How languages and customs spread

Grade 9 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Card A. World languages. List 1, language families (Ethnologue estimates, 2019): Indo-European, about 3.2 to 3.4 billion speakers (sources differ), in Europe, much of South and Western Asia, and the Americas; Sino-Tibetan, about 1.4 billion, in East Asia; Atlantic–Congo, about 500 million, in Africa south of the Sahara; Afroasiatic, about 500 million, in North Africa and Western Asia; Austronesian, about 330 million, on islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific; Dravidian, about 250 million, in southern India. List 2, largest languages (Ethnologue, 2026), total speakers with first-language speakers in brackets: English 1,493 million (372 million); Mandarin Chinese 1,183 million (988 million); Hindi 611 million (347 million); Spanish 561 million (487 million). Note: a language family is a group of languages that come from one common ancestor language. Total speakers means first-language plus second-language speakers. Glottolog (2024) counts 1,410 Atlantic–Congo languages and 586 Indo-European ones.

2. 1.

   Luz ranks the four largest languages on List 2 of Card A two ways. Which statement about the rankings is supported?

   • Hindi is third on both counts, since 611 million is the third-largest total and 347 million the third-largest first-language count
   • Spanish is smallest on both counts, since 561 million is the lowest total of the four and so its first-language count is too
   • By total speakers English is first, but by first-language speakers Mandarin leads and Spanish ranks second
   • English leads on both counts, since the language with the most speakers in total has the most first-language speakers
3. 2.

   Jun notes that sources differ on Indo-European: 3.2 to 3.4 billion speakers. Which statement about the range is sound?

   • The 0.2 billion difference could change the order, since it is nearly as large as the Dravidian family's 250 million
   • The 3.4 billion figure is the right one, because Ethnologue's counts run higher than other sources' counts
   • The 0.2 billion spread is small beside the gap to Sino-Tibetan (about 1.4 billion), so Indo-European leads either way
   • No family can be named the largest until the sources agree, since the Indo-European count could be wrong by 0.2 billion

4. Use this

   Card B (made up for practice). Two languages. Tavian: 40 million first-language speakers and 160 million second-language speakers; official in six countries. Mirrish: 120 million first-language speakers and 10 million second-language speakers; official in one country.

5. 3.

   Pia compares Tavian and Mirrish on Card B. Which statement is fair?

   • They cannot be compared, because Tavian is official in six countries and Mirrish in one
   • Tavian has more speakers in total (200 million against 130 million), but Mirrish has more first-language speakers
   • Mirrish is the bigger language overall, because its 120 million first-language speakers is more than Tavian's 40 million
   • Tavian has more speakers by both counts, because 200 million in total is more than Mirrish's 130 million

6. Use this

   Card A. World languages. List 1, language families (Ethnologue estimates, 2019): Indo-European, about 3.2 to 3.4 billion speakers (sources differ), in Europe, much of South and Western Asia, and the Americas; Sino-Tibetan, about 1.4 billion, in East Asia; Atlantic–Congo, about 500 million, in Africa south of the Sahara; Afroasiatic, about 500 million, in North Africa and Western Asia; Austronesian, about 330 million, on islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific; Dravidian, about 250 million, in southern India. List 2, largest languages (Ethnologue, 2026), total speakers with first-language speakers in brackets: English 1,493 million (372 million); Mandarin Chinese 1,183 million (988 million); Hindi 611 million (347 million); Spanish 561 million (487 million). Note: a language family is a group of languages that come from one common ancestor language. Total speakers means first-language plus second-language speakers. Glottolog (2024) counts 1,410 Atlantic–Congo languages and 586 Indo-European ones. Card B (made up for practice). Two languages. Tavian: 40 million first-language speakers and 160 million second-language speakers; official in six countries. Mirrish: 120 million first-language speakers and 10 million second-language speakers; official in one country.

7. 4.

   Bo sets Card B's languages beside Card A's. Which pairing by how people speak them is right?

   • Mirrish is like English, because both have a small number of second-language speakers beside their large totals
   • Tavian is like English, mostly second-language (80% and about 75%), and Mirrish like Mandarin, mostly first-language
   • Mirrish is like Spanish and Tavian like Hindi, since the first two are smaller and the second two are larger
   • Tavian is like Mandarin, because both have more total speakers than first-language speakers

8. Use this

   Card B (made up for practice). Two languages. Tavian: 40 million first-language speakers and 160 million second-language speakers; official in six countries. Mirrish: 120 million first-language speakers and 10 million second-language speakers; official in one country.

9. 5.

   Milo says Tavian is official in six countries, so it must have more first-language speakers than Mirrish. What does Card B show?

