Auto-Pass Quiz

Question 1

Give the anglicized names of the two First Nations languages spoken in the Vancouver
area, and the name of the language family that these languages belong to

Answer 1

1. Halkomelem and Squamish
2. Part of Salish Family

Question 2

Explain what a language family is?

Answer 2

The oldest reconstructable grouping of a language origins

Question 3

what are ‘cognates’?

Answer 3

words that are related because they come from the same historical root and because they share a language family

Question 4

what does it mean to talk about
the ‘etymology’ of a word?

Answer 4

this is the history of the origins of a word

Question 5

Identify in broad terms where each of the following groups of languages are spoken (all are ‘families’, except Khoisan whose historical grouping is not quite clear): Dravidian,
Afroasiatic, Salish, Khoisan, and Niger-Congo

Answer 5

Dravidian = South India
Afroasiatic= North Africa
Salish = BC
Khoisan = Southern Africa
Niger-Congo = West and East Africa

Question 6

Identify in broad terms where each of the following branches of IE are spoken, and give
examples (as discussed in class) of at least one language in each group: Indo-Aryan,
Celtic, Germanic

Answer 6

Indo-Aryan
=> Asia
=>Hindi
Celtic
=> Northern UK
=> Gaelic
Germanic
=> Europe, NA
=> English, German

Question 7

Explain in general terms how a ‘click’ sound is made, and whether English speakers ever
produce this type of sound in any way.

Answer 7

A click sound is made by
1. making a double closure
2. dropping tongue to create low pressure
3. releasing tongue so pressure rushes in

English speakers do not use clicks distinctively

Question 7

Identify which groups of language, in which
geographical area(s), have clicks as distinctive sounds.

Answer 7

Khoisan languages + neighbouring non-Khoisan langs in South Africa

Question 8

Distinguish a ‘tone language’ from a language that has intonation but not tone.

Question 9

Distinguish ‘writing’ from other symbolic systems

Answer 9

method of representing language in visual/tactile form

Question 10

Note the three broad types of writing found across world languages

Answer 10

Logographic
–> character represents a word
Syllabic
–> symbol for each syllable
Alphabetic
–> seperate symbols for each consonant and vowel phoneme

Question 11

Identify the location where human language is believed to have originated, and
approximately when.

Answer 11

60,000 BC in African Savannah

Question 12

Describe whether human languages remain stable, or whether there are significant changes across each generation, in all living languages

Answer 12

Languages change with each generation because kids create new words

Question 13

Describe how a single language, spoken by separated groups, can evolve into different
dialects, and how over time the dialects can become evolve into separate languages.

Answer 13

language is spoken by one group
- group separates
- kids in each generation change words + sounds + create
- new system is created

Question 14

Use the term ‘dialect’ in the linguistic sense (i.e., recognizing all varieties of any
language as ‘dialects’, and not treating ‘dialects’ as some kind of ‘sub-standard’ system)

Answer 14

• a dialect is any variety of a language

Question 15

Use the mutual intelligibility criterion to determine whether two systems are ‘dialects of
one language’ or ‘separate languages’ and also how sociopolitical considerations can
override the classification. Identify how borderline cases can also create problems for
this distinction

Answer 15

MI Criterion = if 2 languages can understand each other they are regarded as dialects, if they can’t, they are separate languages

Politics can make separate languages count as one to
- unite people
- for simplicity

or count 2 MI dialects as separate languages
- to divide

Borderline
- when 2 languages are almost at the point of Mutual unintelligibility but can still kind of understand each other

Question 16

Give the approximate number of human languages which now exist in the modern
world, within a reasonable range.

Answer 16

6-7000 languages rn

Question 17

Class a given linguistic system as a ‘pidgin’ or a ‘creole’ based on its properties (in
particular, be aware that creoles have native-language speakers, but true pidgins do
not).

Answer 17

pidgin - simply, not-fully developed mix of 2+ languages; no one’s native language
creole = sometimes start as pidgins but kids make them complex systems

Question 18

Describe in broad terms what happens when a pidgin becomes a creole. Recognize
that what is called a ‘pidgin’ may or may not actually have become a creole

Answer 18

• tense marking is added
• agreement systems
• complex pronoun systems
• expanded vocab

Question 19

Distinguish prescriptive vs. descriptive approaches to discussions of human language.

Answer 19

prescriptive = making judgements
descriptive = describing a language

Question 20

Explain where Cockney and RP are spoken and predict where these dialects will delete the sound / ɹ / (for this assessment, the syllable breaks will be given for you, so you will not have to calculate them; you will just need to understand that the sound deletes in
coda position)

Answer 20

Cockney = East London
- r-deletion in coda
/t/ to /?/ in coda and between vowels
/h/ to /?/ in fast speech
/t/ to theta in fast speech
l to w

RP = Oxford
- r-deletion in coda

Question 21

Explain what Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is,
roughly when it was spoken, and
describe in
very general terms how modern languages including English, Latin, Greek, Persian,
Hindi, Punjabi, and Sanskrit evolved from PIE to form the Indo-European language
family.

Answer 21

• PIE = the oldest language grouping that linguists have put together
• Spoken 6-8000 yrs ago
• Broke into branches that led to our modern day languages