Chapter 7: Classification of Languages

Question 1

Dialects

Answer 1

Have mutual Intelligibility and are understood by a variety of speakers from different regions

Question 2

Linguistic Typology

Answer 2

Linguistic classification based on structural and functional features

Question 3

Genetic Classification

Answer 3

Linguistic classification based on descent

E.g. Latin

Question 4

Areal Clasification

Answer 4

Linguistic classification based on geographical context

Question 5

Absolute Universals

Answer 5

Structural patterns or traits that occur in all languages

Question 6

Universal Tendencies

Answer 6

Structural patterns or traits that occur in most languages

Question 7

Implicational Universals

Answer 7

When the presence of one trait implies another

E.g. The presence of nasal vowels implies oral vowels

Question 8

The Most Common Vowel System has _____ Vowels

Answer 8

5 (2 high, 2 mid, 1 low)

Question 9

The Most Common Vowel Phoneme is _____

Answer 9

a (i and u also common)

Question 10

Free Stress

Answer 10

Occurs in languages whose stress varies in position

Question 11

Tone Language

Answer 11

A Language that uses pitch to convey different meanings

E.g. Mandarin

Question 12

The Most Common Fricative is _____

Answer 12

s

Question 13

Languages with Affricates will also have _____ and _____

Answer 13

Fricatives and stops

Question 14

If a Language has _____ Obstruents, it’s Likely to have _____ Ones too

Answer 14

Voiced; voiceless

Question 15

Isolating/Analytic Languages

Answer 15

Avoid affixes and use free forms to express grammar

Question 16

Agglutinating Languages

Answer 16

Use lots of affixes, each one to express single pieces of informations

Question 17

Fusional/Inflectional Languages

Answer 17

Has root/affix combinations; single affixes can convey several meanings

Question 18

Polysynthetic Languages

Answer 18

Single words can carry long strings of roots and affixes that function as sentences

Question 19

If A Language has _____ Affixes, it Will have _____ Affixes

Answer 19

Inflectional; derivational

Question 20

T/F

If a language has only suffixes, it will only have postpositions

Answer 20

True

Question 21

3 Most Common Sentence Structures

Answer 21

SOV, SVO, VSO

Question 22

If a Language has VO word ordoer, it will have _____; if it has OV Word Order, it will have _____

Answer 22

Prepositions; postpositions

Question 23

Indo-European Family

Answer 23

Germanic, Celtic, Hellenic, Albanian, Italic, Slavic, Baltic, Armenian, Indo-Iranian

Question 24

Germanic

Answer 24

Gothic, Icelandic, Faroese, English, German, Dutch

Question 25

Celtic

Answer 25

Welsh, Breton, Irish, Scot Gaelic, Gaulish

Question 26

Romance

Answer 26

Spanish, Portuguese, French, Catalan, Italian, Sardinian, Romanian

Question 27

Hellenic

Answer 27

Greek

Question 28

Albanian

Answer 28

Albanian (spoken in Albania, Yugoslavia, Greece and Italy)

Question 29

Armenian

Answer 29

Armenian

Question 30

Baltic

Answer 30

Latvian and Lithuanian

Question 31

Slavic

Answer 31

Russian, Ukrainian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Bulgarian, Slovene

Question 32

Indo-Iranian

Answer 32

Persian, Pashto, Kurdish, Hindi-Urdu, Bengali, Romany

Question 33

Isolates

Answer 33

Languages with no known family