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Historical Linguistics - Quiz
Contributed by: Squires
  • 1. What is the study of language change over time called?
A) Descriptive Linguistics
B) Historical Linguistics
C) Syntax
D) Phonology
  • 2. What is the process by which two languages influence each other called?
A) Language acquisition
B) Language contact
C) Language isolation
D) Language extinction
  • 3. Which ancient civilization is known for leaving behind the Rosetta Stone, aiding in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs?
A) Ancient China
B) Ancient Mesopotamia
C) Ancient Greece
D) Ancient Egypt
  • 4. Which language family does Spanish belong to?
A) Afro-Asiatic
B) Dravidian
C) Sino-Tibetan
D) Indo-European
  • 5. Which language is considered a linguistic isolate?
A) Swahili
B) Basque
C) Chinese
D) French
  • 6. What is the name of the language family that includes English, German, and Dutch?
A) Germanic
B) Celtic
C) Slavic
D) Romance
  • 7. Which language family is known for its click consonants?
A) Khoisan
B) Austronesian
C) Indo-European
D) Uralic
  • 8. What is the name for the study of the origins and history of words?
A) Etymology
B) Morphology
C) Syntax
D) Pragmatics
  • 9. Which principle posits that the processes of language change observed today were also at work in the past?
A) Comparative method
B) Internal reconstruction
C) Uniformitarian principle
D) Synchronic principle
  • 10. Who made the distinction between synchronic and diachronic linguistics?
A) Roman Jakobson
B) Edward Sapir
C) Ferdinand de Saussure
D) Noam Chomsky
  • 11. What is less-standard technique used by some linguists that is often regarded as unreliable?
A) Comparative method
B) Mass lexical comparison
C) Synchronic analysis
D) Internal reconstruction
  • 12. What is the primary focus of morphology in historical linguistics?
A) Analyzing the evolutionary origin of language.
B) Studying sentence structure and principles for constructing sentences.
C) Formulating rules that model word-formation patterns over time.
D) Comparing changes in syntax between unrelated languages.
  • 13. What is one of the key areas of study in historical linguistics involving tracing language evolution?
A) Psycholinguistics
B) Reconstruction of ancestral languages
C) Synchronic analysis
D) Etymology
  • 14. What evidence do historical linguists use to hypothesize about groupings and movements of peoples?
A) Historical records
B) Archaeological evidence
C) Genetic evidence
D) Linguistic evidence
  • 15. How can languages be related besides genetic descent?
A) Through convergence and borrowing.
B) By sharing a common vocabulary.
C) By having similar writing systems.
D) By being spoken in the same geographic region.
  • 16. What is the main concern of historical linguistics?
A) Diachronic analysis
B) Synchronic analysis
C) Psycholinguistics
D) Comparative philology
  • 17. Why is a purely-synchronic linguistics not possible for any period before the invention of the gramophone?
A) Gramophones recorded only spoken language.
B) Written records always lag behind speech in reflecting linguistic developments.
C) There were no written languages.
D) Sociolinguists did not study older periods.
  • 18. What is an example of a Germanic strong verb that shows irregularity in synchronic analysis?
A) Jump → jumped
B) Sing ↔ sang ↔ sung
C) Run → ran → run
D) Walk → walked
  • 19. What is the approximate time-depth limit often assumed for linguistic methods?
A) 20,000 years
B) 15,000 years
C) 5,000 years
D) 10,000 years
  • 20. What type of analysis views linguistic phenomena only at a given time?
A) Comparative method
B) Synchronic analysis
C) Internal reconstruction
D) Diachronic analysis
  • 21. What does a diachronic analysis reveal about strong verbs like 'sing'?
A) They follow the same pattern as weak verbs.
B) They were always considered irregular.
C) They are remnants of a fully regular system of internal vowel changes.
D) They are irregular due to modern language rules.
  • 22. What is the difference between convergence and genetic descent?
A) Convergence involves borrowing, while genetic descent implies a common origin.
B) Convergence results in new languages, while genetic descent does not.
C) There is no difference; both terms mean the same thing.
D) Convergence is about phonetic changes, while genetic descent is about vocabulary.
  • 23. What can lead to cross-relating of languages?
A) Only convergence through borrowing.
B) Only genetic descent.
C) The use of similar alphabets.
D) Both convergence through borrowing and genetic descent.
  • 24. What method is primarily used to establish language families and reconstruct proto-languages?
A) Mass lexical comparison
B) Comparative method
C) Internal reconstruction
D) Synchronic analysis
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