Practice Quiz for What is Language?

Practice Quiz for What is Language?

No. of Questions= 7

INSTRUCTIONS: To answer a question, click the button in front of your choice. A response will appear in the window below the question to let you know if you are correct. Be sure to read the feedback. It is designed to help you learn the material. You can also learn by reading the hints and feedback for incorrect answers.

1. Which of the following statements is true about communication?

a) Humans are the only animals that communicate with each other.

b) Human language is 100% learned rather than biologically inherited.

c) Humans and all other large mammals use a symbolic communication system.

2. A language is ________________________ .



a) a broad term simply referring to human patterned verbal behavior in general

b) a set of specific rules for generating speech

c) another word for a dialect.

3. A dialect that mostly develops as a result of differences in class, ethnicity, gender, age, and/or particular social situations is referred to as a:

a) social dialect

b) regional dialect

c) genderlect or ethnilect

4. Dialects develop:

a) more often in small-scale societies with few people

b) more often in large-scale societies with many people

c) equally often in small-scale and large-scale societies

5. A pidgin is:



a) a dialect like Black English in North America

b) the mother tongue, or principle language, of a society

c) a simplified makeshift language that develops to fulfill the communication needs of peoples who have no language in common

d) a common species of bird

6. When a pidgin language becomes the mother tongue of a population, linguists refer to it as a(n):



a) Gullah

b) creole

c) Ebonics

7. When people speak different forms of a language in different social situations, the phenomenon is referred to as:

a) diglossia

b) bilingualism

c) neither of the above

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This page was last updated onTuesday, June 28, 2005.
Copyright � 1998-2005 by Dennis O'Neil. All rights reserved.

1.	Which of the following statements is true about communication?


	a)	Humans are the only animals that communicate with each other.
	b)	Human language is 100% learned rather than biologically inherited.
	c)	Humans and all other large mammals use a symbolic communication system.


2.	A language is ________________________ .


	a)	a broad term simply referring to human patterned verbal behavior in general
	b)	a set of specific rules for generating speech
	c)	another word for a dialect.


3.	A dialect that mostly develops as a result of differences in class, ethnicity, gender, age, and/or particular social situations is referred to as a:


	a)	social dialect
	b)	regional dialect
	c)	genderlect or ethnilect


4.	Dialects develop:


	a)	more often in small-scale societies with few people
	b)	more often in large-scale societies with many people
	c)	equally often in small-scale and large-scale societies


5.	A pidgin is:


	a)	a dialect like Black English in North America
	b)	the mother tongue, or principle language, of a society
	c)	a simplified makeshift language that develops to fulfill the communication needs of peoples who have no language in common
	d)	a common species of bird


6.	When a pidgin language becomes the mother tongue of a population, linguists refer to it as a(n):


	a)	Gullah
	b)	creole
	c)	Ebonics


7.	When people speak different forms of a language in different social situations, the phenomenon is referred to as:


	a)	diglossia
	b)	bilingualism
	c)	neither of the above