LING 115 Final Exam Questions and Answers
If a language has over 10,000 speakers, it's safe and going to continue into the
future - -False
-96% of the world's languages are spoken by 4% of the world's population - -True
-Code switching is one of the causes of language shift - -False
-The second stand in the 3-generation language shift model is bilingualism - -True
-One of the places with the most language extinction is - -North America
-In the town of Oberwart, the oldest generation spoke - -Hungarian with survival
skills German
-If a speaker of a minority language gets made fun of at school for not speaking the
majority language well, that speaker will most likely... - -Work really hard to learn the
majority language, and stop speaking the minority language because they're
ashamed of it
-One of the best ways to ensure that minority language survives in the presence of a
more dominant language group is - -To isolate the speakers of the minority language
in a rural setting
-The treatment of a Kikuyu speaker under English colonial rule in Kenya could be
described as - -a top-down pressure
-A language with speakers in the 30's but no speakers under the age of 20 should
be described as - -Endangered
-The 1998 earthquake in Papua New Guinea is an example of which factor that can
causes language loss - -Loss of speakers
-What does not help language be revitalized - -Teaching the language as a foreign
subject in high school
-What factor was influential in the survival of Mwang - -The isolation of the speakers
-What did not contribute to the revival of Hebrew speakers? - -The existence of
living mother-tongue speakers. Being associated with the Jewish religion, having a
wealthy community looking to revive the language, and the association between
being Hebrew and Israeli did.
-The Eisteddford could be described as a top-down pressure T/F - -F
-The biggest challenge facing Hawaiian is - -A lack of well paying jobs requiring
Hawaiian
, -How many of the world's languages does David Chrystal believe will be gone in the
next 100 years - -3,000
-Karitiana is an endangered language because it has only 185 speakers T/F - -False
-Minority languages in regard to language shift have.... - -Less prestige, fewer
speakers, and are less wealthy/powerful
-Immigrant communities... - -Often speak a minority language but can deprive it of
prestige because it's just something they do at home
-Places where a minority language exists with a dominant language - -Basque in
Spain and indigenous languages in Americas. If everyone in Spain switches to
Spanish, then Basque is done
-3 generation effect - -1st generation learns just enough of majority language for
survival skills, 2nd generation is bilingual and does translating for parents, and 3rd
generation is loss of minority language and move to majority
-Oberwart language shift - -Changed hands from Hungary to Austria at the end of
WWI, 1st generation wanted kids to be proficient in German for success and needed
to learn German to communicate with the government. 2nd generation uses German
for friends and for their kids and for government officials. Third generation only
speaks survival skills Hungarian to talk to elders (only using Hungarian for church
and with grandparents)
-Reasons for language shift - -Demographic factors, economic factors, size of
minority group, social factors, political factors, school, and intermarriage
-Demographic factors - -Shift to majority if in urban setting, preserve minority if rural
-Economic factors - -Shift to majority language if there are jobs in majority language,
preserve minority if there are jobs in it
-Size of minority group - -If the group is small then shift to majority language, else
preserve minority language
-Social pressures - -Peer pressure to drop minority language or not be associated
with it will result in shift to majority language. If family and friends use the minority
language it will be preserved
-Political factors - -Government pressure to switch to the majority language will
result in shift (Kikuyu in Kenya punishment for speaking it, Welsh in Great Britain
with the Welsh Knott), and preserve minority language if the government supports it
-School Factors - -If schooling requires the majority language, shift, else if school
teaches minority language then preserve
-Intermarriage factors - -Shift to majority language if marry into majority language,
preserve if the marriage is only between minority speakers
If a language has over 10,000 speakers, it's safe and going to continue into the
future - -False
-96% of the world's languages are spoken by 4% of the world's population - -True
-Code switching is one of the causes of language shift - -False
-The second stand in the 3-generation language shift model is bilingualism - -True
-One of the places with the most language extinction is - -North America
-In the town of Oberwart, the oldest generation spoke - -Hungarian with survival
skills German
-If a speaker of a minority language gets made fun of at school for not speaking the
majority language well, that speaker will most likely... - -Work really hard to learn the
majority language, and stop speaking the minority language because they're
ashamed of it
-One of the best ways to ensure that minority language survives in the presence of a
more dominant language group is - -To isolate the speakers of the minority language
in a rural setting
-The treatment of a Kikuyu speaker under English colonial rule in Kenya could be
described as - -a top-down pressure
-A language with speakers in the 30's but no speakers under the age of 20 should
be described as - -Endangered
-The 1998 earthquake in Papua New Guinea is an example of which factor that can
causes language loss - -Loss of speakers
-What does not help language be revitalized - -Teaching the language as a foreign
subject in high school
-What factor was influential in the survival of Mwang - -The isolation of the speakers
-What did not contribute to the revival of Hebrew speakers? - -The existence of
living mother-tongue speakers. Being associated with the Jewish religion, having a
wealthy community looking to revive the language, and the association between
being Hebrew and Israeli did.
-The Eisteddford could be described as a top-down pressure T/F - -F
-The biggest challenge facing Hawaiian is - -A lack of well paying jobs requiring
Hawaiian
, -How many of the world's languages does David Chrystal believe will be gone in the
next 100 years - -3,000
-Karitiana is an endangered language because it has only 185 speakers T/F - -False
-Minority languages in regard to language shift have.... - -Less prestige, fewer
speakers, and are less wealthy/powerful
-Immigrant communities... - -Often speak a minority language but can deprive it of
prestige because it's just something they do at home
-Places where a minority language exists with a dominant language - -Basque in
Spain and indigenous languages in Americas. If everyone in Spain switches to
Spanish, then Basque is done
-3 generation effect - -1st generation learns just enough of majority language for
survival skills, 2nd generation is bilingual and does translating for parents, and 3rd
generation is loss of minority language and move to majority
-Oberwart language shift - -Changed hands from Hungary to Austria at the end of
WWI, 1st generation wanted kids to be proficient in German for success and needed
to learn German to communicate with the government. 2nd generation uses German
for friends and for their kids and for government officials. Third generation only
speaks survival skills Hungarian to talk to elders (only using Hungarian for church
and with grandparents)
-Reasons for language shift - -Demographic factors, economic factors, size of
minority group, social factors, political factors, school, and intermarriage
-Demographic factors - -Shift to majority if in urban setting, preserve minority if rural
-Economic factors - -Shift to majority language if there are jobs in majority language,
preserve minority if there are jobs in it
-Size of minority group - -If the group is small then shift to majority language, else
preserve minority language
-Social pressures - -Peer pressure to drop minority language or not be associated
with it will result in shift to majority language. If family and friends use the minority
language it will be preserved
-Political factors - -Government pressure to switch to the majority language will
result in shift (Kikuyu in Kenya punishment for speaking it, Welsh in Great Britain
with the Welsh Knott), and preserve minority language if the government supports it
-School Factors - -If schooling requires the majority language, shift, else if school
teaches minority language then preserve
-Intermarriage factors - -Shift to majority language if marry into majority language,
preserve if the marriage is only between minority speakers
