A literary tradition is

a form of a language intended to be printed in official government documents

specific only to Shakespearian English

a collection of languages related to one other

the variety of dialects in a language used in obscure examples of poetry

Which statement is TRUE regarding geographers' study of language?

Geographers examine the similarities among languages to understand the diffusion and interaction of people around the world

Language is important because of its relationship to nationality

It is easier to study and document the distribution of languages in Africa than in Europe

Geographers are only interested in identifying and studying spoken languages

Earth's homogenous collection of languages illustrates cultural diversity

The current estimate of the number of languages spoken across the planet is approximately

between 250 and 1,000 languages

between 1,500 and 3,000 languages

between 3,500 and 6,500 languages

The term institutional language is used to describe

a language used in education, work, and mass media

Latin words and spellings as the basis for a language's vocabulary

a language of the dominant spiritual groups, military, and government

a language of the medical profession

a language used in meetings at the United Nations

A developing language

has a literary tradition and is spoken daily

has a literary tradition but is not spoken daily

is a collection of languages with common ancestry

is spoken daily but lacks a literary tradition

is a social media language recognized by the government

Differences among cultural elements that may act as centrifugal forces are

language, religion, and ethnicity

migration, education, and ethnicity

distance, interaction, and time

shared language, religion, and nationality

The best example of a literary tradition would be

a language that is written as well as spoken

a script used in television and radio broadcasts

the religious rituals and traditions of ancient civilizations

the classification system used by Ethnologue

the variety of dialects in a language used in poetry

The roots of the trees below the surface in a diagram of language family trees represent

possible prehistoric superfamilies

In a diagram in which languages are depicted as leaves on trees, the trunks of the trees represent

possible prehistoric superfamilies

Use the map in Figure 5-2 to answer the question. A geographer observed that most European countries are dominated by Indo-European speakers EXCEPT

Germany, Austria, and Switzerland

India's 22 so-called scheduled languages are representative of India's

government's obligation to encourage the use of these languages

monthly recognition of individual languages to celebrate diversity

system of social stratification

democratic system of government

widening gap between the rich and the poor

The large number of individual languages documented in Africa has resulted primarily from

A) thousands of years of isolation between cultural groups.

B) repeated invasions by outsiders.

C) introduction of many different languages by the colonial powers.

D) frequent migration by the different tribal groups.

E) colonial administration of native lands.

Which of the following is NOT TRUE regarding the Swahili language?

D) like most African languages, it has no literary tradition

A) it belongs to the Niger-Congo language family

B) it is an official language of the East African countries of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda

C) it is a lingua franca developed over centuries of interaction between African language speakers and Arab traders

E) at least 50 million people use it as a second language

Which of the following is TRUE regarding African languages?

C) In villages, people tend to speak to each other in their own language but may rely on a lingua franca such as Swahili to speak to outsiders.

A) Each has its own unique alphabet developed because of centuries of isolation from other groups.

B) The exact number of languages was documented by missionaries in the nineteenth century.

D) Most countries in Africa have just one Official language.

E) Yoruba, spoken in Nigeria, is one of the major languages of the Afro-Asiatic family.

The three largest language families in Southeast Asia are

B) Austronesian, Austro-Asiatic, and Tai-Kadai.

A) Dravidian, Altaic, and Tai-Kadai.

C) Austronesian, Afro-Asiatic, and Uralic.

D) Korean, Japanese, and Austronesian.

E) Indo-Iranian, Celtic, and Turkic.

Which of the following is TRUE about Korean?

A) Written Korean has a letter for each sound.

B) Korean is essentially Chinese spoken on the Korean peninsula.

C) Korean uses two systems of phonetic symbols.

D) The origin of Korean is unknown.

E) To simplify trade Korean is written with the familiar Roman alphabet.

38) Which of the following is NOT true regarding language families?

C) Arabic and Farsi are considered the same language.

A) Turkish is the most widely spoken Altaic language.

B) Migrants from Russia's Ural Mountains carried the Uralic language to Europe.

D) More than 95 percent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa use languages of the NigerCongo family.