Language change and evolution MCQs

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1. What is the term for the gradual change in a language over time?





2. Which branch of linguistics primarily studies how languages change over time?





3. What is the main cause of language change?





4. The term “semantic shift” refers to:





5. Sound change that affects the pronunciation of a language over time is known as:





6. Which type of language change is caused by borrowing words from other languages?





7. What is the Great Vowel Shift?





8. Language death occurs when:





9. The creation of new words is called:





10. Which phenomenon occurs when two languages blend over time to form a new one?





11. The loss of grammatical complexity in a language is known as:





12. Which factor accelerates language change?





13. A language that stops evolving but remains in use for religious purposes is called:





14. Which of the following is an example of a revived language?





15. What is analogy in language change?





16. Which is an example of internal language change?





17. Which theory suggests languages evolve like living organisms?





18. The wave theory of language change emphasizes:





19. What is grammaticalization?





20. Which is a result of language contact?





21. Which is an example of a language that changed due to colonization?





22. Reconstructing earlier stages of a language is called:





23. Which is a cause of vocabulary loss?





24. Dialect leveling contributes to:





25. Which factor slows down language change?





26. The study of word origin and historical development is called:





27. Which type of change involves replacing irregular forms with regular ones?





28. Pidgins usually evolve into creoles when:





29. Which is an example of semantic broadening?





30. What is language shift?





31. The creation of entirely new languages is known as:





32. What role do children play in language change?





33. Orthographic reform refers to:





34. Which of the following is a reason for language revival efforts?





35. Which change affects the meaning of words over time?





36. Back-formation is a type of language change where:





37. Which is an example of language divergence?





38. A language becomes endangered when:





39. Which process leads to loss of case endings in many Indo-European languages?





40. Which is a sign of rapid language change in the digital age?





41. Substratum influence in language change happens when:





42. Which language experienced significant change due to Norman invasion?





43. The disappearance of older forms in language is called:





44. Language contact often leads to:





45. Which term describes the preservation of older language forms in isolated regions?





46. The term “linguistic drift” means:





47. Which process creates words like “blog” from “web log”?





48. The term “lexical replacement” refers to:





49. What is a major tool for tracing language evolution?





50. Why is studying language change important in anthropology?





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