faculty of arts minorities and multilingualism 12-02-2022 | 1

12-02-2022 | 1

Exam questions

Multilingualism I: Social and Linguistic Factors

Jesse Wichers Schreur
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Questions
1. Why is inter-sentential code-switching less interesting to
linguists than intra-sentential code-switching?
2. How to distinguish between a borrowing and a single
word insertion in CS?
3. Name a common way of morphologically adapting
borrowed or CS-ed verbs, and explain the phenomenon.
4. What will experimental data on CS tell you that
observational data will not?
5. What is a common motivation to code-switch, as
exemplified by the Greek-English conversation between
a woman and a man in Gardner-Chloros (2013)?
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Questions
1. Explain what Haspelmath means by “contact-
induced language change” and “contact-induced
speech behavior?”
2. Nouns referring to technology, verbs, numerals,
body-part nouns, affixes. Rank on a scall most vs.
least likely to be borrowed.
3. Give examples of the most common type of pattern
borrowing.
4. What is a loan meaning extension? Give example.
5. True or false: The term calque is a synonym for
‘loanword’ (from French) while the word loanword is
borrowed from German Lehnwort.
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Questions
1. Why do we find relatively few words from African
languages in Caribbean creoles?
2. Explain the role of convergence in the development
of Creoles?
3. What is the relationship between creoles and
pidgins?
4. Explain the term bioprogramme in relationship with
the development of creoles?
5. Give an argument for and against the claim that
creoles are an example of incomplete acquisition.
6. What do we mean by decreolisation, and what is a
prerequisite for it.
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Questions
1. What is the difference between attrition and
incomplete acquisition?
2. What is the relationship between attrition and
language shift?
3. What do Dutch-speaking German attriters do with
their conjunction um?
4. Describe the interplay between domains of speech
and different generations in a shift scenario?
5. Describe a scenario involving language death
without language shift.
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Questions
1. Name the three main types of language
policy/planning and describe them.
2. What does Caldas (2018) mean by a “laissez-faire
attitude” among parents, and what are potential
consequences?
3. What contributes to a harmonious
4. Rank from most to least likely to result in active
bilingualism in the child:
§ 1Min+2Maj;1Min+2Min;1MinMaj+2Maj

5. Name advantages and disadvantages of OPOL.

6. Give an example of when family language policy
might need to be adapted.
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Questions
1. How can the higher rate of iconicity in sign language
be a benefit to acquisition?
2. How can the higher rate of iconicity in sign
languages lead to misconceptions about these
languages?
3. Code-switching, code-blending, style-switching,
language shift. Name similarities and differences.
4. How are code-blending and pattern borrowing
related?
5. What are the main reasons for raising a child with
ASD monolingually?
6. What are the main reasons for raising a child with
ASD bilingually?