytow boxin xizor. Bˤeƛā esirno: “Šidā boxā rayirčʼey łin?” Elo didiyƛa žekʼu yoł-ƛin eƛin qayā. Aħugon rikʼin łāxor zirun qayno.

Žedi raynosi kikxor žedā esirno kʼetuq: “Mi šebi?” Di žekʼu yoł-ƛin eƛin kʼetʼā. Šebi že debez ħiroƛʼ esirxo zirā. Tupi ƛin eƛix kʼetʼā. Dicce rˤuƛʼno zirun qayno, amma biyxoy kʼetʼu yāłru, xizyo łˤonon zenzi rikʼin raħira reƛ. Bˤeƛo buqełno bičin ažoz kʼodrexāzay, rołikʼno aħyabin kecno, kʼetʼu tataniłxo zewno cʼidox.

Bˤeƛā kʼekʼrikʼerxo zewno aħyabi. Že rikʷayxoy, kʼetʼuz rokʼƛʼor rayno, že elo aw ƛin, hudu betʼtʼun kʼoƛin elor. Dicce bˤuƛʼzāq bˤeƛqo regin ixiytʼatow qˤaƛubin, boxin ciqxār. Bocʼezno qayizno, ziruzno rokʼƛʼor rayno baysi bāsu ixiytow ħaywan šebin, nełoq že riqičʼey kʼiriłno roxin. Cʼikʼiy reƛ miƛes ƛexun kʼetʼur. ʕoƛiran ɣˤudeł kʼetʼu bišno, racʼno baɣʷace dawla bocʼesno zirusno.

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6 thoughts on “Spot the Language 30”

  1. It’s a language spoken by Muslims, possibly somewhere in Central Asia.

    As you say it’s only 15,000 speakers, I’m guessing it’s a nomadic language somewhere in Turkmenistan or near Azerbaijan, perhaps.

    Of course, I don’t know the name of this language but I know a lot of words of this language because I speak Urdu fluently (self-taught, most Indians can’t speak Urdu).

    Here are the words that give it away as they have identical cognates in Urdu.

    Hunar – courage, talent, ability
    qayno – Universe, world
    begira without
    hudu limits
    bˤuƛʼzāq buzkashi, a traditional horseback sport in nomadic Central Asia.
    dawla wealth

    Final answer: Some minority nomadic language in Azerbaijan

    1. Actually it is spoken in Russia right next to Azerbaijan, in fact, right on the northeastern border of Azerbaijan. They’re not nomads. They live way up in extremely high mountains and are very isolated up there.

      Those are apparently Arabic and Persian borrowings. Other languages related to this language also have a lot of Arabic and Persian borrowings. Urdu has a ton of Arabic and Persian borrowings.

      You got the locale right anyway.

      1. You got the locale right anyway.

        Actually it is spoken in Russia right next to Azerbaijan, in fact, right on the northeastern border of Azerbaijan

        So, out of Dagestan, Abkhazia, and Chechnya, I’m going with:

        Dagestani? I don’t know if it’s a real language.

        Urdu has a ton of Arabic and Persian borrowings.

        The word ordu is of Turkic origin. It literally means the language spoken of a military camp.

        OK, professor. Here’s a question. I’m sure you’ve taught linguistics in a classroom. Is this how you did it? Make the students make attempt guesses. I feel it’s a pretty novel technique. Slow but can lead to a deeper orientation.

        Have you studied the connections between Lithuanian and Sanskrit?. They’re mind blowingly similar. In fact, they’re even mutually intelligible for a few sentences.

        Sanskrit

        kas tvam asi? Asmi swapnas tava tamase nakate. Agnim dadau te sradi tada vispatir devas tvam asi.

        Lithuanian
        Kas tu esi? Esmi sapnas tavo tamsioje naktyje. Ugnj daviau tau sridy, tada viespatis dievas tu esi.

        English

        Who are you? A dream in your dark night. I gave you the fire in your heart, so you are God our lord.

        @—

        I’ve met Lithuanians before. I found them very unpleasant douchebags. They’re 100% racist assholes who uniformly despise Indians (and Pakistanis, I believe they share the Sanskrit heritage as much as Indians do. I’ve met Pakistanis who take pride in Sanskrit, not all of them are jihadis).

        However it does bother me a little that the Lithuanian dickheads speak the language of my ancestors much better than I do They’re going to literally understand entire sentences. Fuck those identity thieves, they’re stealing the best thing about my culture.

        1. I’ve met Lithuanians before. I found them very unpleasant douchebags. They’re 100% racist assholes who uniformly despise Indians…

          They haven’t been SJWized. I will say one thing for SJWism. It does tend to make people a lot nicer, more polite, and yeah, less racist. I just think they go too far is all. They need to lighten up.

          (and Pakistanis, I believe they share the Sanskrit heritage as much as Indians do. I’ve met Pakistanis who take pride in Sanskrit, not all of them are jihadis).

          As a matter of fact I was friends with a young Pakistani guy from Canada who was part of some Pakistani nationalist group. He didn’t like India or Indians at all (though he would like you) but he was very eager to claim a lot of Indian heritage as shared by his people.

          In particular, let’s face it, the great Indus Valley civilization that Indians go on and on about was actually in Northern Pakistan. And when the Indo-Aryans moved down into India, they went first through Pakistan, leaving traces in the languages along the way.

          Burushaski and some Tibetan languages are probably all that are left of the original Pakistani languages. The original languages of India were Austroasiatic, like Vietnamese or Burmese. Crazy, huh? There are still some Austroasiatic languages spoken over there in the Northeast.

          And even before that, possibly Papuan languages like (possibly) Nihali and another one whose name I forget. The second one was thought to be extinct recently until some native speakers were found in Nepal. Both of these languages are officially isolates, but some think there is a link with Papuan (and maybe the Andaman Island languages).

          So the first people in India were like Andaman Islander Negritos, much later the Asian Austroasiatics came, then the Dravidians came from Western Iran, and then the Indo-Aryans moved in and conquered a lot of the north.

          However it does bother me a little that the Lithuanian dickheads speak the language of my ancestors much better than I do They’re going to literally understand entire sentences. Fuck those identity thieves, they’re stealing the best thing about my culture.

          Sanskrit is crazy. That must be impossible to learn. However, it is not dead. There is an entire village in India full of very poor, uneducated, lower caste people, and they all speak Sanskrit as a native language! Can you imagine? These dirt poor, low caste, barely educated “curryniggers” speak one of the most famous and hardest to learn illustrious literary languages on Earth.

          Any human can learn a language. There are no languages that dumb people can’t learn or that can only be learned by higher IQ types. Any kid can learn any human language given enough exposure. Amazing really.

          1. I’ve heard they don’t prize East Asian women in Lithuania. I consider them a somewhat isolated European group. They held onto paganism the longest, I believe. Balts are likely more in tune with nature.

            You want multiculturalism in Europe, go to gay Paree. I’m not sure Americans with our giant ball of yarn are fit to hold any sway over a well over centuries-old European culture.

          2. Let’s put it this way. The Baltics are very White and they are very into being White! Also anti-Cultural Left for that matter.

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