MH Language and Linguistics 5

Question 1

What is 'language endangerment,' and what is its primary driver globally?

Accepted Answer

The process by which languages lose speakers, primarily driven by political, economic, and social pressures favoring dominant languages

Answer

Language endangerment occurs when a language loses speakers across generations, most often because speakers shift to economically or politically dominant languages.

Question 2

What is 'prototype theory' in lexical semantics?

Accepted Answer

The view that categories are organized around best exemplars (prototypes) with graded membership

Answer

Prototype theory, associated with Eleanor Rosch, holds that category membership is graded around a central, most representative member rather than defined by strict criteria.

Question 3

What distinguishes synchronic linguistics from diachronic linguistics?

Accepted Answer

Synchronic studies language at a single point in time; diachronic studies language change through time

Answer

Synchronic linguistics analyzes language at a single moment without regard to history, while diachronic (historical) linguistics tracks change across time.

Question 4

Which concept in cognitive linguistics holds that abstract concepts are understood through mappings from concrete physical experience?

Accepted Answer

Conceptual metaphor theory

Answer

Conceptual metaphor theory, developed by Lakoff and Johnson, argues that abstract domains (like time or argument) are structured through systematic mappings from bodily, concrete experience.

Question 5

What is 'register' in linguistics?

Accepted Answer

A variety of language used in a particular social situation or for a specific purpose

Answer

Register refers to how language varies according to context, audience, and purpose, such as formal academic writing versus casual spoken conversation.

MH - Master of Humanities Practice Test

MH - Master of Humanities Practice Test

MH Language and Linguistics 5