Chapter 5- Language Test Review

A literary tradition is

A) a form of a language used for official
government business.

B) a form of a language spoken in a particular
area.

C) a collection of languages related to each other.

D) the written form of a language.

E) the variety of dialects in a language.

D

A form of a language spoken in a local
area is a
A) dialect.

B) language branch.

C) language family.

D) language group.

E) language root.

A

A group of languages that share a common
origin but have since evolved into individual
languages is a

A) dialect.

B) language branch.

C) language family.

D) language group.

E) language root.

B

A group of languages that share a common
ancestor before recorded history is a

A) dialect.

B) language branch.

C) language family.

D) language group.

E) language root.

C

The second-largest language family is

A) Indo-European.

B) Sino-Tibetan.

C) Austronesian.

D) Afro-Asiatic.

E) Dravidian

B

When languages are depicted as leaves on
trees, the roots of the trees below the surface
represent

A) dialects.

B) language groups.

C) language sects.

D) language families.

E) possible prehistoric superfamilies.

E

When languages are depicted as leaves on
trees, the trunks of the trees represent

A) dialects.

B) language groups.

C) language families.

D) possible prehistoric superfamilies.

E) language sects

C

Germanic invaders of England included which
tribe?

A) Angles

B) Saxons

C) Jutes

D) Normans

E) A, B, and C

E

Both the Angles and the Normans contributed
to the development of the English language,
because they

A) spoke Germanic languages.

B) invaded England.

C) spoke languages derived from Latin.

D) diffused English around the world.

E) agreed to divide England.

B

English is the most important language in
North America primarily because of

A) the diffusion of English colonies.

B) the Norman conquest.

C) the global dominance of the United
States.

D) official government policy.

E) prohibitions against foreign languages.

A

The first speakers of the language that
evolved into English were tribes that lived in
present-day

A) France.

B) Denmark.

C) United States.

D) Italy.

E) Switzerland

B

English is part of which language
group?

A) Germanic

B) North Germanic

C) West Germanic

D) Indo-European

E) Semitic

C

English is part of which language
branch?

A) Germanic

B) North Germanic

C) West Germanic

D) Indo-European

E) Austronesian

A

English is part of which language
family?

A) Germanic

B) North Germanic

C) West Germanic

D) Indo-European

E) Romance

D

Which group of the Germanic family is
extinct?

A) West Germanic

B) North Germanic

C) East Germanic

D) South Germanic

E) Uber Germanic

C

The Icelandic language has changed less
than any other Germanic language because of

A) Iceland’s close contact with other people and
activities.

B) migration by German tribes.

C) Iceland’s relative isolation from other places.

D) the extinction of the East Germanic group.

E) continuous exchange with Norway and
Sweden

C

When people who speak a given language
migrate to a different location and become
isolated from other members of their tribe

A) their language usually shows very little change even
over a long period of time.

B) they immediately develop a literary tradition.

C) isolation usually results in the differentiation of one
language into two.

D) they lose their linguistic abilities.

E) groups form multiple dialects.

C

Which of the following is not a Romance
language?

A) Bulgarian

B) Italian

C) Portuguese

D) Romanian

E) French

A

The language spoken by soldiers stationed
throughout the Roman Empire was known as

A) a dialect of Latin

B) a Romance language.

C) a standard language.

D) Vulgar Latin.

E) Catalan.

D

The most widely spoken language in
Brazil is

A) Creole.

B) French.

C) Portuguese.

D) Spanish.

E) Catalan.

C

A creolized language is

A) extinct.

B) a mix of indigenous and colonial
languages.

C) an isolated language family.

D) a possible prehistoric superfamily.

E) a revived formerly extinct language

B

The most widely spoken IndoEuropean language is

A) English.

B) Hindi.

C) Spanish.

D) Bengali.

E) none of the above

A

The four most frequently spoken
branches of Indo-European include all but

A) Balto-Slavic.

B) Celtic.

C) Indo-Iranian.

D) Romance.

E) Germanic

B

The two most important languages in
South America are

A) Dutch and English.

B) English and Spanish.

C) French and Spanish.

D) Portuguese and Spanish.

E) Creole and Portuguese

D

The Flemings and Walloons live in what
country?

A) Belgium

B) France

C) South Africa

D) Switzerland

E) Liechtenstein

A

The Flemings and Walloons speak
languages belonging to different

A) dialects.

B) language branches.

C) language families.

D) language groups.

E) language sects.

B

Official languages in Switzerland
include all but which of the following?

