Deck 10: Language and Communication

Question 1

__________ refers to the specialized set of terms and distinctions that are particularly important to certain groups.

A)Syntactical vocabulary
B)Spatial vocabulary
C)Focal vocabulary
D)Vernacular vocabulary
E)Temporal vocabulary

Answer 1

Focal vocabulary

Question 2

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis argues that

A)the degree of cultural complexity is related to the effectiveness of languages as systems of communication.
B)the languages people speak influence the way they think.
C)the Hopi do not use three verb tenses; thus, they have no concept of time.
D)culture determines what language is able to describe.
E)all humans are endowed with the ability to use language.

Answer 2

the languages people speak influence the way they think.

Question 3

__________ argued that all human languages have a common structural basis and that all humans have similar linguistic abilities.

A)Edward Sapir
B)Benjamin Lee Whorf
C)William Labov
D)Noam Chomsky
E)Deborah Tannen

Answer 3

Noam Chomsky

Question 4

The study of the forms in which sounds combine to form words and their meaningful parts is

A)phonology.
B)syntax.
C)morphology.
D)lexicon.
E)grammar.

Question 5

The statement, __________, is not true.

A)"nonhuman primate calls occur in response to environmental stimuli."
B)"nonhuman primate calls demonstrate linguistic productivity."
C)"nonhuman primate calls are automatic and cannot be combined."
D)"nonhuman primate calls vary in intensity and duration."
E)"nonhuman primate call systems produce a limited number of sounds."

Question 6

The study of communication through body movements, stances, gestures, and expressions is

A)ethnosemantics.
B)biosemantics.
C)protolinguistics.
D)phonemics.
E)kinesics.

Question 7

__________ refers to all of a language's morphemes and their meanings.

A)Syntax
B)Lexicon
C)Ethnosemantics
D)Ethnoscience
E)Phonology

Question 8

Regular shifting between "high" and "low" variants of a language is

A)displacement.
B)diglossia.
C)semantics.
D)kinesics.
E)lexicon.

Question 9

Linguists believe that

A)only 120 languages are now spoken in the world.
B)the number of languages spoken in the world is increasing rapidly.
C)nothing can be done to preserve linguistic diversity.
D)all people should study English in order to facilitate cross-cultural communication.
E)the world's linguistic diversity has been cut in half over the past 500 years.

Question 10

_________ refers to the arrangement and order of words in phrases and sentences.

A)Syntax
B)Lexicon
C)Grammar
D)Phonology
E)Morphology

Question 11

In his study of New York department store employees, Labov found that

A)/r/ was pronounced most frequently by workers in the upper-middle-class store (Saks).
B)/r/ was pronounced most frequently by workers in the middle-class store (Macy's).
C)/r/ was pronounced most frequently by workers in the lower-middle-class store (S.Klein's).
D)workers in all three stores pronounced /r/ with the same frequency.
E)none of the workers pronounced /r/.

Question 12

Berlin and Kay's (1969/1992) cross-linguistic study of color terminology revealed that

A)women tend to use fewer color terms and men tend to use more color terms.
B)color terminology was least developed in areas with a history of using dyes and artificial coloring.
C)all languages included sixteen basic color terms.
D)the languages of cultivators in Papua New Guinea and foragers in Australia had more basic color terms than did European and Asian languages.
E)there are only two basic color terms, black and white.

Question 13

Sociolinguists study

A)bipedalism
B)speech in its social context.
C)the universal grammar of language.
D)cognitive capacity for language.
E)cross-cultural phonemic distinctions.

Question 14

The word pair, _________, is a minimal pair in Standard American English.

A)pit/bit
B)fat/get
C)goof/off
D)ped/pedal
E)gal/legal

Question 15

Linguistic displacement is the

A)ability to use the rules of language to produce entirely new expressions.
B)lexical difference between a protolanguage and a daughter language.
C)ability to respond to environmental stimuli.
D)linguistic dimension of culture shock.
E)ability to talk about things that are not present.

Question 16

In a stratified society, people who do not speak the prestige dialect still tend to accept the prestige as standard or superior, which is

A)diglossia.
B)creolization.
C)symbolic domination.
D)hypercorrection.
E)style shifting.

Question 17

Most professional linguists regard BEV as a(n)

A)protolanguage.
B)distinct language.
C)linguistic anomaly.
D)dialect of English.
E)inferior version of English.

Question 18

In the __________ region of the United States, people do not speak with an accent.

A)New England
B)West Coast
C)Southeast
D)Midwest
E)Regional speech variations exist throughout the United States.

