Here are five languages that I have found out about and that have some interesting things about them:
- Riau Indonesian – this language has an extremely simple grammar that is considered to be one of the simplest in the world by linguists. The language has been used as a universal language between non-native speakers and that might be the reason . The famous example is “ayam makan” (literally: chicken eat) which can mean “I eat chicken”, “chicken eats”, “I ate chicken”, “when the chicken was eating”, “while eating the chicken”, “that chicken is eating” and so on. Still, people communicate successfully in the language. I guess this shows that a lot really depends on context in communication. Also, it looks like Riau would be very easy to learn.
- Tsez – Tsez is a Caucasian language spoken in some mountains by some 15,000 people with very complicated grammar and a lot of unusual, such as glottal or pharyngeal, sounds. Talking about the grammar, it has 64 noun cases! You should hear it spoken because it sounds really interesting. I have first heard about Tsez as an example of a difficult language and then I actually incidentally met someone who studies it.
- Khoisan languages – these are African languages that have, literally, clicks. You make sounds with your mouth that resemble a horse hitting the ground with its hoof. There are also a lot of different kinds of clicks in the language which you have to learn to pronounce the right way. Also, some linguists believe that these might have been the very first languages of the word because it is easy to imagine how language might drop clicks when it’s evolving but it’s hard to imagine how they could acquire them.
- Pitjantjatjara – an Australian aboriginal language with the name of it meaning “having the word pitjanytja“. I didn’t know anything about the language until Carl made a lesson of it. The language looks pretty interesting with words like that and it’s nice to look how languages like this work.
- Tok Pisin – this is an English creole spoken in Papua New Guinea that seems to be very interesting in the ways it has changed from English. For example, there are only two propositions: bilong (meaning “of”) and long (meaning all the other propositions) or there is a very interesting pronouns system (mi meaning me, mitupela meaning me with another person, mitripela meaning me with two other people or mipela meaning all of us). Also it looks kind of cute. For example, I am working now would be: Mi wok nau. Disregarding a few irregularities this language seems like it would be kind of easy to learn because there isn’t all that much complicated grammar attached to it.
Do you know any interesting languages like this? Share in the comments.
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Cool post! I really love this blog and the Labs.Some other cool/rare languages I know of…Ubykh – a North West Caucasian language once spoken on the eastern coast of the Black Sea with no official writing system but rich oral literature. Very unique for its interesting agglutinative verb system and having the largest consonant inventory of all documented languages (27 distinct fricatives, 27 sibilants, 20 uvular consonants). Unfortunately went extinct in the 1990s.Hadza – a language isolate spoken by fewer than 1,000 people in Tanzania of the Hadza people, the last full-time hunter-gatherers in Africa. Being taught to most children, however. Has many clicks sounds being a member of the Khoisan language family.Pitkern – a Tahtian/English-based creole spoken on Pitcairn Island, a group of four volcanic islands with 50 residents who are descendants of European mutineers from the 18th century or so. Related to the Norfuk language with fewer than 100 speakers worldwide.Ket – a Siberian isolate possibly linked to the Yeniseian languages family, spoken by around 500 hunger-gatherer natives of the Ket people in Russia. Threatened with extinction unfortunately.Enjoy!Brian
Cool post! I really love this blog and the Labs.
Some other cool/rare languages I know of…
Ubykh – a North West Caucasian language once spoken on the eastern coast of the Black Sea with no official writing system but rich oral literature. Very unique for its interesting agglutinative verb system and having the largest consonant inventory of all documented languages (27 distinct fricatives, 27 sibilants, 20 uvular consonants). Unfortunately went extinct in the 1990s.
Hadza – a language isolate spoken by fewer than 1,000 people in Tanzania of the Hadza people, the last full-time hunter-gatherers in Africa. Being taught to most children, however. Has many clicks sounds being a member of the Khoisan language family.
Pitkern – a Tahtian/English-based creole spoken on Pitcairn Island, a group of four volcanic islands with 50 residents who are descendants of European mutineers from the 18th century or so. Related to the Norfuk language with fewer than 100 speakers worldwide.
Ket – a Siberian isolate possibly linked to the Yeniseian languages family, spoken by around 500 hunger-gatherer natives of the Ket people in Russia. Threatened with extinction unfortunately.
Enjoy!
Brian
Thanks, Brian.
Some interesting languages in your list as well. Ubykh looks particularily cool.
Except for the Khoisan languages, I was unaware of the rest of these languages. That is an interesting information to know. Thanks for that example. I think Riau is an easy language to learn. Lol.
One thing about having a limited amount of time each day or week to learn a language is that it can force you to get down to the meat of the material. If you match that up with consistency (a long period of time) then your on the right track.
One thing about having a limited amount of time each day or week to learn a language is that it can force you to get down to the meat of the material. If you match that up with consistency (a long period of time) then your on the right track.
This is a cool feature. I have a love for new languages!
Holy smokes! 64 cases?! I thought Finnish was killer enough with 14 (15?). And I've heard about Khoisan languages from Russell Peters himself. He was speaking of his African experience, which included having met a man named '!xobile', pronounced '*click* bile'!
I don't come from the Riau region of Indonesia .. but even so, the grammar of Riao Indonesian is suspiciously simple .. even for Indonesian! I think it's closer to Malay than it is to Indonesian …
But anyway, I'm afraid I don't have any cool, obscure languages to add on to this list.