What three major language families are in Africa?

Nilo - Saharan, Niger - Congo, + Altaic

Indo - European, Sino - Tibetan, + Japanese

Tai - Kadai, Japanese, + Korean

Altaic, Dravidian, + Austronesian

Afro - Asiatic, Niger - Congo, + Nilo - Saharan

What two groups divide the Germanic language branch? What main languages are in each group? (Note: Even if the answer choice doesn’t apply to this question, it is a true fact. It would help to look over the info.)

1 West Germanic Group + 2 North Germanic Group. 1 = English, Dutch, and German. 2 Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic.

1 Indo - Iranian + 2 Balto - Slavic. 1 = Persian, Pashto, and Kurdish. 2 = Polish, Czech, and Slovak

What is the branch of the Indo - European language family with the most speakers?

There is not enough information to determine that.

What are the new languages that are being created through mixing English with other languages? (Select all that apply).

Portlish = Portuguese + English

Brenglish = British English + English

How did English first DIFFUSE to the Western Hemisphere? HINT: Key word, diffuse. Not the origin.

England to the US through early colonization in Jamestown.

Norman Invasion who came from present - day Norway to France

German Invasion... three tribes invaded the British Isles

Define lingua franca.

a language of international communication, such as English

symbols that represent words or meaningful parts of words

a simplified form of lingua franca that is used to trade

language used in education, work, mass media, and government

that the language is written as well as spoken

What are the arguments to support making English the official US language? (Select all that apply).

Providing services to non-English speakers is expensive

Requiring use of English is a symbol of national unity

58 countries and 28 US states already make English official

The government should not interfere with people’s language rights

A law is unnecessary because English is already the primary language of the US

Define dialect and subdialect. HINT: There are two answers.

a regional variation of a language distinguished by distinctive vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation

in the case of England, the standard language

in a language with multiple dialects, one dialect may be recognized as it

There is only one answer choice above that correlates with either of the two words.

What statements BEST describes what will happen to the global diversity of languages within the next century?

A slight decrease in the number of languages due to a few incidents of convergence.

An increase in the number of languages due to incidents of devolution.

The maintenance of the current number of languages due to mostly stable political situations around the world.

A significance decrease in the number of languages due to globalization.

A slight increase in the number of languages as result of global population growth.

At its peak, the Roman Empire spanned 1,062,000 miles over parts of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. As a result, people from modern day Portugal to Saudi Arabia began speaking Latin. After the Roman Empire collapsed, which of the following happened?

Language divergence, as a result of isolation, created the Romance languages

Latin continued as a Lingua France despite the collages especially of the empire.

Pidgin languages become creole languages, know as the Romance languages.

Without Latin as a standard language, the Romance languages re-emerged.

Without Latin as an official language, the Romance languages emerged.

The Chinese language is broken into several dialects spoken around the country. What is the primary reason linguists would be especially interested in Chinese dialects?

The different dialects cannot understand each other, making them different languages instead of dialects.

The different dialects of China a re spoken too far apart from each other to be consider a dialect.

The dialects use ideographs as their primary form of writing.

The Chinese language is primarily oral

The nasalized tone of the languages make it particularly difficult for Westerners to master.

One distinctive feature of the Indo-European family is that it

Is spoken by nearly half the world’s population

Has a smaller spatial distribution than other language families

Is the only language family with just one major lingua franca

Includes most of the world’s oldest languages

Is the only one that is spoken in Europe today

Some countries have several official languages because they want to

Give recognittion to different groups within the country

Make internatiional diplomacy easier

Foster political cooperation with neighboring countries

Make government operate more efficiently

Prepare students to participate in the global economy

Which statement best describes the most common reason groups wish to preserve their traditional languages.

Language is central to cultural identity, so preserving a language helps preserve a culture

Language is used to religious services, so preserving a language is primarily a religious obligation.

Language is used for trade, so preserving language is one way to keep a group economically prosperous

Language change is a politically disruptive force, so preserving a language is the only way to record history accurately.

Language preservation passes on a group’s history, so preserving a language is the only way to record history accurately.

The Arabic language spread from its hearth and became one of the major global languages mainly through

Conquest and its use as a standard religious language

Increased use of communication technology in Arab nations

Spread of Middle Eastern multinational oil corporation

Worldwide colonization beginning around 600 CE

Resisting colonization by European nations and the United States.