Question 19

__________ refers to the minimal sound contrasts that distinguish meaning in a language.

A)Morphemes
B)Phonemes
C)Syntax
D)Grammar
E)Diglossia

Question 20

Deborah Tannen's research on the speech habits of men and women has revealed that

A)there are no discernible differences between the way men and women use language.
B)men tend to make eye contact more frequently than women.
C)women tend to recite information in an attempt to solidify their position in a social hierarchy.
D)men rely more on nonverbal gestures than do women.
E)women tend to use language to build social connections with others.

Question 21

Define BEV, and compare it to SE.

Question 22

Identify the key structures of language, and explain why it is important to know and understand these features.

Question 23

Describe how people communicate without speaking.

Question 24

After being spoken for generations, pidgins may develop into

A)focal vocabularies.
B)syntaxes.
C)protolanguages.
D)creole languages.
E)diglossias.

Question 25

Explain what historical linguists study, and discuss how historical linguistics is relevant to anthropology.

Question 26

Define focal vocabularies, and explain why they exist.

Question 27

The study of sounds used in speech is

A)historical linguistics.
B)sociolinguistics.
C)phonology.
D)morphology.
E)ebonics.

Question 28

Analyze how socioeconomic, ethnic, and gender differences are reflected in language.Give specific examples.

Question 29

One of Penelope Eckert's findings about California accents is that when people want to stay, involved in their home community, they

A)develop a unique accent.
B)tend to adopt a speech pattern with less accent.
C)copy the English they hear on radio.
D)tend to talk like locals.
E)often develop extended versions of nonverbal communication among peer groups.
Essay Questions

Question 30

The Romance languages (e.g., French, Spanish) belong to the ________ language families.

A)Mixe-Zoque
B)Indo-European
C)North Caucasian
D)Dravidian
E)Austro-Asiatic

Question 31

The statement, ___________ describes the use of language by apes.

A)"only humans are capable of learning and using language"
B)"apes use American Sign Language in the wild"
C)"apes cannot be taught to use American Sign Language"
D)"only chimpanzees can learn American Sign Language"
E)"apes can learn American Sign Language and have shown the capacity for cultural transmission, productivity, and displacement"

Question 32

Syntax refers to the rules that dictate the order of words in a language.

Question 33

A mutation in the ___________ has been found between humans and chimpanzees that is likely responsible for the human capability for speech.

A)FOXP2 gene
B)microcephalin gene
C)hyoid
D)lungs
E)tongue

Question 34

BEV is a distinct language.

Question 35

__________ refers to languages that have descended from the same ancestral language.

A)Descendant languages
B)Sibling languages
C)Daughter languages
D)Brother languages
E)Protolanguages

Question 36

Phonology is the study of speech sounds.

Question 37

All human nonverbal communication is instinctive and thus not influenced by culture.

Question 38

Define the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.Analyze the extent to which the hypothesis is valid.

Question 39

List the three key characteristics of human language.Discuss whether call systems and ASL-using nonhuman primates display these characteristics.

Question 40

Minimal pairs are used to identify

A)phonemes.
B)phones.
C)aspiration.
D)allomorphs.
E)bound morphemes.

Question 41

Historical linguists study linguistic performance by categorizing speakers as inadequate, competent, or highly proficient.

Question 42

Nonhuman primate call systems demonstrate linguistic productivity, combining calls to produce new expressions.

Question 43

Historical linguists study similarities and differences between languages spoken today in order to make inferences about long-term linguistic change.

Question 44

Language is transmitted through enculturation.

Question 45

A close relationship between languages does not necessarily mean that their speakers are biologically or culturally related.

Question 46

Focal vocabularies are found only in non-Western societies.

Question 47

Labov argued that all humans share a universal grammar.

Question 48

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that speakers of simple languages are unable to think in sophisticated ways.

Question 49

Kinesics is the study of communication through body movements, stances, gestures, and expressions.

Question 50

The frequency with which people smile varies cross-culturally.

Question 51

Most English speakers recognize the phonetic contrast between the [p^h] in pin and the [p] in spin.

Question 52

Studies investigating differences in the way men and women talk are examples of sociolinguistics.

Question 53

The term protolanguage refers to the limited communication systems of nonhuman primates.

Question 54

The term diglossia refers to linguistic groups that use only two basic color terms (black and white or dark and light).

Question 55

All languages and dialects are equally effective as systems of communication.

Question 56

Sociolinguistics has demonstrated that men lack the linguistic capacity to distinguish between slight variations in color.

Question 57

Creole languages are commonly found in regions where different linguistic groups came into contact with one another.