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← Language & CommunicationAcross regions exhibiting a dialect continuum, which outcome arises when a dense bundle of isoglosses coincides with a major physical barrier such as a mountain range?
A)Phoneme inventory convergence accelerates gradually
B)Lexical borrowing across dialects increases markedly
C)Distinct language boundary formation is reinforced✓
D)Syntactic simplification processes become homogenized
💡 Explanation
A high concentration of isoglosses alongside a geographical barrier reinforces language boundary formation because the barrier impedes communication and diffusion of linguistic features, leading to linguistic divergence rather than convergence. Therefore, a distinct language boundary is reinforced, rather than gradual changes or increased borrowing.
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