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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the national language of Nigeria?

2. Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania speak what primary language?

3. How many Irish emigrated to the United States in the nineteenth century?

4. What American-originated word means to confuse or disconcert; upset; frustrate?

5. Who wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin?

Short Essay Questions

1. When was Webster's Dictionary first published? How many copies were sold in his lifetime?

2. When did black pidgin languages first originate and why?

3. What do the authors write of the Jamaican dialect in Chapter 9, The New Englishes?

4. How was Cockney stereotypically viewed in London? What governmental changes standardized it?

5. How many Americans are of Irish descent? What association do Westerners have with Ireland's history?

6. Following the domination of the Irish by England, what splits arose over religion?

7. What is the source of inspiration for Irish literature? When did Irish culture rise to its high point?

8. When and how did Australian English develop?

9. How did Black English develop in the American South? When did Black English begin to appear in literature?

10. What do the authors attribute to Ireland's unique inflections and word stresses in dialect?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Describe the origins of the English language. When do linguists believe the first traces of what we know as English today appear in history? Where?

Essay Topic 2

How can we know how the English language sounded hundreds of years ago? What resources do we have today to examine and analyze dialects? What changes have made this possible?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the distinct paths in which the slave trade traveled and how the people in each region were affected by the trade. How did cultures and languages change?

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