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LING 115b questions and answers certified 2024
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LING 115b questions and answers certified 2024
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LING 115 - Linguistics Midterm #2Which of the following is an s-curve?
a. Ten people adopt a new linguistic feature, then twenty more, then forty
more after that.
b. Forty people adopt a new linguistic feature, then twenty more, then ten after
that.
c. Forty people adopt a new linguistic feature, then ten more, then twenty
more after that.
d. Ten people adopt a new linguistic feature, then forty more, then twenty after
that. - correct answer ✔d. Ten people adopt a new linguistic feature, then
forty more, then twenty after that.
Which of the following CAN'T be described by an s-curve?
a. the diffusion of a sound change through the words a speaker knows
b. the diffusion of a disease through a community
c. the diffusion of a sound change through the speakers of a language
d. the diffusion of pollution in a body of water - correct answer ✔d. the
diffusion of pollution in a body of water
Once a change begins in a language, it can't be stopped.
True
False - correct answer ✔False
,If a sound change happened in English such that all instances of "th" became
pronounced as "d," the word "that" would be pronounced as "dat" before the
word "thereby" was pronounced as "dereby."
True
False - correct answer ✔True
The language of Napkinish is experiencing a change. Speakers, starting in the
city of Forktown, have stopped using the "-ippa" suffix in the past tense. In
Forktown, the words "tullippa," "loppippa," and "bonippa" are all now
pronounced as "tull," "lopp," and "bon" in the past tense. In the town of
Spoonville thirty miles away, "tullippa" is pronounced as "tull," and "bonippa" is
pronounced as "bon," but "loppippa" must still be pronounced "loppippa."
Bowlville is another town sixty miles away from Forktown on the other side of
Spoonville. (You have to drive through Spoonville to get to Bowlville in fact.)
What must be true in Bowlville?
a. The people in Bowlville definitely do NOT say "lopp" instead of "loppippa."
b. The people in Bowlville definitely say "lopp" instead of "loppippa."
c. The people in Bowlville definitely say "bon" instead of "bonippa."
d. The language change definitely hasn't reached Bowlville. - correct answer
✔a. The people in Bowlville definitely do NOT say "lopp" instead of "loppippa."
An isogloss is a line between two dialects.
True
False - correct answer ✔False
,It has become common in some varieties of English recently to say "las"
instead of "last" (as in: "He came in las"). Which of the following is true of this
change?
a. It is the result of speakers being too lazy to include the final consonant.
b. It is the result of a predictable change whereby speakers reduce the
markedness of the language.
c. It is evidence that English has become less elegant than how it was spoken
100 years ago.
d. It shows that English is improving towards being more logical. - correct
answer ✔b. It is the result of a predictable change whereby speakers reduce
the markedness of the language.
What does the Benrath Line mark?
a. Whether speakers of German say "k" or "ch" on words such as "ich" and
"machen."
b. Which dialect of German speakers use.
c. Whether the speakers of German are considered to be low, high, or middle
class.
d. Whether speakers of French were living in the area. - correct answer ✔a.
Whether speakers of German say "k" or "ch" on words such as "ich" and
"machen."
If speakers of a variety are unsure about a linguistic feature (ex: they can't
quite decide if the plural of "cactus" is "cacti" or "cactuses"), it's probably
because that linguistic feature is in the process of changing.
True
False - correct answer ✔True
, Why do most speakers of American English pronounce "cursory" with three
syllables and "every" with two syllables?
a. "Cursory" is very hard to pronounce with two syllables.
b. It's the proper way to pronounce the words, and native speakers learned
these pronunciations in school.
c. Losing a syllable in "cursory" would make it sound too much like another
word.
d. "Every" is a more common word than "cursory." - correct answer ✔d.
"Every" is a more common word than "cursory."
What is Labov 1963 about?
a. a language change because of pressures from above
b. a language change because of pressures from below
c. a language change that shows the s-curve
d. a variety that hasn't ever changed - correct answer ✔b. a language
change because of pressures from below
The youth on Martha's Vineyard were the most likely to use the new vowels.
True
False - correct answer ✔False
The people who lived up-island on Martha's Vineyard were the most likely to
use the new vowels.
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