Special Sub-Topic: Languages of Asia and the Americas Click Here To Play: Languages of Asia and the Americas

The earliest known examples of the use of Chinese characters are found on “Oracle Bones,” that date from about _______ years ago.

3500. Those found date to the mid- to late-Shang Dynasty (i.e., 1500-1000 BC), and consist of carvings of characters on turtle shells and animal bones, which are assumed to have been used for divination in the royal court.

In his movie “The Passion of the Christ,” Mel Gibson had his characters speaking ancient languages used in the Levant at time of the events depicted. Which of these was *not* one of them?

Sumerian. Sumerian was already a dead language by the time of Moses, so it would not have been included in a film about Jesus of Nazareth.

Which of these American Indian languages did the part-time "language philosopher" Benjamin Whorf *incorrectly* describe as having no grammatical or lexical forms which allow for the indication of time?

Hopi. This is one of the greatest myths in the field of linguistics. Hopi verbs are not inflected (i.e., the forms are not changed) to indicate past time, but are for the future, and the language uses individual words to indicate time. I have heard similar myths propagated about Chinese, which has particles to indicate past events and uses lexical items to indicate future time and progressive aspect.

Which of these Western Hemisphere countries does *not* have English as an official language?

Suriname. The CIA’s online "World Factbook" (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ns.html) reports that English is widely spoken in Suriname, but the official language is Dutch. (Suranime was a Dutch colony for nearly three centuries prior to independence).

In order to make the written language more accessible to “the people,” the Communist government of mainland China developed a system in which many complex traditional characters were simplified. Which of the following countries has generally adopted this simplification for the Chinese characters used in its writing systems?

Singapore. Taiwan and South Korea use the traditional forms almost exclusively. In Japan some simplified characters are in common use, but these are not necessarily the same as the Chinese versions. Only in Singapore is the new Chinese system in general use. North Korea has officially abandoned the use of Chinese characters, and the Korean “phonetic” alphabet Hangul is used (almost?) exclusively.

To borrow from Sesame Street: which one of these is not like the others? Three of these Asian languages are commonly grouped as members of one language family. Which is the odd one out?

Chinese. Chinese is the only one not generally considered to be an Altaic language. Linguists often disagree on such categorizations (it’s part of their job description), but Chinese is clearly not an Altaic tongue.

Which is *not* an official language of Papua New Guinea?

Dutch. Pidgin, or “Tok Pisin,” English, and Motu are the official languages of the country.

Chief Sequoyah (a.k.a. George Guess) is credited with the early 19th century invention of a writing system for this American Indian language. (Hint: “Trail of Tears”.)

Cherokee. There are claims that it was invented earlier, and that Sequoyah was simply the last surviving member of the clan that used it. The writing system was widely used among the Cherokee.

This language played an important role in Asian history and religion. Though current first language speakers number only in the thousands and there are but a few hundred thousand second language speakers, it is recognized by the government of India as an official language. What is it?

Sanskrit. The three other languages are also in wide use in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Goa, a largely autonomous state on the west coast of India, was occupied by a colonial power for about 450 years, until it was forcibly annexed under the government of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961. The language of the colonizers, however, is now spoken by only a few Goans, and its use is gradually dying out. What is this language?

Portuguese. The official state language of Goa is Konkani, but many school children actually receive their lessons in English.