Deck 6: Language

Question 1

A geographic boundary within which a particular linguistic feature occurs is called

A)an isogloss.
B)a sound shift.
C)an international border.
D)a cultural boundary.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

In Illinois,people who want a soft drink with their hamburger are likely to order a

A)soda.
B)pop.
C)Coke.
D)Pepsi.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The language most widely used as a second language by hundreds of millions of people in India,Africa and elsewhere is

A)Spanish.
B)French.
C)Arabic)
D)English.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Most linguists agree that __________ languages exist in the world

A)20
B)500
C)1,000
D)5,000

Question 5

Which of the following European countries has a rather sharp division between Flemish speakers in the north and Walloon speakers in the south?

A)the Netherlands
B)Belgium
C)Denmark
D)Andorra

Question 6

Latin octo (eight)became Italian otto,Spanish ocho,and French huit. This is an example of a ____________,which is a word that has the same linguistic derivation as another word.

A)deterioration
B)cognate
C)dialect
D)isogloss
 

Question 7

Which is not true of Quebec?

A)First Nations people of the province speak languages other than Quebecois French.
B)The provincial government passed laws banning or controlling the use non-French languages in advertising.
C)Quebec contains areas dominated by non-French speaking minorities.
D)It is almost 100% French speaking.

Question 8

The French government has _________ to protect French language and culture.

A)banned foreign words in advertising and on radio and television
B)established the Académie Française to standardize the language
C)passed a law levying fines on those using foreign terms
D)all of the above

Question 9

Hawaii is an example of state with

A)no linguistic variation.
B)official "English only" policies.
C)official bilingual policies.
D)no official language policies.

Question 10

Standard Italian is the version of the language spoken in

A)Florence and Tuscany.
B)Italy north of Venice.
C)Sicily.
D)Rome.

Question 11

About ____ of internet content is in English.

A)12%
B)27%
C)55%
D)82%

Question 12

While speakers of the English language form the largest share of Internet users,both the Chinese language and the _______ language have more speakers globally.

A)Arabic
B)Spanish
C)Japanese
D)Hindi

Question 13

The predominant languages spoken on Madagascar are not of an African language family,but belong to

A)Indo-European family.
B)Sino-Tibetan family.
C)Dravidian family.
D)Austronesian family.

Question 14

Belgium is a ___________ speaking country.

A)Belgae (a Celtic language)
B)Flemish (a Germanic language)
C)French (a Romance language)
D)both B and C

Question 15

The most widely used Indo-European language today is

A)English.
B)German.
C)Spanish.
D)Chinese.

Question 16

Dialects are distinguished by differences in

A)accents and pronunciation
B)vocabulary
C)syntax
D)all of the above

Question 17

In 2010,which States had several countries where 60% or more of the people five years and older spoke a language other than English?

A)Texas and California
B)Texas and New Mexico
C)New York and California
D)New York and Alabama

Question 18

Which of the following pairs of languages are not mutually intelligible?

A)Urdu and Hindi
B)Danish and Norwegian
C)Serbian and Croatian
D)German and Dutch

Question 19

In technically advanced societies there is likely to be

A)a standard language.
B)many basic languages.
C)limited expansion of language.
D)standard pronunciation.

Question 20

The most widely distributed language family is ______________.

A)Saharan
B)Sino-Tibetan
C)Indo-European
D)Dravidean

Question 21

The Indo-European language family prevails on the map of Europe.Which country listed below has a language which is not in the Indo-European family?

A)Germany
B)Italy
C)Iceland
D)Hungary

Question 22

The two theories of the Proto-Indo-European language dispersal are the conquest theory and

A)the spread of agriculture.
B)massive migration.
C)extensive trade routes.
D)missionary activity.

Question 23

The Proto-Indo-European language homeland lies somewhere south of the

A)Mediterranean Sea.
B)Baltic Sea.
C)Black Sea.
D)Sea of Okhotsk.

Question 24

Countries in which more than one language is in use are called

A)multilingual.
B)monolingual.
C)unilingual.
D)non-lingual.

Question 25

English is to lingua franca as _____________ is to pidgin language.

A)French
B)Creole
C)Portuguese
D)Chinese

Question 26

The language tree diagram of language divergence has some branches with dead ends.These represent

A)standardized or non-changing languages.
B)language subfamilies.
C)isolated languages.
D)extinct languages.

Question 27

A language that is the product of a process of convergence which allows speakers of two or more languages to communicate is

A)a standardized language.
B)a common language.
C)a lingua franca.
D)a lingua germanica.

Question 28

The linguistic map of Nigeria reflects extreme fragmentation with nearly ____ languages spoken.

A)15
B)25
C)200
D)500

Question 29

Bantu migrations marginalized this once widespread African language family which now is found only in dry regions of southwestern Africa)

A)Niger-Congo family
B)Khoisan family
C)Afro-Asiatic family
D)Sudanic Subfamily

Question 30

In an attempt to deal with linguistic as well as cultural diversity,many former African colonies have taken as their official language

A)the most widely-spoken indigenous language.
B)an Austronesian and therefore neutral language.
C)the language of the former colonial power.
D)an invented language with no historical connections.

