Exercise set 2

 

1.     Go to the Ethnologue and suggest improvements/corrections to be made in the classification of Polish and the languages spoken in present-day Poland (please do this before the class).

2.     Classify the following languages:

           

a)     Polabian:        group ________________            division ________________

b)     Irish:               group ________________            division ________________

c)     Italian:            group ________________            division ________________

d)     Turkish:          family ________________

e)     Manx:             group ________________            division ________________

f)      Dutch:             group ________________            division ________________

g)     Maltese:          family ________________

h)     Sorbian:          group ________________            division ________________

 

3.     Give the names of five non-Indo-European languages spoken in Europe.

4.     Go to the Ethnologue and check the classification of the Algonquian family. Make note of the following:

a)      the areal distribution of the family

b)     whether the languages are in active use, extinct or endangered

c)      the number of speakers as 1^st or 2^nd language

d)     whether any revitalization efforts are being made to promote the languages

5.     What are the differences between a genetic and typological classification of languages? Classify Polish and English using the two types of classification.

6.     Research on language universals presents us with a problem concerning the definition of `dialect'. Why is it difficult to define clearly the difference between language and dialect although there is a criterion of mutual intelligibility?

7.     What is the present status of Kashubian? Use the following criteria: linguistic classification of Polish and Kashubian, and use of Kashubian in the area west and north-west of Trójmiasto.

8.     Complete the quizzes:

 

a)      “The classification of Serbian and Croatian as either separate languages or dialects of the same language illustrates the fact that the criterion of __________________________ has to be supplemented with social and historical criteria.”

b)     “Let's name some other important languages spoken in the Balkans: here we have, e.g., a South Slavonic language (_____________), a Romance language (_____________) ...”

c)      “... and two languages which are Indo-European, but neither Slavonic nor Romance: (_____________ and _____________).”

d)      “Incidentally, one other language is spoken in the Balkans which is not even Indo-European. This is _____________ which belongs to the _______________ family of languages.”

            “How on earth do you know it's not Indo-European?”

e)      “We can easily check how close these languages are related using the __________________ method, which focusses on words of similar form and meaning, or __________________ .”

 

a)      1.         “Let's have another look at the languages spoken in Europe. In Northern Europe, e.g., we have the mainland Scandinavian languages (_____________, _____________, _____________).”

b)     2.         “Right, but here you've forgotten about two languages which are not Scandinavian, and not even Indo-European: _____________, _____________.”

c)      3.         “Yes, they both belong to the _____________ family of languages, as well as _____________ .”

d)     4.         “Which brings us to a question concerning Balto-Slavic languages. Here we have a West Slavonic language (_____________), an East Slavonic language (_____________) and a South Slavonic one (_____________).”

e)      5.         “On a historical note, let's add that the earliest records of a Slavic language come from the _____________ language.”

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