Which phrase does NOT help explain the language distribution shown on the map?

The differences between American and British English

The ease of trade between Great Brittian and the US

The widespread use of the Internet

The impact of British colonialization in Africa and Asia

The increase in the power of US based corporations

AP Human Geography Language

Authored by Karen Mccormick

Geography

9th - 12th Grade

Used 1K+ times

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About

This comprehensive quiz covers the fundamental concepts of language geography within the context of AP Human Geography, specifically focusing on language families, distribution patterns, and linguistic diffusion processes. Students need to understand the hierarchical classification system of languages (from language families down to dialects), recognize the spatial distribution of major language families like Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan, and analyze how languages spread through various forms of cultural diffusion. The content requires students to synthesize complex relationships between language and culture, including concepts such as lingua franca, official languages, toponyms, and the processes of language evolution and extinction. Students must demonstrate their ability to interpret maps, understand demographic patterns of language speakers, and explain the historical and contemporary factors that influence language distribution globally. This assessment targets 11th-12th grade students who have developed the analytical skills necessary to examine language as both a cultural phenomenon and a geographic variable that shapes human spatial organization. Created by Karen Mccormick, a Geography teacher in US who teaches grade 9-12. This quiz serves as an excellent tool for reinforcing the language and communication unit in AP Human Geography courses, supporting students as they prepare for the comprehensive nature of the AP exam. Teachers can deploy this assessment as a formative evaluation to identify knowledge gaps before the unit test, use it for review sessions leading up to the AP exam in May, or assign it as homework to encourage independent study of complex linguistic concepts. The quiz effectively supports instruction by requiring students to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world examples and geographic scenarios, strengthening their ability to think spatially about cultural phenomena. This assessment aligns with AP Human Geography Course and Exam Description standards, particularly those addressing cultural patterns and processes (Units 3), including standards CPS-3.A (explain the role of language in defining culture), CPS-3.B (explain how language families are distributed), and CPS-3.C (explain how languages diffuse).

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92 questions

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MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

1 min • 1 pt

What is the BEST definition of “language”?

a combination of German + English

a system of communication through speech, a collection of sounds that a group of people understands to have the same meaning

the most authoritative sources of language

is spoken in daily use by people of all ages, but it lacks a literary tradition

language family that include the languages Wu, Yue, Min, Jinyu, etc.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

1 min • 1 pt

Language is like...

a boat. It is big, loud, and obnoxious. Whoever created it was a big ole dumb dumb.

a cheetah eating a turtle. If you are the language speaker that talks fast, you will eat away at the conversation and leave no time for the turtle.

Luggage. No matter where someone is, they always keep their original language.

nothing. It is pointless and I don’t think we need a source of communication... right?

food. I love it.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

1 min • 1 pt

What is the authoritive source of languages?

Ethnologue

Wikipedia

Dictionary.com

Thesaurus

Webbster’s Dictionary

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

1 min • 1 pt

True or False: An institutional language is spoken in daily use by people of all ages, from children to elderly individuals.

True

False. That would mean it is a developing language.

False. That would mean it is a vigorous language.

False. That would mean it is an institutional language.

There is not enough evidence to tell either way.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

1 min • 1 pt

What language type is used by governments for laws, reports, and public objects, such as road signs, money, and stamps?

vigourous language

developing language

literary tradition

official language

institutional language

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

1 min • 1 pt

Organize the world’s languages from biggest classification, to smallest.

language group, language, language family, dialect

language branch, language group, language, language family, dialect

language family, language branch, language group, language, dialect

language

language family, language branch, language group, dialect, language

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION

1 min • 1 pt

Which are the two language FAMILIES with the largest amount of speakers?

Sino - Tibetan + Dravidian

Austroasiatic + Austronesian

Japanese + Indo - European

Altaic + Uralic

Indo - European + Sino - Tibetan

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AP Human Geography Language

What is the BEST definition of “language”?

Language is like...

What is the authoritive source of languages?

True or False: An institutional language is spoken in daily use by people of all ages, from children to elderly individuals.

What language type is used by governments for laws, reports, and public objects, such as road signs, money, and stamps?

Organize the world’s languages from biggest classification, to smallest.

Which are the two language FAMILIES with the largest amount of speakers?

What percent of the world’s people speak languages in the Austronesian Family?

What is the written system for the Korean language known as?

What is the most widely used language form of lingua franca?

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