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Language Families and Typology

Description: This quiz will test your knowledge of language families and typology.
Number of Questions: 15
Created by:
Tags: language families language typology
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Which of the following is not a language family?

  1. Indo-European

  2. Afro-Asiatic

  3. Uralic

  4. Austronesian

  5. Sino-Tibetan


Correct Option: E
Explanation:

Sino-Tibetan is a language family, not a language.

Which of the following is not a typological feature?

  1. Subject-verb-object word order

  2. Noun-verb agreement

  3. Tense-aspect marking

  4. Case marking

  5. Polysynthetic morphology


Correct Option: E
Explanation:

Polysynthetic morphology is a morphological feature, not a typological feature.

Which of the following language families is known for its tonal languages?

  1. Indo-European

  2. Afro-Asiatic

  3. Sino-Tibetan

  4. Austronesian

  5. Niger-Congo


Correct Option: C
Explanation:

Sino-Tibetan is known for its tonal languages, which are languages that use pitch to distinguish words.

Which of the following typological features is characteristic of ergative languages?

  1. Subject-verb-object word order

  2. Noun-verb agreement

  3. Tense-aspect marking

  4. Case marking

  5. Polysynthetic morphology


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

Ergative languages are characterized by case marking, which is a system of marking nouns and pronouns to indicate their grammatical function in a sentence.

Which of the following language families is known for its isolating languages?

  1. Indo-European

  2. Afro-Asiatic

  3. Sino-Tibetan

  4. Austronesian

  5. Niger-Congo


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

Austronesian is known for its isolating languages, which are languages that have very little morphology.

Which of the following typological features is characteristic of polysynthetic languages?

  1. Subject-verb-object word order

  2. Noun-verb agreement

  3. Tense-aspect marking

  4. Case marking

  5. Polysynthetic morphology


Correct Option: E
Explanation:

Polysynthetic languages are characterized by polysynthetic morphology, which is a morphological feature that allows for the expression of multiple morphemes in a single word.

Which of the following language families is known for its agglutinative languages?

  1. Indo-European

  2. Afro-Asiatic

  3. Sino-Tibetan

  4. Austronesian

  5. Niger-Congo


Correct Option:
Explanation:

Uralic is known for its agglutinative languages, which are languages that have a complex system of affixes that are added to words to change their meaning.

Which of the following typological features is characteristic of head-marking languages?

  1. Subject-verb-object word order

  2. Noun-verb agreement

  3. Tense-aspect marking

  4. Case marking

  5. Polysynthetic morphology


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

Head-marking languages are characterized by case marking, which is a system of marking nouns and pronouns to indicate their grammatical function in a sentence.

Which of the following language families is known for its fusional languages?

  1. Indo-European

  2. Afro-Asiatic

  3. Sino-Tibetan

  4. Austronesian

  5. Niger-Congo


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Indo-European is known for its fusional languages, which are languages that have a complex system of affixes that are fused together to form a single word.

Which of the following typological features is characteristic of isolating languages?

  1. Subject-verb-object word order

  2. Noun-verb agreement

  3. Tense-aspect marking

  4. Case marking

  5. Polysynthetic morphology


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Isolating languages are characterized by subject-verb-object word order, which is the most common word order in the world.

Which of the following language families is known for its SOV word order?

  1. Indo-European

  2. Afro-Asiatic

  3. Sino-Tibetan

  4. Austronesian

  5. Niger-Congo


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

Austronesian is known for its SOV word order, which is a word order in which the subject comes before the verb and the object.

Which of the following typological features is characteristic of VSO word order?

  1. Subject-verb-object word order

  2. Noun-verb agreement

  3. Tense-aspect marking

  4. Case marking

  5. Polysynthetic morphology


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

VSO word order is characterized by subject-verb-object word order, which is the most common word order in the world.

Which of the following language families is known for its VOS word order?

  1. Indo-European

  2. Afro-Asiatic

  3. Sino-Tibetan

  4. Austronesian

  5. Niger-Congo


Correct Option: E
Explanation:

Niger-Congo is known for its VOS word order, which is a word order in which the verb comes before the subject and the object.

Which of the following typological features is characteristic of OSV word order?

  1. Subject-verb-object word order

  2. Noun-verb agreement

  3. Tense-aspect marking

  4. Case marking

  5. Polysynthetic morphology


Correct Option: A
Explanation:

OSV word order is characterized by subject-verb-object word order, which is the most common word order in the world.

Which of the following language families is known for its OVS word order?

  1. Indo-European

  2. Afro-Asiatic

  3. Sino-Tibetan

  4. Austronesian

  5. Niger-Congo


Correct Option: D
Explanation:

Austronesian is known for its OVS word order, which is a word order in which the object comes before the verb and the subject.

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