Chapter 5: Language

Question 1

What are the four classification layers of languages?

Answer 1

1. Family- not related to other families (Indo-European)
2. Branch- (Romance, Germanic)
3. Group- hard to distinguish the languages
4. Dialect- variation of same language

Question 2

What are some ways we can tell that languages are related?

Answer 2

having a similar alphabet, spelling, geography, root words, conjugation

Question 3

Proto-Indo Eurpean spread very far, what are the two hypothesizes of how?

Answer 3

1. Nomadic Warrior, meaning they conquered land and brought language with them
2. Sedentary Farmer, which is slower, spreading language by trade and farming

Question 4

What is an isogloss?

Answer 4

A word usage boundary

Question 5

What is a lingua franca? What are some examples?

Answer 5

A language that is used by many people that have a different native language. Ex. English, Swahilli, Hindi, Russian, Indonesian, ASL

Question 6

Centripital vs Centrifugal forces

Answer 6

Centripital pulls people together
Centrifugal pulls people apart

Question 7

Classifications of how much languages are used (5)

Answer 7

1. Institutional- used in govt, education, media,
2. developing- used daily by many generations
3. vigorous- developing w/o literary tradition (both written and spoken)
4. threatened- only face to face, loosing users
5. dying- only elderly

Question 8

where did language originate?

Answer 8

Africa

Question 9

What type of diffusion do languages typically spread by?

Answer 9

Relocation Diffusion, but english spread with expansion diffusion

Question 10

What is a Creole language?

Answer 10

A mix of the language of colonizer and the original language of a place.

Question 11

What is a Pidgin language?

Answer 11

A simplified version of two languages so they can communicate.

Question 12

Northern, Midland, South, and West are all examples of dialects of what country?

Answer 12

US