World Book Trivia Challenge--10/22-language
- 1.
What are the people called who study language?
- A.
Speech therapists
- B.
Linguists
- C.
Oratorologist
Correct Answer
B. LinguistsExplanation
Scientists and linguists (scholars who study language) think people have an innate (inborn) ability to learn and use language.Rate this question:
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- 2.
What are the sounds that distinguish one word from another?
- A.
Vocal folds
- B.
Phonemes
- C.
Phonics
Correct Answer
B. pHonemesExplanation
Linguists call sounds that distinguish one word from another phonemes. In English, for example, the sounds of the letters d and g are phonemes. Most dialects of English have about 40 phonemes, which is about average for a language. Some languages, however, have more than 100 phonemes.Rate this question:
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- 3.
The Turkish language belongs to which language family?
- A.
The Altaic family
- B.
The Sino-Tibetan family
- C.
The Dravidian family
Correct Answer
A. The Altaic familyExplanation
The Altaic family includes Turkish and Mongolian, which are largely limited to Turkey and Mongolia. Some linguists also include Japanese and Korean in the Altaic family, but their inclusion is controversial.Rate this question:
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- 4.
Who is considered the father of modern linguistics?
- A.
Jakob Grimm
- B.
Friedrich Schlegel
- C.
Ferdinand de Saussure
Correct Answer
C. Ferdinand de SaussureExplanation
During the early 1900's, Ferdinand de Saussure, a Swiss scholar, introduced several important concepts to linguistics, such as the distinction between what people know about their language and how people use that knowledge when speaking. Saussure also focused on the systematic nature of languages. He is widely considered to be the father of modern linguistics.Rate this question:
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- 5.
Which language has a larger vocabulary than any other language?
- A.
English
- B.
Spanish
- C.
Chinese
Correct Answer
A. EnglishExplanation
English has a larger vocabulary than any other language. There are more than 600,000 words in the largest dictionaries of the English language.Rate this question:
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- 6.
How many official languages does the United Nations have?
- A.
1
- B.
6
- C.
18
Correct Answer
B. 6Explanation
The six official languages of the United Nations are Russian, Arabic, Chinese, English, French, and Spanish.Rate this question:
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- 7.
What are the three official languages of Switzerland?
- A.
German, French, and Italian
- B.
German, French, and English
- C.
German, French, and Hebrew
Correct Answer
A. German, French, and ItalianExplanation
The Swiss Constitution provides for three official languages: German, French, and Italian.Rate this question:
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- 8.
There is only one official sign language in the world.
- A.
True
- B.
False
Correct Answer
B. FalseExplanation
Signed languages are just as expressive as spoken language, and thoughts can be expressed just as quickly by signing as speaking. There are many distinct signed languages used all over the world.Rate this question:
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- 9.
Written Chinese has no alphabet.
- A.
True
- B.
False
Correct Answer
A. TrueExplanation
Written Chinese has no alphabet. Instead, it consists of about 50,000 characters. The Chinese writing system is logographic, meaning that each character stands for a word or part of a word.Rate this question:
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- 10.
Latin today is predominantly a spoken language.
- A.
True
- B.
False
Correct Answer
B. FalseExplanation
Latin has not been a spoken language since the early 1500's. However, many Latin words helped shape modern scientific and legal terms.Rate this question:
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