Linguistics Worksheet - Chapter 8

Ethnolinguistics and sociolinguistics are differentiated by:

• Ethnolinguistics focuses on the relationship between language and culture, while sociolinguistics studies the relationship between language and society.

• Ethnolinguistics studies language in relation to society, while sociolinguistics focuses on language and culture.

• Both ethnolinguistics and sociolinguistics study only the structure of language.

• Ethnolinguistics and sociolinguistics are the same field with no differences.

Pronouns contribute to language structure and social dynamics by:

• helping indicate relationships and identities within communication.

• serving only as grammatical fillers without social meaning.

• being used exclusively for objects, not people.

• having no impact on how people interact socially.

Which of the following is an example of language manipulation, such as euphemisms, doublespeak, or gaslighting?

• Referring to layoffs as 'workforce optimization'

• Describing a sunny day as 'cloudy'

• Calling a cat a 'dog'

• Saying 2+2=5

Language death has significant implications for linguistic diversity and cultural heritage. Which of the following best describes these implications?

• It leads to a loss of linguistic diversity and erodes cultural heritage.

• It increases the number of spoken languages worldwide.

• It has no effect on cultural traditions or identity.

• It results in the creation of new languages and cultures.

Sudden language death refers to the ________ extinction of a language due to the simultaneous death of its speakers, often caused by catastrophic events or deliberate acts of violence.

• abrupt

• gradual

• partial

• reversible

Radical language death refers to the abrupt demise of a language due to its speakers shifting to a different language, often as a result of intense ________ oppression or genocide.

• political

• economic

• technological

• linguistic

Gradual language death refers to the slow replacement of one language by another over time. An example of this is the decline of ________ Gaelic in parts of Scotland.

• Scottish

• Irish

• Welsh

• Cornish

Bottom-to-top language death refers to a phenomenon where a language ceases to be used in everyday conversation but remains preserved in ________, ritualistic contexts or official settings.

• formal

• casual

• technological

• commercial

Top-to-bottom language death refers to a process where language shift begins at the top levels of society, often initiated by ________ or elite circles, while still persisting in casual contexts.

• government

• families

• schools

• villages

The Bible has been used as a documentation tool for certain languages. What is one significant role it plays in language preservation and revitalization efforts?

• It helps preserve and revitalize endangered languages by providing written records.

• It replaces traditional stories with new ones.

• It discourages the use of native languages.

• It only documents widely spoken languages.