Chapter 6 Practice Multiple Choice Questions

1. Most linguists believe that there are at least ______ languages spoken
throughout the world:
A) 1000
B) 2000
C) 3000
D) 4000
E) 5000
2. The principal concentration of French-speaking North Americans is in
A) Maine.
B) Quebec.
C) Nova Scotia.
D) Manitoba.
E) Haiti.
3. All of the following are Latin-based Romance languages except
A) English.
B) Spanish.
C) French.
D) Italian.
E) Portuguese
4. Dialects are local variants in language that differ in their
A) vocabulary.
B) spelling.
C) pronunciation.
D) speed at which the language is spoken.
E) all of the above
5. If a Spanish speaker and a French speaker come together to conduct trade
and revert to the authentic form of English they both learned in their schools,
English is known to them as a(n)
A) Creolized language
B) Language branch
C) Isogloss
D) Pidgin language
E) Lingua franca

6. In which of the following countries has conflict related to its

multilingualism escalated to widespread threats of secession?
A) United States
B) Germany
C) Japan
D) Canada
E) India
7. A theory that suggests that language spread by means of farming peoples
of the Fertile Crescent.
A) deep reconstruction
B) conquest theory
C) agricultural theory
D) language convergence
E) Renfrew hypothesis
8. A language that no longer has native speakers is considered
A) An extinct language
B) A preserved language
C) An endangered language
D) A lingua franca
E) A creole language
9. Of the languages spoken at home by non-English speakers in the United
States, 59.9% speak:
A) Spanish
B) French
C) Chinese
D) German
E) Spanglish
10. Democratic Republic of the Congo changed its name from ________ after a
1997 revolution.
A) Maputo
B) Kinshasa
C) Zimbabwe
D) Harare
E) Zaire