Question 31

Official languages such as Spanish and Quechuan in Peru or English and Pilipino in the Philippines reflect

A)linguist divergence.
B)the country's history.
C)creolization.
D)linguas franca.

Question 32

Which development helped with the rise of national languages beginning in the fourteenth century?

A)invention of the printing press
B)agricultural revolution
C)Celtic migrations
D)fall of the Roman Empire

Question 33

The process of language divergence happened long ago between Spanish and Portuguese,and in more recent centuries is happening in North America with the divergence of

A)Québécois French
B)Hawaiian
C)Euskara
D)Etruscan

Question 34

Brittany in western France shows the persistence of Breton in the _____ subfamily.

A)Romance
B)Germanic
C)Celtic
D)Slavic

Question 35

Nigeria chose __________ as its official language upon independence.

A)northern Hausa
B)southwestern Yoruba
C)southeastern Ibo
D)English

Question 36

The systematic study of the origin and meaning of place names is called

A)deep reconstruction.
B)namology.
C)toponymy.
D)lexicography.

Question 37

Subsequent migrations and empire building caused the decline and marginalization of this subfamily which had brought Indo-European languages to Europe 3,000 years ago.

A)Romance
B)Germanic
C)Celtic
D)Turkic

Question 38

Convergence processes yielding a synthesis of several languages produce a pidgin language.When this language becomes the first language of a population it is referred to as a

A)dialect.
B)creole language.
C)language subfamily.
D)lingua franca.

Question 39

Monolingual countries,in which only one language is spoken,are few in number.Which of the following is not one of these countries?

A)Poland
B)Japan
C)Lesotho
D)Argentina

Question 40

Persian,Pashto and Baluchi are all part of the __________ branch of the language tree.

A)Indic
B)Baltic
C)Iranian
D)Greek

Question 41

After the breakup of the Soviet Union,Leningrad was renamed

A)Yeltsinburg.
B)Misk.
C)New Leninburg.
D)St. Petersburg.

Question 42

Even if the written form of a statement adheres to a standard language,the accent of a person who reads it will reveal their regional home.

Question 43

Linguistic extinction occurs when all the speakers of a language either die or choose to speak another language.

Question 44

Lasker,North Carolina,named for Alaska,is an example of a toponym based upon a mistake.

Question 45

Bulgarians speak a Slavic language.

Question 46

Euskara,the Basque language,is not related to any other language in Europe.

Question 47

The predominantly French-speaking capital city of Belgium (Brussels)is located in the Flemish-speaking northern area of the country.

Question 48

The Basque language,Euskara,is spoken only in Spain.

Question 49

Japan is an example of a monolingual state.

Question 50

The naming of sports stadiums and other facilities for corporations (e.g.,Petco Park,FedEx Field,Coors Field)is an example of

A)hubris.
B)memorial toponyms.
C)commodification.
D)post-modern toponyms.

Question 51

The greatest concentration of streets memorializing Martin Luther King is found in:

A)the West
B)the Northeast, particularly Massachusetts
C)the Midwest, especially Illinois
D)the South, especially Georgia

Question 52

When African colonies became independent countries,one of the first acts of many of the new governments was to

A)conduct a census.
B)build a new capital city.
C)change the names of places that had been named after colonial figures.
D)build new road systems.

Question 53

Mandarin,the language in and around the Chinese capital Beijing,was chosen as the standardized form of Chinese for the whole country.

Question 54

The criteria of mutual intelligibility to determine the difference between a dialect and a language is accepted by most linguists.

Question 55

Indo-European and Amerindian language families predominate in the western hemisphere.

Question 56

Clusters of French toponyms in Louisiana,Dutch toponyms in Michigan and Welsh toponyms in Pennsylvania reflect

A)descriptive toponyms.
B)folk toponyms.
C)commemorative toponyms.
D)the shift of names associated with migration.

Question 57

American,Canadian,and Russian governments have all worked to insure the preservation of minority native languages within their borders.

Question 58

Leopoldville,Congo becomes Kinshasa and Salisbury,Zimbabwe becomes Harare.These are examples of

A)colonial toponyms.
B)descriptive toponyms.
C)migration effects.
D)post-colonial toponyms.

Question 59

There are no streets named for Martin Luther King,Jr.,in Montana)

Question 60

Most Afghans speak languages from the Dravidian family of languages.

Question 61

The French example demonstrates well the conflicting forces of globalized language and local or national language.  Describe how the French have responded,and how successful they have been.

Question 62

Analyze the map of European languages and explain the existence and distribution of Celtic and Uralic (Hungarian,Finnish)languages.

Question 63

Consider some of the place-names (toponyms)in your state or locality.Apply as many of the ten types of place-names devised by Prof.George Stewart to classify some of your local place-names.Do his categories overlap in some cases?

Question 64

The 1997 revolution in Zaire resulted in the change of the name of the country to Democratic Republic of Congo.This is an example of a post-colonial toponym.

Question 65

Indo-European languages belong to the largest language family in the world.Describe how and where do linguists believe this family originated and how has it evolved? Analyze what linguistic techniques and theories have been used to try to arrive at an answer to this question?

Question 66

Distinguish between dialect,pidgin language,and creole.Why is it often difficult to distinguish one from another?