Lang facts & stats

Question 1

How many letters are in the modern English alphabet?

Accepted Answer

26. The modern English alphabet has 26 letters, from A to Z.

Question 2

The Rosetta Stone was key to deciphering which writing system?

Accepted Answer

Egyptian hieroglyphs. The Rosetta Stone repeats one decree in hieroglyphic, Demotic and Greek, which let scholars decode hieroglyphs.

Question 3

What is the study of the origins and history of words called?

Accepted Answer

Etymology. Etymology traces where words come from and how their forms and meanings changed over time.

Question 4

In which direction is Arabic script written?

Accepted Answer

Right to left. Arabic, like Hebrew, is written from right to left across the page.

Question 5

English belongs to which language family?

Accepted Answer

Indo-European. English is a Germanic language within the Indo-European family, which also includes Hindi, Spanish and Russian.

Question 6

How many main tones does Standard Mandarin Chinese have, not counting the neutral tone?

Accepted Answer

4. Standard Mandarin has four main tones plus a neutral tone, and tone changes a syllable's meaning.

Question 7

American Sign Language developed largely from which other sign language?

Accepted Answer

French Sign Language. ASL grew in the early 1800s from French Sign Language mixed with local signing in the United States.

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