Sunday 11 March 2007

Even More Palindromic Language Names

Rushdie's and my own ignorance become even more abominable with the discovery of the following palindromic language names that add to the other two already noted:

- Aja spoken in Sudan;
- Aka spoken in Sudan;
- Ama spoken in Papua New Guinea;
- Ama spoken in Sudan;
- Caac spoken in New Caledonia;
- Efe spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo;
- Erre spoken in Australia;
- Ese spoken in Papua New Guinea;
- Iaai spoken in New Caledonia;
- Kerek spoken in Russia;
- Kuk spoken in Cameroon;
- Laal spoken in Chad;
- Logol spoken in Sudan;
- Manam spoken in Papua New Guinea;
- Monom spoken in Vietnam;
- Nauruan spoken in Nauru;
- Noon spoken in Senegal;
- Ñuñ spoken in Senegal;
- Olo spoken in Papua New Guinea;
- Omo spoken in Papua New Guinea;
- Opo spoken in Ethiopia;
- Ososo spoken in Nigeria;
- Tennet spoken in Sudan; and
- Yaqay spoken in Indonesia (on the island of Papua).

The list above is a subset of those reported in the comments thread for this post on Language Hat, which has Ethnologue.com as a source.

The preponderance of palindromic language names on the single island of Papua, with a total of six in the list above and who knows how many more actually being spoken there, is most galling for the likes of fools such as me who think Malayalam is the centre of the palindromic universe.

Never again will I believe anything I read in a book unless it's been verified by the internet.

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