PATTERNS OF LANGUAGE TEST



Test 2010 GEOGRAPHY OF LANGUAGE1. A language family is a a. collection of languages related through a common ancestorb. collection of similar dialectsc. standard languaged. collection of Germanic languagese. a group of languages which share the same orthography2. Dialect isthe written form of a languagea standard form of the languagethe way a language is spoken in a local areaa distinctive vocabularythe form of spelling adopted by a new language3. Both the Angles and the Normans contributed to the development of the English language because theya. spoke Germanic languagesb. invaded Englandc. spoke languages derived from Latind. diffused English around the world.e. came from Germany originally4. The first speakers of the language that became known as English were tribes that lived in present daya. Franceb. Denmarkc. United Statesd. Roman Empiree. Ukraine5. English is part of what language family?a. Germanicb. North Germanicc. West Germanic d. Indo-Europeane. Low German6. English is part of what language branch?a. Germanicb. Romancec. Balto-Slavicd. Indo-Europeane. Celtic7. An example of an extinct language is:a. Gothicb. Hebrewc. Latind. all of the abovee. none of the above8. The Icelandic language has changed less than any other Germanic language because ofIceland’s close contact with other people and activitiesmigration by German tribesIceland’s relative isolation from other placesthe extinction of the East Germanic groupIceland’s strong literary tradition9. When people who speak a given language migrate to a different location and become isolated from other members of their tribetheir language usually shows very little change even over a long period of timethey immediately develop a literary traditionisolation usually results in the differentiation of a single language into separate formsthey lose their linguistic abilities over timenew orthographies must be developed to deal with new neighbors10. Which of the following is NOT one of the most frequently spoken branches of the Indo-European language family?Balto-SlavicArabicIndo-IranianRomanceGermanic11. The two most important languages in South America areDutch and EnglishEnglish and SpanishFrench and SpanishPortugese and SpanishPortuguese and French12. Celtic languagesare extinctare still spoken by people in Germanyhave been revived in some parts of the British Islesexist today only in remote regions of Eastern Europehave been revived throughout many parts of Europe13. Recent evidence points to the first speakers of the Indo-European languages as the ancienta. Celtsb. Germansc. Kurgansd. Russianse.Slavs14. The two largest language families in the world are Indo-European anda. Sino-TibetanGermanicMandarinIndo-IranianAustronesian15. The single language spoken by the greatest number of people in the world isMandarinHindiEnglishSpanishFrench16. Hebrew is an example ofan isolated languagean extinct languagean Afro-Asiatic languagea language familya dialect of Arabic17. The large number of individual languages documented in Africa has resulted primarily fromthousands of years of isolation among groups inhabiting the continentrepeated invasion by outsidersintroduction of many languages by the colonial powersfrequent migration by the different groupsa great deal of cultural interaction between various tribes18. The commonality of Indo-European languages among official languages across Africa is mostly a result ofa. ancient migrations of Indo-European speakersb. cultural convergencec. recent migrations of large numbers of Europeans to Africad. historic migrations of large numbers of Europeans to Africae. colonial languages spreading among native leadership19. The most important language family in Sub-Saharan Africa isKhoisanNiger-CongoNilo-SaharanAfro-Asiatice.Malayo-Polynesian20. African languages are distinguished by the fact thatmost have no literary tradition or native othographyfew are spoken by more than 1 million peoplemost belong to the Niger-Congo familyeven the most important language family is spoken by only a small percentage of all Africanse. all of the above21. Which of the following is FALSE of the form of English known as BRP?a. it is, officially, the standard form of the languageb. it originated in Oxford and Cambridgec. nonstandard forms include Ebonics and Latind. there is a great deal of global difference in dialect formse. the American dialect was purposefully differentiated from BRP* map courtesy of M.Muhlestein Cartographics, Ltd.22. The choropleth map* above illustrates the prevalency of the use of the word “coke” to refer to a soft drink. What term is most appropriately used to refer to the dark line?a. isoglossb. orthographyc. contourd. branch boundarye. ialect boundary23. Which of the following is FALSE of Swahili?a. It is a creolized language consisting of many Arabic and native African words.b. It is becoming the predominant language in East Africa.c. It is, after Arabic, the most widely understood language in Africa.d.It is an example of a lingua franca.e. It is the most important language in the Austronesian family.24. Which of the following languages developed with the exclusive use of ideograms rather than a phonetic alphabet?MandarinHindiCornish JapaneseArabic25. Approximately what percentage of the world speaks Indo-European languages?a. 10%b. 25%c. 50%d. 75%e. 90%26. Which of the following languages represents its own language family?a. Japaneseb. Greekc. Georgiand. all of the abovee. none of the above27. Which of the following statements, regarding the number of languages, is