PRUEBA DE AUTOEVALUACIÓN – Unit 1

Introduction to the Concepts and Methods of Historical Linguistics

Answer the following questions and then check your answers by using the answer key. If you
can’t answer one or more questions in this test, that means you have to review the whole
section where the contents are included. Do this in order to keep an adequate progress in
this course.

1. State the main objectives of the research field known as Historical Linguistics.

2. Define what we should understand by Wave Theory.

3. Choose the correct option:

a) The Comparative Method is concerned with the reconstruction of an earlier state of a

language on the basis of a comparison of unrelated words in different languages or dialects
derived from it.

b) The Comparative Method is concerned with the reconstruction of an earlier state of a

language on the basis of a comparison of related words in different languages or dialects
derived from it.

c) The Comparative Method is concerned with the reconstruction of an earlier state of a

language on the basis of a comparison of related words in the same language.

d) The Comparative Method is concerned with the reconstruction of a future state of two
languages on the basis of a comparison of related words in different languages or dialects
derived from them.

4. What two different consequences had Grimm and Verner’s Laws for the study of
phonological developments?

5. Decide whether this statement is true or false: In order to trace genetic relatedness
linguists must compare vocabulary from different languages.

6. Can we make any distinction between the notions of linguistic family and phylum? If you
think so, which one?

7. Has it always been obvious that linguistic change happens? Do not give just a yes/no
answer.

8. Explain how the Internal Reconstruction Method differs from the procedures used in
Comparative Linguistics.

9. What does Theodora Bynon think of reducing linguistic change to the wrong learning of
the language by children?
10. The hypothesis Every sound change takes place according to exceptionless laws is to be
attributed to ...