What language is this?  chibo muntulu vova     It means A dog hears a
person.  It may be an African language.

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Request for Question Clarification by read2live-ga on 20 May 2003 02:54 PDT

Hi, ncta,

Interesting!  It would be helpful if you can give some more
information.

Can you tell us where you found the original sentence, and how you
know what it means?  What makes you think this may be an African
language?  Have you any more examples of this language, with or
without translation into English?

Any of this information could take us further.

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Clarification of Question by ncta-ga on 22 May 2003 12:05 PDT

There is a language aptitude test in the book Breaking the Language
Barrier" by H. Douglas Brown, Intercultural Press, Inc.  I want to
know what language is used in the test.  It is purposefully obscure
and there is a slight chance it could be a  fictitious language.
munto = a person
chibo = a dog
munto chibulu vova - A person hears a dog.
munto chibulu vovele - A person heard a dog.
wawa - sees
be = we
ge - you
chibulu bevova - We hear a dog.
gulu bevova - We hear you.
gulu kibevova - We don't hear you.

My guess is that this is an artificial language. The point of the
exercise is presumably that you spot the rules that are operating and
therefore become able to create new sentences on the basis of what you
know.  For example: chibo muntulu kiwawele = the dog did not see the
person.

I agree with tehuti. Language-manipulation exercises like the one you
mention are sometimes used in intelligence tests. Invariably, the
'language' is created out of whole cloth.