   • They have the same, because Tavian's 160 million second-language speakers make up for its smaller first-language group
   • Mirrish has three times Tavian's first-language speakers (120 million against 40 million), though official in one country
   • Tavian does, because a language that is official in more countries has more first-language speakers
   • Tavian does, since its total of 200 million is above Mirrish's total of 130 million

10. Use this

    Card A. World languages. List 1, language families (Ethnologue estimates, 2019): Indo-European, about 3.2 to 3.4 billion speakers (sources differ), in Europe, much of South and Western Asia, and the Americas; Sino-Tibetan, about 1.4 billion, in East Asia; Atlantic–Congo, about 500 million, in Africa south of the Sahara; Afroasiatic, about 500 million, in North Africa and Western Asia; Austronesian, about 330 million, on islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific; Dravidian, about 250 million, in southern India. List 2, largest languages (Ethnologue, 2026), total speakers with first-language speakers in brackets: English 1,493 million (372 million); Mandarin Chinese 1,183 million (988 million); Hindi 611 million (347 million); Spanish 561 million (487 million). Note: a language family is a group of languages that come from one common ancestor language. Total speakers means first-language plus second-language speakers. Glottolog (2024) counts 1,410 Atlantic–Congo languages and 586 Indo-European ones.

11. 6.

    Zee says: "Dravidian must have more speakers than Austronesian, because southern India is so crowded." What does List 1 of Card A support?

    • The two cannot be compared, because one family sits in a single region and the other is spread across several
    • Austronesian has more speakers (about 330 million against 250 million), spread over islands in two regions
    • Dravidian has more, because India's large population means a family based in India must outnumber island families
    • Dravidian has more, since its 250 million speakers live in one area while island speakers are scattered in small groups

12. Use this

    Card C (made up for practice). Lantern-making on the island of Lumen. Year 1: found only in Port Ash on the south coast. Year 20: found in Port Ash and in the five villages along the coast road, each village learning it from the one before. Year 40: also found in two inland towns, where workshop owners who left Port Ash have set up; Port Ash is still making lanterns. Note: in relocation diffusion people carry a trait to a new place as they move. In expansion diffusion a trait spreads outward while staying strong where it began.

13. 7.

    Kira types the lantern-making spread on Card C. How did it reach the two inland towns by year 40?

    • By expansion, since the trade reached the villages first and then the towns, each learning from a nearer one
    • By relocation: owners who left Port Ash carried the trade inland as they moved
    • By neither, because lantern-making spreads by relocation or expansion along a road
    • By expansion, because Port Ash stayed strong in lantern-making while the trade appeared in the inland towns
14. 8.

    Ren types the coast road spread on Card C. How did lantern-making reach the five villages by year 20?

    • By expansion, which shows that Port Ash trained the lantern-makers in the five villages itself
    • By expansion: it spread outward, each village learning from the one before, while Port Ash stayed strong
    • By relocation, because people carried the trade to each village and a trade needs people to carry it
    • By relocation, because lantern-making moved from the south coast to places along the coast road
15. 9.

    Esme compares year 1, year 20 and year 40 on Card C. Which statement fits the three dates?

    • The coast road and the inland towns got lantern-making by two different kinds of diffusion
    • Both stages were relocation, because lantern-making moved to new places at both dates
    • The coast road came after the inland towns, because inland places are the first to be reached by travelers
    • Both stages were expansion, because Port Ash kept making lanterns at each date

16. Use this

    Card C (made up for practice). Lantern-making on the island of Lumen. Year 1: found only in Port Ash on the south coast. Year 20: found in Port Ash and in the five villages along the coast road, each village learning it from the one before. Year 40: also found in two inland towns, where workshop owners who left Port Ash have set up; Port Ash is still making lanterns. Note: in relocation diffusion people carry a trait to a new place as they move. In expansion diffusion a trait spreads outward while staying strong where it began. Card A. World languages. List 1, language families (Ethnologue estimates, 2019): Indo-European, about 3.2 to 3.4 billion speakers (sources differ), in Europe, much of South and Western Asia, and the Americas; Sino-Tibetan, about 1.4 billion, in East Asia; Atlantic–Congo, about 500 million, in Africa south of the Sahara; Afroasiatic, about 500 million, in North Africa and Western Asia; Austronesian, about 330 million, on islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific; Dravidian, about 250 million, in southern India. List 2, largest languages (Ethnologue, 2026), total speakers with first-language speakers in brackets: English 1,493 million (372 million); Mandarin Chinese 1,183 million (988 million); Hindi 611 million (347 million); Spanish 561 million (487 million). Note: a language family is a group of languages that come from one common ancestor language. Total speakers means first-language plus second-language speakers. Glottolog (2024) counts 1,410 Atlantic–Congo languages and 586 Indo-European ones.

17. 10.

    Noah says English spread "like a trade carried by people who left home". What does Card A support, and does Card C's relocation fit?

    • Yes, because English has 1,121 million second-language speakers, who must have moved there from the home of English
    • No, because relocation is for crops and trades, and a language can spread by expansion
    • Yes, since a language is carried by people, relocation is the right label when it spreads
    • Card A gives only counts of speakers, so it cannot tell whether English spread by relocation or by expansion