Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2007 July 28

= July 28 =

Non-English Speech Accent Archive?
One of my favorite linguistic sites is The Speech Accent Archive, but it is only in English. Is there another site that catalogs accents of languages other than English? I would really like to see where non-natives mispronounce languages so that I can refine my own speaking. H YENASTE 00:25, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
 * I don't think this is exactly what you're looking for, but this site has a huge archive of various regional pronounciations of Swedish. -Elmer Clark 01:26, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

I don't speak English
I'm curious about something (I'm not actually in this situation). Suppose authorities of some sort are interrogating some person. It seems that this person doesn't speak English and it seems that he doesn't speak any known language, or at least not any language that they can find find a translator for. They suspect that this person is faking it, i.e. they understand perfectly well the words 'where did you hide the body/gold/secret microfilm etc'. What techniques are available to test this person? --Duomillia 03:37, 28 July 2007 (UTC)


 * One option is to keep them locked up for 55 years. I don't think it's a good option, but it's been tried.  --Reuben 04:37, 28 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Well, I have no experience in this of course, but naturally certain language is likely to produce an emotional reaction if it is understood.--Pharos 04:43, 28 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Quickest method: In the U.S. you can obtain a printout from the phone company that has one sentence repeated in about 50 different languages.  The sentence is "Point to your language and an interpreter will be called."  You then dial the number printed on the card and request translation services for that language.  The languages are grouped by type (Asian, Hispanic, Arabic, etc.) so you can direct the person's attention to the most likely area for them to spot their own language.  Something of that sort could be done.  Of course, the person could pretend to be illiterate, in which case the authorities would then have to get spoken translations of a sentence.  Even then, it is possible the suspect really is from a small, remote part of the world and speaks only one rare language.
 * Second option: If the unspecified 'authorities' were determined enough, and it was important enough to get this person to talk (thinking spy story, here), then tortue would be certain to get the suspect to make a sincere attempt to communicate with the torturer.  Even then they may find that the person, under the most extreme conditions, still doesn't speak any language they can identify and that they likely just tortured an innocent person.  The torture needn't be violent -- extreme thirst will force a person into survival mode.
 * Actually, causing extreme thrist is a form of violence. A.Z. 20:02, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Third option: The most time consuming option is to hand the person pen and paper and simply communicate through pantomime that you want the person to write.  It doesn't matter what he writes.  Just have him fill page after page with written words.  Although it wouldn't identify the language used, an analysis of the writing can determine whether or not it is a real language.  Rules for sentence structure, repeated short words (articles equivalent to "the", "it", etc.) and rules for spelling should be apparent.  If the writing appears completely random, then it is likely not a real language and the authorities would at least have enough evidence to be able to charge the person with obstruction of justice and interfering with an investigation.  152.16.188.107 05:47, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
 * You may also be interested in reading Linguistics, Speech recognition, Language model, Corpus linguistics and Linguistic typology. 152.16.188.107 06:25, 28 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Hook the person up to a brain scanner, then start talking to the person. If s/he understands, then certain parts of the brain will show activity. Clarityfiend 07:31, 28 July 2007 (UTC)
 * If you are Catherine Banning simply chat with them in different languages and try and make them laugh. Lanfear&#39;s Bane


 * Why, you could just let him go! Adam Bishop 03:47, 29 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Charades? Cyta 07:51, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Look, it's not going to work, Alberto Gonzales will never talk. Gzuckier 17:51, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

Yes, you could release him, as the King of (AFAIK) did to King David in the Bible, having previously kept him prisoner. King David simply acted insane, and his captors complained they had enough mad men, so David didn't help matters.martianlostinspace 23:47, 31 July 2007 (UTC)