Language Quiz 16 March 202515 March 2025 By Simon Here’s a recording in a mystery language. http://www.omniglot.com/soundfiles/blog/quiz160325.mp3 Do you know, or can you guess, the language?
Something suggests to me a Semitic language while something else suggests something from the Philippines. Reply
“Muhammad … rasul Ullah” at 02:00 definitely suggest an Islamic context. But the general acoustic impression is that of an Austronesian language. So we might be somewhere in SE-Asia, even though probably not in the South Pacific proper. Reply
The mystery language is Cia-Cia (Bahasa Ciacia / 바하사 찌아찌아), a Celebic language spoken on Buton Island in Southeast Sulawesi Province in Indonesia. Reply
Something suggests to me a Semitic language while something else suggests something from the Philippines.
“Muhammad … rasul Ullah” at 02:00 definitely suggest an Islamic context. But the general acoustic impression is that of an Austronesian language. So we might be somewhere in SE-Asia, even though probably not in the South Pacific proper.
The mystery language is Cia-Cia (Bahasa Ciacia / 바하사 찌아찌아), a Celebic language spoken on Buton Island in Southeast Sulawesi Province in Indonesia.