The current distribution of languages around the world is largely a result of

• social media

• the Internet

• Rosetta Stone sales

• migration

• high school requirements to learn a second language

A group of languages that share a common ancestor before recorded history is a

• dialect

• language branch

• language family

• language group

• language root

What are the two largest language families in the world?

• Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic

• Sino-Tibetan and Indo-European

• Afro-Asiatic and Sino-Tibetan

• Altaic and Nilo-Saharan

• Austronesian and Indo-European

A lingua franca is

• an English word that has entered the French language

• a language understood by people who have different native languages

• an extinct language that has been revived

• an official language in a region of the world different from where the language originated

• a language used by French colonial administrations

A pidgin language

• has no native speakers.

• is spread by folk culture.

• stems from invasion.

• cannot exist for more than a generation.

• cannot exist without globalization

English has achieved unprecedented acceptance globally due to

• the refusal to use English in colonial and imperial expansion.

• the diffusion of command economies across much of the world.

• its role as the common language of a global economy and culture.

• the rise of folk culture and the decline of popular culture.

• the diffusion of religion to industrialized nations.

A regional variation of a language including distinctive vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation of words is called a(n)

• vigorous language.

• isogloss.

• developing language.

• dialect.

• official language.

The Icelandic language has changed less than any other Germanic language because of

• Iceland's close contact with other people and activities.

• migration by German tribes.

• Iceland's relative isolation from other places.

• the extinction of the East Germanic group.

• continuous exchange with Norway and Sweden.

Hebrew is an example of

• an isolated language.

• an extinct language.

• a revived language.

• a language family.

• an Altaic language.

language is important to culture because

• it is the main determinant of popular and folk culture

• it is the means of spreading cultural ideas

• it is not important to culture

• it only belongs to folk culture

• it only spreadsthrough contagious diffusion