Chapter 6: Language

Question 1

What modern language spread globally as a result of religion?

Answer 1

Arabic

Question 2

The principal concentration of french-speaking North America is?

Answer 2

Quebec

Question 3

Which statement about the diffusion of the English and Chinese languages is true?
A) English has diffused worldwide, while Chinese is spoken mostly in China.
B) English is spoken in only the United Kingdom and the United States, while Chinese is
spoken all over East Asia.
C) English and Chinese are both spoken worldwide as lingua franca languages.
D) The number of English speakers is declining, while the number of Chinese speakers is
steadily increasing.
E) All of the above

Answer 3

A) English has diffused worldwide, while Chinese is spoken mostly in China.

Question 4

Nearly half of the people in the world speak a language in this family

Answer 4

Indo-European

Question 5

List all of the Latin-based romance languages

Answer 5

Italian, Romanian, Spanish, French, and Portuguese

Question 6

A collection of languages within a language branch that share a recent common origin and have relatively few differences in grammar and vocab is a?

Answer 6

language group

Question 7

Which statement about the English language is correct?
A) Worldwide, there are three times as many native speakers of English as second language speakers.
B) It is a member of the Latin language branch.
C) It has been largely influenced by the French language.
D) It has only two separate dialects: British and American.
E) It is the official language of the United States.

Answer 7

C) It has been largely influenced by the French language.

Question 8

Culture that uses ideographic method of writing

Answer 8

China

Question 9

Monolingual countries

Answer 9

Japan, Uruguay, Iceland, Denmark, Portugal, Poland, Lesotho

Question 10

Multilingual countries

Answer 10

Belgium, Canada, Singapore, India, Luxembourg, Peru

Question 11

isogloss

Answer 11

a geographic boundary within which a particular linguistic feature occurs

Question 12

dialect

Answer 12

regional/ethnic variant of a language

Question 13

Dialects differ in

Answer 13

vocabulary, cadence, spelling, pronunciation, pace of speech, syntax

Question 14

American English has adopted extensive vocabulary from

Answer 14

Spanish, French, Yiddish, Native American

Question 15

When groups of speakers of a single language are isolated from each other, each group may develop

Answer 15

new grammar rules, different pronunciations of words, unique vocabulary.

Question 16

A common language that is used among speakers of different languages for the
purposes of trade and commerce

Answer 16

lingua franca

Question 17

Country with sharp division between Flemish speakers in the north and Wallonian speakers in the south

Answer 17

Belgium

Question 18

official language

Answer 18

in multilingual countries, the language selected often by the educated and politically powerful elite to promote internal cohesion; language of courts and government

Question 19

Problems with multilingual states include

Answer 19

increased costs for printing government signs and literature in multiple
languages, antagonism between speakers of the different languages, confusion, as some place names are identified differently in the different languages
-conflicts between linguistic communities because of increasing language group identity

Question 20

definition of extinct language

Answer 20

a language that has no native speakers

Question 21

example of revived languages

Answer 21

Hebrew

Question 22

pidgin language

Answer 22

when parts of two or more languages are combined in a simplified language and structure:

• limited vocabulary
• few, if any, grammar rules
• not the first language of any person

Question 23

creole language

Answer 23

a language that began as a pidgin language but was later adopted as the mother tongue of a group of people

Question 24

differences between American English and British English

Answer 24

different pronunciation, spelling of words, vocabulary, auxiliary verbs, collective nouns

Question 25

early English was influenced by

Answer 25

Viking, Angles, French, Saxons

Question 26

after the Soviet Union collapsed, Leningrad was renamed to

Answer 26

St. Petersburg

Question 27

Two theories of Proto-Indo-European language

Answer 27

conquest theory and agricultural theory

Question 28

Conquest theory

Answer 28

early speakers of Proto-Indo-European spread from east to west on horseback, overpowering earlier inhabitants and beginning the diffusion and differentiation of Indo-European tongues

Question 29

Agricultural theory

Answer 29

Proto-Indo-European spread with the diffusion of agriculture. The gradual migration of the agricultural frontier into the European frontier and resulting interaction between farmers and non farming peoples