A) Italian

B) Flemish

C) Romansh

D) French

E) German

B

Urdu is the most important language of

A) Bangladesh.

B) India.

C) Iran.

D) Pakistan.

E) Sri Lanka.

D

Russian is part of what language
branch?

A) Balto-Slavic

B) Germanic

C) Indo-Iranian

D) Romance

E) Altaic

A

Celtic languages

A) were threatened by extinction in England.

B) are still spoken by people in France.

C) have been revived in some parts of
the British Isles.

D) have an extensive body of literature.

E) all of the above

E

Marija Gimbutas’ theory points to the first
speakers of the Indo-European language as the
ancient

A) Celts.

B) Germans.

C) Kurgans.

D) Russians.

E) Dravidians.

C

The Kurgans

A) conquered much of East Asia several
thousand years ago.

B) were a Germanic tribe that invaded England.

C) were horse and cattle herders from the grassland steppes of present day Russia and Kazakhstan.

D) preserved Basque as an isolated language.

E) were the earliest speakers of Sino-Caucasian.

C

Basque is spoken primarily in

A) Brittany.

B) the Swiss Alps.

C) the Pyrenees Mountains.

D) Barcelona, Spain.

E) Leichtenstein.

C

According to Colin Rehfrew’s Anatolian
hearth theory, Indo-European languages
diffused across Europe

A) entirely by sea.

B) by way of the Kurgan homeland.

C) by warriors on horseback.

D) with the diffusion of agriculture.

E) following the silk road

D

The two largest language families in the
world are

A) Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic.

B) Sino-Tibetan and Indo-European.

C) Afro-Asiatic and Sino-Tibetan.

D) Balto-Slavic and Sino-Tibetan.

E) Altaic and Nilo-Saharan

B

The language family encompassing the
languages of the People’s Republic of China is

A) Indo-European.

B) Indo-Iranian.

C) Mandarin.

D) Sino-Tibetan.

E) Austro-Asiatic.

D

The language spoken by the greatest number
of native speakers in the world is

A) Cantonese.

B) English.

C) Hindi.

D) Mandarin.

E) Spanish.

D

Chinese is written in the form of

A) a literary tradition.

B) an alphabet.

C) ideograms.

D) Cantonese.

E) phonemes.

C

Hebrew is an example of

A) an isolated language.

B) an extinct language.

C) a revived language.

D) a language family.

E) an Altaic language

C

An Indo-European language is spoken
in which of these European countries?

A) Bulgaria

B) Finland

C) Hungary

D) Estonia

E) all of the above

A

The second most widely spoken
language family in Europe is

A) Balto-Slavic.

B) Indo-European.

C) Romance.

D) Uralic.

E) Celtic

D

The large number of individual languages
documented in Africa has resulted primarily from

A) Thousands of years of isolation between tribal
groups.

B) repeated invasions by outsiders.

C) introduction of many different languages by the
colonial powers.

D) frequent migration by the different tribal groups.

E) colonial administration of native lands

A

The most important language family in
Sub-Saharan Africa is

A) Khoisan.

B) Niger-Congo.

C) Nilo-Saharan.

D) Afro-Asiatic.

E) altaic.

B

African languages are distinguished by the
fact that

A) most have a literary tradition.

B) none are spoken by more than one million people.

C) most belong to the Nilo-Saharan language family.

D) even the most important language family is spoken
by only a small percentage of Africans.

E) linguists continue to add newly discovered languages
to the African list

E

A lingua franca is

A) an English word that has entered the French
language.

B) a language that is mutually understood by people
who have different native languages.

C) an extinct language that has been revived.

D) an official language in a region of the world different
from where the language originated.

E) a language used by French colonial administrations

B

Dialects developed within England primarily
because

A) different Germanic invaders settled in different
regions.

B) the Normans invaded from the south.

C) the Viking invaders did not remain long in England.

D) British Received Pronunciation became the standard
dialect.

E) commerce developed more slowly in England than on
the European continent.

A

British and American English differ in all
but which of the following?

A) alphabet

B) pronunciation

C) spelling

D) vocabulary

E) prevalent dialects

A

Immigrants to which American colonies
had the most diverse backgrounds?

A) Middle Atlantic

B) New England

C) Northern

D) Southeast

E) French Canadian

A

An isogloss is

A) a form of a language spoken in a local
area.

B) a collection of unique words.

C) a boundary between language regions.

D) a blending of two language families.

E) all of the above

C

Franglais is

A) the lingua franca of France.

B) a dialect of French.

C) the standard language of French.

D) the use of English in the French language.

E) a language used by French colonial
administrations

D