Determine whether the following five statements about language COULD be empirically verified. Two or three sentences on each should be the maximum.
  1. The words serve, nation, and lazy are used about as often in British as in American newspapers.
  2. Most people think that Tahitian is nicer sounding than German.
  3. All languages descend from the language spoken by Adam.
  4. In Shakespeare’s time, the word was was pronounced more like that of the Present-Day English word loss than that of the Present-Day English fuzz.
  5. English is harder for native English children to learn than Chinese is for native Chinese children.

For each answer, support it with a couple of sentences (not paragraphs) of explanation.  What you turn in should not be more than half a page or so.

Please submit the assignment in writing at the BEGINNING of class on Tues, Jan 15 (i.e. before 8:05 AM).