Practice Test Flashcards
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Week 1: The PIE language family
Who are the founders of modern comparitive linguistics?
- (Marcus Zuerius) van Boxhoorn: Proposed the ‘Scythian’ language a lot of European languages are derived from.
- Sir William Jones: Credited with the beginning of modern comparitive linguistics
Week 1: The PIE language family
What are the 13 main branches of the Indo-European language family?
- Anatolian
- Tocharian
- Celtic
- Italic
- Germanic
- Baltic
- Slavic
- Albanian
- Armenian
- Indo-Aryan (Indic)
- Iranian
- Greek
- Phrygian
Week 2: Linguistic Genetic Relationships
What are three ways to find a genetic relationship between languages?
- Similarities in the basic vocabularies
- Structural similarities
- Shared irregularities
Week 2: Linguistic Genetic Relationships
What kind of words should you look for when trying to establish a genetic relationship between two languages?
And what kind of words should you avoid?
You should look for words for:
- Body parts
- Kinship terms (mother, father, etc.)
- Native animals
- Verbs
Avoid: Loanwords
Week 3: Language Change
What is the definition of a Substrate Influence? And can you give an example?
A substrate influence is the influence of L2 speakers on a language. The L1 is the substrate (lower layer) and the L2 is the superstrate (upper layer)
Example: In the Roman Empire, different varieties of Latin existed. In Celtic regions, /u/ was pronounced /y/. L2 speakers of Latin in Celtic regions, pronounced Latin words this way as well. The speakers then passed these pronunciations on to the next generations, and became part of the standard pronunciation of Latin in that region.
Week 3: Language Change
What are the characteristics of a Sound Law? And can you give an example?
- They are limited to a certain phonetic environment (ex: kn- > n- / #_)
- They operate for only a limited time span.
- They are geographically bound
- There are no exceptions
Week 3: Language Change
What are the two requirements for an Analogy? And can you give an example?
Motive: Solving irregularites in verbs. The old form must be replaced by the new form
Model: The new form must be modeled on an existing verb. (ex: drive>drove, so dive>dove must be correct, although the original correct form should be dive>dived)
Week 3: Language Change
BONUS QUESTION
What is the 4th Law of Kurylowicz?
When both the old and new forms of a verb are retained, the older form only occurs in specific contexts.
Week 4: Greek
What does reduplication mean and when does it happen?
Reduplication means that the first part of the root is doubled.
In formula:
Present: C1e-
Perfect: C1e-C1o-
It happens in the perfect tense.
Week 4: Greek
What are the three grades of ablaut and when do they happen?
- o-grade if the syllable in the root is *-o-
- e-grade if the syllable in the root is *-e-
- zero-grade if the syllable in the root doesn’t contain a vowel
Week 4: Greek
Consider these words:
present: PIE *bheidh-
perfect: PIE *bhoidh-
aorist: PIE *bhidh-
Now fill in the right vowel for the following words in the mentioned cases:
- PIE *bh_udh– “(to) wake up”: present and aorist
- PIE *n_igw– “(to) wash”: present and perfect
- PIE *l_ikw– “(to) leave”: present, perfect and aorist
- present: PIE *bheudh- (e-grade)
aorist: PIE *bhudh- (zero-grade) - present: PIE *neigw- (e-grade)
perfect: PIE *noigw- (o-grade) - present: PIE *leikw- (e-grade)
perfect: PIE *loikw- (o-grade)
aorist: PIE *likw- (zero-grade)
Week 5: Indic
What are closed and open syllables?
A closed syllable, is a syllable that ends with a consonant: CVC-CV-… (ex: cul-ture. The -u- in the syllable cul- is surrounded by the consonants c- and -l, so it’s a closed syllable)
An open syllable is syllable that ends with a vowel:
CV-CV-… (ex: ra-dio. The syllable ra- ends with the vowel -a, so it’s an open syllable. Even though the next letter is a consonant, that consonant is not part of the first syllable)
Week 5: Indic
What is Brugmann’s Law?
PIE *o > SKT ā / _CV
In PIE, an *o becomes an a in Sanskrit, but it becomes ā in open syllables when followed by a consonant and another vowel. (ex: PIE *dóru became dāru)
Week 5: Indic
What did these PIE vowels and semivowels change to in Sanskrit?
- PIE *e
- PIE *o
- PIE *i
- PIE *u
- a (regardless of phonetic environment)
- a (closed) and ā (open)
- i (closed) / y (consonantal)
- u (closed) / v (consonantal)
Week 5: Indic
What did these PIE diphthongs change to in Sanskrit?
- PIE *ei
- PIE *eu
- PIE *oi
- PIE *ou
- e / ay
- o / av
- e / āy
- o / āu
