Quiz 2

What is used by linguists when they try to classify languages?

-a genetic/hereditary lineage -structural features that focus on word-formation -structural features that focus on word order

Mutual intelligibility is...

-the ability for speakers from two (or more) language varieties to understand each other -is frequently objective and difficult to scientifically pinpoint -is one of the reasons why the line between a language and a dialect is fuzzy

According to the introduction chapter in the book, English's great vowel shift was...

A change in how English vowels were pronounced

Morphology is...

A component of grammar that builds words out of smaller pieces

An accent is...

A variety of a language distinguished only by pronunciation patterns.

The science and study of human language is known as....

Linguistics

The (hypothetical) common parent language of a group of related languages is known as the...

Proto-language

T/F: The definition of a dialect continuum is a phenomenon whereby a range of dialects is spoken across some geographical area, with the dialects of neighboring areas differing from each other only slightly, and the dialects from the opposite ends of the continuum being much less similar to each other and possibly not mutually intelligible at all.

True

T/F: The distinction between what is a language vs. what is a dialect is actually difficult to define.

True

Typological classification of word order primarily cares about the order of these three things

Verb, subject, object