Please identify the language

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Vlürch
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Re: Please identify the language

Postby Vlürch » 2018-06-07, 13:03

vijayjohn wrote:
Vlürch wrote:What language sounds like Arabic and Italian in equal parts?

Maltese :P

Well yeah, but... :P
vijayjohn wrote:Uzbek doesn't sound particularly Turkic, though...even though it is.

I guess, but it has at least allophonic front rounded vowels (lol, I accidentally left out the "rounded" part in that post) and is still more or less recognisably Turkic. It doesn't have either of /d͡z/ or /ʕ/, although I suppose the former could maybe be an allophone of /z/ or /d͡ʒ/ or a dialectal feature (since Karakalpak has it), and the latter might still be pronounced in Arabic loanwords for some reason... Uzbek does probably sound most like Italian of all the Turkic languages, but still nowhere close to it... it being Uzbek would be almost as weird as it being Brazilian Portuguese, but if some dialect has [d͡z] and they pronounced [ʕ] in Arabic loanwords or something, and they simply didn't happen to say any words with [ø] or [y], and they pronounced /æ/ or /ɒ/ as [a] for some reason, it's honestly not impossible.
vijayjohn wrote:Are you sure about that and it wasn't just Japanese? :P

If it was Japanese, it was the weirdest Japanese ever. :lol:
vijayjohn wrote:Chechen has both /dz/ and /ʡ/.

Is the latter ever pronounced simply as a fricative or something? Wikipedia says it's a pharyngealised glottal stop, which it wasn't; it was [ʕ], although I'm not sure if it was an approximant or fricative. Definitely not a stop or affricate, though. It also has front wounded vowels and ejectives, although again it could be that they just didn't say any words with them. They didn't look Chechen either, judging by googling "Chechen women" and having seen some on TV a few times, and I don't know if Chechens would be so touristy?
vijayjohn wrote:Maltese does have [ˤː], though.

Hmm, interesting. I thought it was at the beginning of words, too, but maybe my perception of word boundaries was messed up. If there can be sequences of a pharyngealised vowel and a regular vowel in Maltese, I could've heard that as a vowel followed by a pharyngeal approximant/fricative followed by a vowel? Maybe it could've been Maltese after all...
księżycowy wrote:I thought Chechen also has ʕ too.

So did I, but it doesn't according to Wikipedia. Then again, there's an example word for /ʕ/ from Chechen, so wtf...

księżycowy

Re: Please identify the language

Postby księżycowy » 2018-06-07, 13:08

I'll have to double check later, when I get home.

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Re: Please identify the language

Postby Reynman » 2018-06-24, 21:13

Hi!

Cute arabic with a south european tempo, could it be be Lebanese or Tunisian?


Can anyone help identify this language and perhaps even what it says?? It is a signature from an oil painting I just bought.
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Re: Please identify the language

Postby vijayjohn » 2018-06-24, 21:37

Maybe my mind is just playing tricks on me, but I took one look at that picture and instantly thought it was in Gothic, not any language written in Arabic script. (That could be in part because I've been running into a few Wiktionary entries for Gothic words today, though).

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Re: Please identify the language

Postby Reynman » 2018-06-26, 6:32

Thanks! I dont think it’s arabic or farsi, still it seems so eastern. Hope someone has a clue!

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Re: Please identify the language

Postby mōdgethanc » 2018-06-26, 11:44

Whatever that is, it's not any form of the Arabic script I know of.
[ˈmoːdjeðɑŋk]

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What language is this? What does it say?

Postby NewbieLang » 2018-06-26, 17:55

Looking to find out what language this is and possibly what it says. I tried using image translations but they can't identify the text. Thanks!

https://ibb.co/iyBnh8

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Re: Please identify the language

Postby vijayjohn » 2018-07-09, 17:58

I'm so tempted to think it's seal script, in which case it's Chinese, but haven't managed to identify any of the characters yet (if that's even possible given that I could be totally wrong).

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Re: Please identify the language

Postby linguoboy » 2018-07-09, 18:01

vijayjohn wrote:I'm so tempted to think it's seal script, in which case it's Chinese, but haven't managed to identify any of the characters yet (if that's even possible given that I could be totally wrong).

I've never seen anyone write out seal script using a marker pen like this. When it's used at all, it's in formal calligraphy or in signs based on calligraphic forms.
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons

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Re: Please identify the language

Postby vijayjohn » 2018-07-09, 18:10

linguoboy wrote:
vijayjohn wrote:I'm so tempted to think it's seal script, in which case it's Chinese, but haven't managed to identify any of the characters yet (if that's even possible given that I could be totally wrong).

I've never seen anyone write out seal script using a marker pen like this. When it's used at all, it's in formal calligraphy or in signs based on calligraphic forms.

I mean, I have this, which definitely has seal script in it. I'm not sure how they inputted it, but for all I know, it looks like it could have just been drawn in with a marker pen. *shrug*

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Looking for help translating carved wooden sign

Postby Easkerm » 2018-08-09, 3:21

My mother was given this wooden sign that supposedly came from my grandparents home. We have asked relatives and no one really knows what it says or the meaning behind it. We know that it bears the name of my grandmother "Margaret" as well as the year 1926. Closest guess is maybe Danish or Gaelic?? Any help would be much appreciated! My grandmother passed away when my mom was only 12 so any connection to her own mother would be very meaningful to her.
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Re: Looking for help translating carved wooden sign

Postby vijayjohn » 2018-08-09, 4:51

I'm having a little trouble making out the characters, but it's got to be Danish. I can make out something like Margarit og ______ og __son and something about 16? Og means 'and' in Danish.

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Re: Please identify the language

Postby Widukind » 2018-09-04, 4:16

Image
Image

Have fun.

IpseDixit

Re: Please identify the language

Postby IpseDixit » 2018-09-04, 12:52

Widukind wrote:Image
Image

Have fun.


Looks like Mongolian written in the traditional script.

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Re: Please identify the language

Postby Linguaphile » 2018-09-04, 13:41

IpseDixit wrote:
Widukind wrote:Image
Image

Have fun.


Looks like Mongolian written in the traditional script.

Sogdian.
Sono di continuo a caccia di parole. Descriverei il processo così: Ogni giorno entro in un bosco con un cestino in mano. Trovo le parole tutt'attorno: sugli alberi, nei cespugli, per terra (in realtà: per la strada, durante la conversazioni, mentre leggo). Ne raccolgo quante più possibile. -Jhumpa Lahiri

księżycowy

Re: Please identify the language

Postby księżycowy » 2018-09-04, 13:48

I was just about to post that.

It's even more fun when the pictures aren't the ones used in the Wikipedia article on the language. :P

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Widukind
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Re: Please identify the language

Postby Widukind » 2018-09-04, 18:07

We have a winner.

IpseDixit

Re: Please identify the language

Postby IpseDixit » 2018-10-08, 22:32

Is this Serbian? And what does it say?

IMG_20181006_113840.jpg
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Re: Please identify the language

Postby vijayjohn » 2018-10-09, 2:51

Yes, it's in Serbian. It's part of this sign, which is an acrostic whose initials spell ИНВАЛИДИ (INVALIDI, which AFAICT literally means 'invalids' but is referring to the fans of this soccer club; see this section).

Here's my attempt to translate the acrostic, line by line:

Perverted (the first line not shown in your picture)
Fans
Of Voždovac
Alcoholics
Madmen
Idiots
Degenerates(?)
Etc.

IpseDixit

Re: Please identify the language

Postby IpseDixit » 2018-10-09, 6:59

Thanks!


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