true?a. There are fewer languages spoken today than there were 1000 years ago.b. Due to creolization, there are more languages spoken today than at any time before.c. Languages increasingly use divergent orthographies.d. Due to widespread illiteracy, most people today speak dying languages.e. Due to interest in reviving dead languages, new languages are spoken every year.28. The Komi people of the Ural Mountain region in Russia have linguistic and ethnic ties to what other European country?a. Hungaryb. Egyptc. Basque region of Spain/Franced. Swedene. Ukraine29. What aspect of the English spoken in the US today has been greatly influenced by Noah Webster?a. vocabularyb.spelling and grammarc. pronunciationd. syntaxe. all of the above30. BRP is considered to be “standard English.” What do the letters stand for?a. British Received Pronunciationb. Basic Regular Programc. British Regulated Pronound. Bonded Receipt for Peoplee. Basic Register of Prounouncement31. Hindi – a major Indo-European language - is written in the easily-recognized “Devanagari” script shown above. However, most of the other major Indo-European languages are written using what script?a.Latinb. Cyrillicc. Arabicd. Greeke. Mandarin characters32. The major Romance languages are well-known. Which of the following lesser-known languages is NOT an example of one of the minor Romance languages?a. Catalanb. Sardinianc. Ladinod. Romansche. Manx33. Castillian and Occitan are examples of what?a.languagesb. dialectsc. orthographiesd. branchese. subdivisions of French34. In 1994, various countries which use Portuguese as their official language met to standardize the language. What group was angered by the result?a. Portugal, because the standard form resembles the Brazilian dialect.b. Brazil, because the standard form resembles the dialect from Portugalc. Sao Tome, because their spelling reforms were rejectedd. Spain, because Spanish-influenced terms were thrown out of the standard vocabulary.e. Angola, because regional dialects spoken in that country are unintelligible to speakers of the new standard form.Three different language families are indicated on the map above by shaded areas. They are labeled A, B, C, and D. Match them in the list below.35. Altaic36. Dravidian37. Amerindian38. Niger-Congo39. Guarani and Quechua are important languages in which family on the map? 40. Which of the following countries would NOT be included as part of language family B on the map?a. Mongoliab. Turkeyc. Irand. Kazakhstane. Uzbekistan41. English is a language in the Low German subgroup of the West Germanic group of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family. What other language is ALSO part of this subgroup? In other words, which of the following language is most closely related to English? a. Frisianb. Afrikaansc. Dutchd. Flemishe. All of the above are part of this subgroup.42. What is the status of English in India?a. It is the official language.b. It has “associate status” as an official language with 18 others.c. It is widely used, but not official.d. Contrary to popular belief, it is not even widely used in India anymore.e. It is the language most widely used by the people, but the government recognizes Hindi as the official language of the country.43. Which of the locations shown on the map above is most widely believed to be the hearth region of Indo-European languages?44. Which of the following language families became widely dispersed due to trans-oceanic migrations?I. UralicII. Indo-EuropeanIII. Sino-TibetanIV. Austronesiana. I and IIb. III and IVc. I and IIId. II and IVe. II, III, and IV 45. Which of the following sequences represents the taxonomic classification of languages from the largest to smallest divisions?a. family-language-branch-group-dialect-accentb. family-group-branch-language-accent-dialectc. dialect-accent-language-group-branch-familyd. family-branch-language-group-accent-dialecte. family-branch-group-language-dialect-accent 46. Which of the following statements is TRUE of language policy and Maori, the indigenous language of the natives, in New Zealand?a. The government has systematically reduced the influence of Maori language.b. The country has declared Maori as an official language.c. The government has adopted policies to preserve Maori culture, but not language. d. Policies require all immigrants to learn Maori.e. The policies have resulted in a large and vigorous Maori-speaking population in the country.47. Official policies in New Zealand, Australia, and Quebec all attempt to deal with which issue affecting language?a. the influence of the Internetb. immigration and immigrantsc. publishingd. the effects of tourism and need for tourist revenuese. low birthrates among native speakers48. Which of the following represents a similarity between the linguistic geography of Belgium and Nigeria? a. Country divided linguistically into a north and south.b. Country divided linguistically into an east and a west.c. Country has only one official language, but many languages are spoken by the population.d. Country suffers from violent clashes based, at least partly, on language differencese. None of the above are similarities.49. A Celtic language is the official language in only one country. Which is it?a. United Kingdomb.Irelandc. Franced. Icelande. Wales50. The 5 official languages of the United Nations include all of the following EXCEPT (English is the other official language of the UN):a. Germanb. Arabicc. Russiand.Mandarine. French ................
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