Languages and Language Families Quiz

Answer: Hungarian

Russian, Polish and Slovak are all part of the Slavic language group of the Indo-European language family. Hungarian is part of the Finno-Ugric language sub-family of the Uralic language family.

Answer: Frisian

Frisian and English are both part of the West Germanic language group. Frisian is a language spoken by the Frisian ethnic minority in the northern Netherlands and scattered regions of coastal Germany and Denmark. A rhyme in both languages shows the striking similarity between the two tongues. The Frisian equivalent of the English verse "Butter, bread, and green cheese is good English and good Fries," translates to "Bûter, brea, en griene tsiis is goed Ingelsk en goed Frysk."

Walloon is part of the Romance language group and is closely related to modern French. Estonian is part of the Finno-Ugric language sub-family and is related to Finnish. Breton is part of the Celtic language group and is distantly related to the Welsh, Irish, and Scottish Gaelic languages.

Answer: 3

Switzerland's four official languages are, in order of everyday speakers, German, French, Italian, and Romansh. German is part of the Germanic language group and is not a Romance language. French and Italian are part of the Italo-Western sub-group of the Romance language group. Romansh is part of the Rhaeto-Romance sub-group of the Romance group and is spoken by a small population of about 50,000 residents of the canton of Graubünden in eastern Switzerland.

It is believed that Romansh descended from the vulgar dialect of Latin spoken by occupiers of the region during the era of the Roman Empire.

Answer: Szechuan

Mandarin (or Beifanghua) is the official language of the People's Republic of China and one of the official languages of Taiwan and Singapore. It is the most widely spoken dialect of Chinese with over 800 million everyday users. With 90 million speakers, Wu is the second most widely spoken dialect in China. Cantonese, with 80 million, is the third most widely spoken dialect. Szechuan is a province in Western China known for its spicy cuisine. Most people in Szechuan speak the Mandarin dialect of Chinese.

Answer: Early Modern English

The period of Early Modern English lasted roughly from the 1450s to the 1650s. The King James or Authorized Version of the Bible was completed in 1611. Shakespeare wrote from the 1580s until his death in 1616. The epic poem "Beowulf" is considered a masterpiece of the Old English period and Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" is perhaps the best known literary example of Middle English.

Answer: Afro-Asiatic

Hebrew is part of the Semitic sub-family of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages. Semitic sub-family consists of languages such as Hebrew, Arabic, Amharic, Aramaic, and numerous extinct languages mentioned in the Bible such as Canaanite, Moabite, Edomite, and Samaritan Hebrew.

The Indo-European languages are spoken from Western Europe to Indian sub-continent. Dravidian is a small family of languages spoken in southern Asia. Uralic is a family of languages spoken from northern Asia to Eastern Europe.

Answer: Finnish

Norwegian and Icelandic are considered part of the West Norse sub-group of the Germanic group of the Indo-European family. Swedish is part of the East Norse sub-group of the Germanic group. The Finnish language is part of the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic family of languages.

Answer: Sioux

Sioux is part of the Siouan language family, which also includes the Crow, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Winnebago languages.

Answer: Navajo

Navajo is part of the Athabaskan language family. The Navajo code talkers were the subject of the 2002 Hollywood film "Windtalkers" staring Nicholas Cage and Adam Beach. The Navajo code was actually a "code inside a code," meaning that a code was buried inside the Navajo language. For example the code word for fighter plane (DA-HE-TIH-HI) means "humming bird" in Navajo, the code word for grenade (NI-MA-SI) means "potatoes", and the code word for sailor (CHA-LE-GAI) means "white hats".

Answer: Choctaw

In 1918, fourteen Choctaw speakers were attached to US Thirty-Sixth Division to provide coded communication during the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Their ability to rapidly code and decode key messages is credited with helping the American Expeditionary Force win several key battles during the campaign which helped win the war for the Allies.

The Choctaw code was revised and reinstituted during World War II. Like the code of their Navajo comrades, the Choctaw code was never broken by the enemy.