History I / Ethnicity and Identity
Practice question · Put in order

Order the steps by which one dialect becomes "the national language".

Hints
  1. The standard wins through administration and schooling.
  2. Its rivals are then redefined as substandard versions of it.
Show the answer
  1. A political or commercial center adopts its own dialect for administration
  2. Printers standardize its spelling and grammar
  3. Schools teach the standard to every child
  4. Rival varieties get reclassified as mere dialects
Why

"A language is a dialect with an army and a navy": the standard wins by administration, print, and schooling, then rewrites its rivals as corruptions of itself.

Read the lesson: Ethnicity and Identity →

Practise Ethnicity and Identity

The app has 6 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. History I is free to start.

More questions on Ethnicity and Identity