Student _______________________
APHG
December 2013
Miss Canone
Directions: Answer the following questions using Chapter 5 of your text entitled “Language”,
beginning on page 137.
1. Look at the leaves of the language family tree on pages 154-155. List the five most widely
spoken languages.
1. _______________________
2. _______________________
3. _______________________
4. _______________________
5. _______________________
2. How has language been a unifying force in China? (page 151)
3. Define Ideogram and provide an example. (page 152)
4. How has the Afro-Asiatic language family’s significance transcended its number of
speakers? (page 154)
5. Where are Altaic languages spoken? What problems with links to language exist in this
region? (page 154)
6. What factors contribute to the great number of languages spoken in Africa? (page 156)
7. What is unique about Swahili? (page 156)
8. Provide THREE examples of minority languages (languages spoken by a minority of the
people in a country). Try to look up on Internet!
1. _______________________
2. _______________________
3. _______________________
9. What does the language of Madagascar lead us to believe about its people? (page 153)
10. What lessons can be learned from the geography of Nigeria’s languages? (page 156)
11. Provide an example of an extinct language that has been revived. (pages 156-159)
12. TWO examples of European states that are considered Multilingual? Why? (pages 159-160)
13. Provide an example of an isolated language in Europe. Why is its origin significant? (pages
160-161)
14. Why is Icelandic so significant as a language? (page 162)
15. Where does the term lingua franca originate from? (page 162)
16. Why does a Pidgin language have NO native speakers? (page 162)
17. What TWO conclusions can be made from the global distribution of Internet usage? (page
163)
Did you know?
What are the six official languages of the United Nations?
Today: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish
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Originally only 5 when United Nations was created in 1945; Arabic was added in 1973
Growing pressure to add Hindi as the 7th official language
English follows British usage – Oxford dictionary
English is an official language in 52 of its members, French in 29, Arabic in 24, Spanish in
20, Russian in 4, and Chinese in 2
Given that the UN was created in 1945, why do you think Chinese, English, French, Russian, and
Spanish were the 5 original official languages?