Deck 2: Language and Culture

Question 1

The principle of linguistic relativity

A)has been largely disproven through ethnographic research.
B)is widely accepted today.
C)requires that we accept the fact that our language controls our organization of the world.
D)is disproven by the fact that we can learn other languages and translate from one language to another.

Answer 1

is widely accepted today.

Question 2

Benjamin Lee Whorf wrote that "users of markedly different grammars are pointed by their grammars towards different types of observations and different evaluations of externally similar acts of observation, and hence are not equivalent as observers but must arrive at somewhat different views of the world." He called this his

A)principle of linguistic relativity.
B)principle of linguistic differentness.
C)principle of linguistic obligation.
D)principle of grammatical determinism.

Answer 2

principle of linguistic relativity.

Question 3

The term used by cognitive anthropologists to refer to a specific area of cultural emphasis is

A)semantic domain.
B)cultural focal point.
C)taxonomy.
D)componential analysis.

Answer 3

semantic domain.

Question 4

Ottenheimer considers lettuce to be a better example of a category of SALAD GREENS than dandelions are. What best explains her categorization of SALAD GREENS?

A)prototype theory
B)feature analysis
C)contrast analysis
D)componential analysis

Question 5

The fact that different languages divide and name the colors in a rainbow differently is an example of

A)linguistic determinism.
B)linguistic relativity.
C)ethnosemantics.
D)cultural emphasis.

Question 6

Linguistic anthropologists use __________________ to reveal the culturally important features by which speakers of a language distinguish different words in a semantic domain.

A)ethnosemantics
B)taxonomy
C)componential analysis
D)ethnography

Question 7

A chart showing how words in a specific semantic domain are related to one another is called a

A)frame of reference.
B)componential analysis.
C)taxonomy.
D)mental map.

Question 8

In the 1960s, a linguistic-based approach to ethnography used language to explore a culture's system of categorization. What was this approach called?

A)cognitive anthropology
B)ethnoscience
C)ethnosemantics
D)componential analysis

Question 9

In the Hanunóo language, there are four primary color terms. This fact

A)indicates that most, if not all, Hanunóo speakers suffer from red/green color blindness.
B)demonstrates the primitive nature of Hanunóo color categories.
C)is, in fact, not an accurate statement, but simply the result of a failure to do sufficient intracultural research into Hanunóo color categories.
D)supports the assertion that color is not a universal human concept.

Question 10

Berlin and Kay's research suggested that color terms emerged during cultural development in an orderly fashion. They believed the first three stages of emergence were

A)(1)red, (2)blue, and (3)black and white.
B)(1)black and white, (2)red, and (3)green or yellow.
C)(1)black and white, (2)blue, and (3)green.
D)(1)red and blue, (2)black and white, and (3)grey.

Question 11

The idea that knowing one language will not allow you to predict how another language will categorize and knowing one language and name the world is called

A)linguistic relativity.
B)ethnocentrism.
C)linguistic determinism.
D)ethnosemantics

Question 12

The term used to refer to a set of ideas we have about the way things should be is ________.

A)convention
B)cultural focus
C)nostalgia
D)ideology

Question 13

A recent challenge to the idea of linguistic relativity came from Berlin and Kay's study of

A)basic color terms.
B)essential kin types.
C)words for water.
D)words for snow.

Question 14

Feature analysis is based on the idea that

A)every member of a given category will be a perfect example of that category.
B)phonological features of a language are linked to cultural focus.
C)some members of a category can be more central than others.
D)the categories of our language determine our experience of reality.

Question 15

The idea that language affects, and even determines, your ability to perceive and think about things, as well as to talk about them, is referred to as

A)linguistic relativity.
B)linguistic determinism.
C)linguistic principle.
D)ethnocentrism.

Question 16

The story Ottenheimer describes, told by blues musician Cousin Joe told about his encounter with a police officer in Mississippi illustrates the idea that

A)we are trapped within our frames.
B)a speaker can shift the frame of an encounter to accomplish a goal.
C)frames remain unchanged despite the passage of time.
D)it is always a mistake to tell a joke to a police officer.

Question 17

An egocentric deictic system is associated with

A)a relativistic spatial reckoning system.
B)a profoundly ethnocentric frame of reference.
C)the cardinal directions.
D)the analysis of topographic features.

Question 18

Whorf's principle of linguistic relativity argues that different languages represent different

A)levels of evolutionary sophistication in different cultures.
B)ways of perceiving and thinking about the world.
C)geographical surroundings.
D)individual abilities.

Question 19

A linguistic anthropologist sits down and starts asking you questions like these: What are the steps to selecting a class? At what time the class happens something you think about when you select a class? What other things do you think about when you select a class? This linguistic anthropologist is probably constructing

A)a self-help book.
B)a grammar of university student English.
C)a taxonomy describing your mental map.
D)a survey of student attitudes about courses.

Question 20

The existence of a large number of words about a particular topic is a strong indication of

A)cultural emphasis.
B)ethnocentrism.
C)linguistic relativism.
D)idiosyncrasy.

Question 21

John Lucy's research on English speakers and Yucatec speakers supports which theory?

A)the Strong Whorf form of linguistic determinism
B)the Weak Whorf form of linguistic determinism
C)feature analysis
D)prototype theory

Question 22

Describe the difference between what is described in the text as Strong Whorf and Weaker Whorf, noting that both are forms of linguistic determinism.

Question 23

The "Sapir-Whorf hypothesis," although never formulated as a hypothesis by either Edward Sapir or Benjamin Lee Whorf, has two forms: Strong Whorf and Weaker Whorf. In Strong Whorf, language is compared to a

A)room.
B)prison.
C)road.
D)ocean.

Question 24

According to George Lakoff, categories don't exist in the world independently of people. Rather categories are the result of the ways in which we interact with the world.

Question 25

Give an example of a metaphor which is regularly used in a frame with which you are familiar. Give at least two examples of ways in which this metaphor operates.

Question 26

Scholars doing "the new ethnography" argued that the categorization system encapsulated in a language, and the way a language categorized items

A)determined the mental maturity of the people who used it.
B)was more sophisticated among "civilized" peoples.
C)was a model, or mental map, that speakers had for that particular part of the world.
D)could help elders in that culture to resist the symptoms of Alzheimer's.

Question 27

Give an example of a test of linguistic determinism. This should be an actual test, as described in your reading or in lecture. Explain how the results support or do not support the theory of linguistic determinism.

Question 28

A lack of ideas that you need to talk about or think about something is called ________.

A)linguistic determinism
B)contrast analysis
C)prototype theory
D)hypocognition

Question 29

Two people are debating taxation. One person sees taxes as a burden and talks about "tax relief." The other person considers taxes to be "community maintenance fees." Their different points of view illustrate how ________ can affect our perceptions of an issue.

A)frames
B)typologies
C)cultural emphasis
D)prototypes

Question 30

Different frames applied to very similar actions can result in dramatically different interpretations of those actions.

Question 31

Berlin and Kay applied their color naming system in an even-handed way, with consistent standards for all cultural groups.

Question 32

By employing the comparative method, linguistic anthropologists have discovered that learning a new language consists mostly of learning new labels for the same things.

Question 33

Because of their different languages, English speakers tend to group objects in terms of common material, while Yucatec speakers tend to group items in terms of common shape.

Question 34

Linguistic anthropologists use two tools to explore semantic domains. Name and describe these tools, and briefly explain how each of these tools work.