eQuizShow

Language Jeopardy

Distribution

Question:

The language spoken by the greatest number of people in the world is?


Answer: Mandarin

Question:



Answer:

Question: What is the first step in mapping the distribution of world languages?
Answer: classify languages

Question:

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


Answer: Iceland's relative isolation from other places


Question: What two language families are found in Australia?
Answer: Indo-European, Trans-New Guinea and Australian

Categorization

Question: What 3 groups are Germanic languages divided into?
Answer: WEST GERMANIC, including English, German, and Netherlandic (Dutch); NORTH GERMANIC, including Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Faroese; and EAST GERMANIC, now extinct, comprising only Gothic and the languages of the Vandals, Burgundians

Question: How are languages classified at the global scale?
Answer: Language families

Question: English is part of which language branch?

Answer: Germanic

Question: Which language family claims the most territory and the greatest number of speakers?
Answer: Indo European

Question:

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

A. Balto-Slavic
B. Celtic
C. Indo-Iranian
D. Romance


Answer: B. Celtic


Diffusion

Question: What lead to the establishment of networks of communication and interaction, helping to diffuse certain languages over vast portions of 
Earth's surface?

Answer: Colonialism and mercantilism

Question:
Answer:

Question: In late Middle Ages, the invention of what and the rise of nation states worked to spread literacy and stabilize certain languages through widely distributed written forms?
Answer: Gutenberg printing press

Question: How many years ago had languages such as Chinese and Latin successfully diffused over large regions?
Answer: 2000 years ago

Question: Which language diffusion has had the largest impact on modern society?
Answer: English

Vocab

Question: What is the difference between a pidgin language and a creole language?
Answer:
A pidgin is a language with a reduced range of structure and use, with NO native speakers. It grows up among people who do not share a common language but who want to communicate with each other.

A creole is a pidgin which has become the mother tongue of a community, and therefore has native speakers.


Question:

A creolized language is:

A. extinct
B. a mix of indigenous and colonial languages
C. an isolated language family
D. a possible prehistoric superfamily


Answer:

a mix of indigenous and colonial languages



Question: What is a toponym?
Answer: a place name, especially one derived from a topographical feature.

Question: An isogloss is:

Answer: a line on a dialect map marking the boundary between linguistic features.

Question: What is mutual intelligibility?
Answer:  a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without intentional study or special effort.

Random

Question: In technically advanced societies there is likely to be:
Answer: a standard language

Question:

The Flemings and Walloons live in what country?


Answer: Belgium

Question: Dialects are most often marked by actual differences in:
Answer: pronunciation

Question: T or F:  American, Canadian and Russian governments have all worked to ensure the preservation of minority native languages within their borders.
Answer: False

Question: T or F: The Chinese government is imposing Mandarin countrywide.
Answer: True