Information and IdeasHardFinding supporting a language-contact claim
Information and Ideas practice question
A linguist claims that the language spoken on a small island has been shaped by trade contact with the language of the neighbouring mainland.
Which finding, if true, would most directly support the linguist's claim?
- A. The island language's words for trade goods, tools and money are borrowed from the mainland language, while its words for family members and parts of the body are not.Correct
- B. The island language has an unusually complex system of verb tenses.
- C. The island community has lived on the island for more than a thousand years.
- D. The mainland language contains no words borrowed from the island language.
Answer: A. The island language's words for trade goods, tools and money are borrowed from the mainland language, while its words for family members and parts of the body are not.
Borrowed vocabulary concentrated in exactly the domain of trade is direct evidence that trade contact shaped the language.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. The island language has an unusually complex system of verb tenses.
- Complex tenses say nothing about contact with another language.
- C. The island community has lived on the island for more than a thousand years.
- How long the community has been there doesn't show contact with the mainland.
- D. The mainland language contains no words borrowed from the island language.
- Borrowing in the other direction is a separate question; its absence neither supports nor undercuts the claim.
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