Language Origins Trivia: Words That Shaped Us
1.
Which sub-discipline of linguistics focuses on how words work grammatically within sentences?
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Answer:
Syntax
2.
Which sub-discipline of linguistics focuses on the meaning of words and word combinations?
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Answer:
Semantics
3.
The word "karaoke" is a portmanteau of the two Japanese words for what?
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Answer:
Empty and Orchestra
4.
Which type of linguistic construction is intermediate between a phrase and a sentence?
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Answer:
Clause
5.
What type of main clause is used when asking a question?
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Answer:
Interrogative
6.
What type of main clause is used when making a statement?
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Answer:
Declarative
7.
What type of main clause is used when making a request or demand?
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Answer:
Imperative
8.
What is the term for two words which sound the same but have different meanings?
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Answer:
Homophones
9.
What is the term for two words that have the same sound and spelling, but different meanings?
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Answer:
Homonyms
10.
What kind of sentence or pair of sentences cannot logically be true?
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Answer:
Contradiction
11.
What is the term for two words that have opposite meanings?
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Answer:
Antonyms
12.
What is the term for the time frame in which a verb takes place?
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Answer:
Tense
13.
What kind of word adds contexts of time, place, or manner to a verb?
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Answer:
Adverb
14.
Which of the following languages belongs to the Celtic language family?
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Answer:
Welsh
15.
As of 2012, what is the official language of the Commonwealth of Nations?
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Answer:
English
16.
Which kind of word is used to give more information about a noun?
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Answer:
Adjective
17.
What does the word "utopia" mean in the original Greek?
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Answer:
No Place
18.
The common prefix "therma" comes from a Greek city known for what?
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Answer:
Hot Springs
19.
The word "saffron" stems back to the Arabic word for which color?
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Answer:
Yellow
20.
The word "October" stems partly from the Latin word for which number?
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Answer:
Jan/00
21.
Which disease takes its name from the Italian phrase "bad air"?
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Answer:
Malaria
22.
Which Native American tribe's language was famously used as a code in World War II?
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Answer:
Navajo
23.
What name is given to the study of word origins and how words change over time?
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Answer:
Etymology
24.
As of 2012, Khmer is the official language of which country?
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Answer:
Cambodia
25.
As of 2012, what is the official language of Vatican City?
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Answer:
Latin
26.
As of 2012, Persian is an official language in which country?
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Answer:
Iran
27.
Which writing system is usually used for the Russian language?
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Answer:
Cyrillic
28.
Which country's name comes from the Spanish word for "silver"?
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Answer:
Argentina
29.
Which country's name comes from an Iroquois word for "village"?
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Answer:
Canada
30.
The name Costa Rica translates to what in Spanish?
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Answer:
Rich Coast
31.
The Japanese loanword "kamikaze" translates literally to what?
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Answer:
Divine Wind
32.
The name for New York's Coney Island comes from the Dutch word for which animal?
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Answer:
Rabbit
33.
The words "maven" and "golem" are loanwords from which language?
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Answer:
Hebrew
34.
The words "bog" and "slogan" are loanwords from which language?
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Answer:
Irish Gaelic
35.
What is the term for a word that represents an audible sound?
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Answer:
Onomatopoeia
36.
As of 2012, what is the most populous country where Portuguese is an official language?
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Answer:
Brazil
37.
As of 2012, what is the most populous country where English is an official language?
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Answer:
India
38.
The term hieroglyphs is usually used in relation to the writing system of which civilization?
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Answer:
Egyptian
39.
The Scandinavian version of which writing system is sometimes called "futhark"?
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Answer:
Runes
40.
What term is used for a grammatical form that expresses the social status of the addressee?
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Answer:
Honorific
41.
What is the term for a generally harmless word,that replaces an offensive or suggestive one?
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Answer:
Euphemism
42.
Which term means a "special language" applying to a specific profession or event?
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Answer:
Jargon
43.
What term is used for the literary technique of using exaggeration for effect?
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Answer:
Hyperbole
44.
What process is the communication of the meaning of a text from one language to another?
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Answer:
Translation
45.
The English letters "s" and "z" are examples of which kind of sound?
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Answer:
Sibilant
46.
Which English letter's sound is nasal?
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Answer:
M
47.
What term is used for a use of words expressing the opposite of their literal meaning?
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Answer:
Irony
48.
"To go", "to be", and "to run" are all examples of what?
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Answer:
Infinitive
49.
What term is used for two different languages who speakers can understand each other?
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Answer:
Mutually Intelligible
50.
As of 2012, Aragonese, and Catalan are recognized languages of which country?
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Answer:
Spain
51.
"Leetspeak" is an alternative English alphabet often used where?
