Chapter 7

Question 1

isolating (analytic) language

Answer 1

avoids suffixes, using free forms to express notions such as tense and number

Question 2

agglutinating language

Answer 2

widespread use of affixes, each of which typically expresses a single piece of grammatical information

Question 3

fusional (inflectional) language

Answer 3

words can consist of root + affix combinations. However, affixes often express bits of grammatical information simultaneously.

Question 4

polysynthetic language

Answer 4

single word can consist of long strings of roots and affixes that often express meanings associated with entire sentences in other languages

Question 5

vowel universal tendencies

Answer 5

1. most common vowels are /a/, /i/, and /u/
2. front vowel phonemes (/i, e, ε, æ/) are generally unrounded. Nonlow back vowel phonemes (/ɔ, o, u/) are generally rounded
3. Low vowels (/æ, a, ɑ/) are generally unrounded

Question 6

consonant universal tendencies

Answer 6

1. all languages have stops
2. most common stop phonemes are /p, t, k/
3. most common fricative phoneme is /s/
4. vast majority of languages have at least one nasal phoneme, usually /n/.
5. most languages have at least one phonemic liquid.

Question 7

Vowel implicational universals

Answer 7

1. if a language has a nasal vowel phoneme, it will also have an oral vowel phoneme
2. if a language has long vowel phonemes, it also has short vowel phonemes

Question 8

consonant implicational universals

Answer 8

1. voiced obstruents imply voiceless obstruents
2. voiceless sonorants imply voiced sonorants
3. affricates imply fricatives
4. fricatives imply stops

Question 9

dialect

Answer 9

form of a language that is specific to a region or social group