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1 - What is an "ancestor"? 

a. A colleague from a previous job

b. An animal that lives in the amazon jungle

c. A friend

d. A machine that cuts wood

e. A vigilante

f. A distant relative from the past

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2 - What does the word "evolve" mean? 

a. To critique a piece of writing that is meant for publication

b. To damage someone's property and be liable for the damages 

c. To develop gradually, or to cause something or someone to develop gradually:

d. To succeed in accomplishing goals

e. To pay off a debt that had a high interest rate

f. None of the above

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3 - What does "divergence" mean?

a. To try to help someone get off of drugs

b. To avoid trouble

c. A deep dive into the ocean

d. To consolidate debt

e. The point where two things split off from each other

f. None of the above

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4 - In the reading the term "genetic relationship" is used to describe

a. The biological connection between people and languages

b. To describe the connection between languages in a family

c. To describe the connection between science and linguistics

d. The psychological connection between people and modern linguistics

e. The term is referencing a scientific relationship between two different people

f. None of the above

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5 - What is the "Tree Model" for language families?

a. A old theory that was later found to be inaccurate

b. Is often visualized using a diagram, where the trunk represents the proto-language, and the branches represent the languages that have evolved from it. 

c. Is often visualized in a graph where the trunk represents the proto-language, and the branches represent the languages that have evolved from it. 

d. A new theory that is still being scrutinized by critics 

e. A standard that scientists confirmed would help languages evolve faster

f. None of the above

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6 - Some major language families include...

a. Some major language families include Indo-European (which includes English, Spanish, and Russian), Sino-Tibetan (which includes Chinese and Tibetan), and Afro-Asiatic (which includes Arabic and Hebrew). 

b. Some major language families include Indo-European (which includes English, Portuguese, and Russian), Sino-Tibetan (which includes Chinese and Tibetan), and Afro-Asiatic (which includes Arabic and Hebrew). 

c. Some major language families include Indo-European (which includes English, Spanish, and Persian), Sino-Tibetan (which includes Chinese and Tibetan), and Afro-Asiatic (which includes Arabic and Hebrew). 

d. Some major language families include Indo-European (which includes English, Spanish, and Russian), Sino-Tibetan (which includes Chinese and Tibetan), and Afro-Asiatic (which includes Arabic and Farsi). 

e. Some major language families include Indo-European (which includes English, Spanish, and Romanian), Sino-Tibetan (which includes Chinese and Tibetan), and Afro-Asiatic (which includes Arabic and Hebrew). 

f. None of the above

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7 - Latin, originating in Italy, spread with the expansion of the Roman Empire and evolved into into the Romance languages.

a. True

b. False

c. Does not say

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8 - A language family is a group of different languages that all descend from a particular common language. The one language that generated those other languages in its family is known as a proto-language.

a. True

b. False

c. Does not say

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9 - The one language that generated those other languages in its family is known as a protolanguage.

a. True

b. False

c. Does not say

 

10 - All languages do not come from a protolanguage.

a. True

b. False

c. Does not say

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11. These are known as language isolates, and include languages, such as Basque, spoken by some in __________, and Pirahã, spoken by the Pirahã people of the __________.

a. northeastern Europe, Peruvian Amazon

b. southeastern Europe, Colombian Amazon

c. southwestern Europe, Brazilian Amazon

d. northwestern Europe, Brazilian Amazon

e. northwestern Europe, Colombian Amazon

f. southwestern Europe, Peruvian Amazon

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12. languages, such as Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Portuguese, and French, all belong to the language family known as “romance languages.”

a. True 

b. False

c. Does not say

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13. The romance languages evolved from Latin, the language used in ancient Greece.

a. True 

b. False

c. Does not say

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14. Linguists generally describe Germanic languages in three groups: West Germanic, North Germanic, and South Germanic.

a. True 

b. False

c. Does not say

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15. ​The West Germanic group includes German, English, and Dutch. North Germanic includes Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese.

a. True 

b. False

c. Does not say

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16. East Germanic includes Gothic and the languages once spoken by members of peoples like the Vandals and the Burgundians.

a. True 

b. False

c. Does not say

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17. While the languages in the West Germanic and East Germanic groups are still spoken, those of the North Germanic group are now extinct.

a. True 

b. False

c. Does not say

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18. Another important language family is the Sino-Tibetan family. It is the world’s largest language family, with more than one billion speakers of its thousands of different languages.

a. True 

b. False

c. Does not say

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19. Cantonese Chinese is the most widely spoken language in this family.

a. True 

b. False

c. Does not say

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20. ​​Mandarin Chinese is tonal. In tonal languages (which also include Thai and Hmong), the vocal pitch the speaker uses when saying a word helps determine its meaning.

a. True 

b. False

c. Does not say

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​21. Although the Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan language families two of the largest in the world, linguists have categorized more than one hundred language families around the globe.

a. True 

b. False

c. Does not say

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22. As linguists continue to study language and its origins, our understanding of language families will continue to evolve.

a. True 

b. False

c. Does not say

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