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Answer:
The Internet
52.
Which psychologist was a pioneer of the behaviorist theory of language development?
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Answer:
B.F. Skinner
53.
The word "quarantine" comes from the French word for which number?
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Answer:
40
54.
Loaned from Spanish and Portuguese, the word "mosquito" translates literally to what?
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Answer:
Little Fly
55.
Which sub-discipline of linguistics focuses on the physical properties of speech?
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Answer:
Phonetics
56.
Which sub-discipline of linguistics focuses on the internal structures of words?
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Answer:
Morphology
57.
Which sub-discipline of linguistics studies how context helps transmit meaning in language?
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Answer:
Pragmatics
58.
Which school of linguistics focuses on language as a tool?
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Answer:
Functionalism
59.
"Brunch" and "spork" are examples of what kind of linguistic anomaly?
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Answer:
Portmanteau
60.
The words "Polish" (from Poland) and "polish" (shine) are examples of which of the following?
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Answer:
Capitonyms
61.
What is the term for a word that has little or no meaning, but has a grammatical use?
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Answer:
Function Word
62.
What linguistic term is sometimes defined as "the minimal unit carrying meaning"?
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Answer:
Morpheme
63.
What is the linguistic term for the set of associations and feelings that a word evokes?
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Answer:
Connotation
64.
What is the linguistic term for a sequence of two vowel sounds in the same syllable?
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Answer:
Diphthong
65.
The "Great Vowel Shift" of English began in which century?
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Answer:
14th
66.
English is a member of which of language family?
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Answer:
Germanic
67.
In early 2009, a study determined that there were about how many living human languages?
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Answer:
6900
68.
Speakers of which of the major language families represent 46% of the world's population?
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Answer:
Indo-European
69.
Which variety of the Chinese language is spoken by over a billion people as of 2012?
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Answer:
Mandarin
70.
Swahili belongs to which language family?
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Answer:
Niger-Congo
71.
The so-called Romance languages are all derived from which mother language?
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Answer:
Latin
72.
Which of the Indo-European languages has the most speakers as of 2012?
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Answer:
Spanish
73.
What is the term for a stable language arising from the mixing of two other languages?
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Answer:
Creole
74.
What is sometimes defined as the smallest unit of grammar which can stand alone?
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Answer:
Word
75.
What form of a verb describes a noun, and thus also functions as an adjective?
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Answer:
Participle
76.
The English word "alarm" comes from an Italian term meaning what?
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Answer:
To Arms!
77.
In Latin, the word "appendix" means "the part that" does what?
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Answer:
Hangs
78.
What English word derives from a Greek insult meaning "babblers"?
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Answer:
Barbarians
79.
Which word for a maddened warrior comes from the Old Icelandic for "bear shirt"?
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Answer:
Berserker
80.
The term "cab", used for a taxi, comes from the Old Italian word for which animal?
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Answer:
Goat
81.
The word "cantaloupe" translates in Italian to a "wolf" that does what?
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Answer:
Sings
82.
Which liquid's name comes from the Latin for "sour wine"?
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Answer:
Vinegar
83.
Which Roman's name was the origin of the Russian word "Tzar"?
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Answer:
Julius Caesar
84.
The "trivia" comes from a Latin term for what?
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Answer:
A Crossroads
85.
The word "tennis" was originally the word "tenez" from which language?
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Answer:
French
86.
The word "stool" derives from an Old English word for what other kind of seat?
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Answer:
Throne
87.
The word "sinister" comes from the Latin word for which direction?
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Answer:
Left
88.
The term "salary" originates from money given to Roman soldiers to buy what?
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Answer:
Salt
89.
Which English word is borrowed from the Czech word for "worker"?
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Answer:
Robot
90.
The word "planet" comes for a Greek verb meaning what?
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Answer:
To Wander
91.
The word "pedestrian" originally referred to the followers of which philosopher?
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Answer:
Aristotle
92.
Ironically enough, the word "mistress" originally comes from the French for what?
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Answer:
Bride
93.
The word "lobster" takes its name from the Latin for which insect?
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Answer:
Locust
94.
The word "light" comes from the Latin word for which celestial body?
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Answer:
Moon
95.
The word "hazard" comes from an Arabic term for what?
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Answer:
Dice
96.
The word "chocolate" originally stems from the language of which civilization?
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Answer:
Aztecs
97.
What is the general term for an impairment in language ability?
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Answer:
Aphasia
98.
William Jones is most famous for discovering the relation between Latin and which language?
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Answer:
Sanskrit
99.
"Pulling my leg" and "keep an eye out" are examples of which literary device?
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Answer:
Idiom
100.
Which linguist created Esperanto?
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Answer:
L.L. Zamenhof
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