Deck 4: Language

Question 1

Which of the following terms best describes the study of how gestures, postures, and facial expressions convey messages without words?

A) discourse analysis
B) morphology
C) kinesics
D) prestige language
E) historical linguistics

Answer 1

kinesics

Question 2

Linguistic anthropologists have discovered that more than 90 percent of ________ information is communicated through body movements and paralanguage.

A) digital
B) creative
C) emotional
D) gendered
E) spatial

Answer 2

emotional

Question 3

Anthropologist Laura Bohannan discovered in her attempt to translate a classic text from English literature that:

A) an underlying universal grammar that all humans share facilitated her work.
B) the landscape of the Nigerian village shaped the folklore of the inhabitants.
C) accurate translation of Shakespeare is best accomplished through sign language.
D) the meaning of the story became lost as the original meanings of the English words could not be easily translated.
E) it is straightforward to translate stories across different languages.

Answer 3

the meaning of the story became lost as the original meanings of the English words could not be easily translated.

Question 4

The concept of cultural ________ includes linguistic assets or skills that can be converted into wages and benefits.

A) materialism
B) hegemony
C) capital
D) resonance
E) relativism

Question 5

To investigate the focal vocabulary of a language in a particular community, a linguistic anthropologist might:

A) search for genetic evidence for the origin of syntax and grammar.
B) try to discover words that offer sophisticated ways to describe local cultural realities.
C) set up experiments that show how men and women use language differently.
D) focus on the dialects that are present within the group.
E) identify local customs that determine the meaning of body movements and gestures.

Question 6

The ________ of any language refers to names, ideas, and events that offer a catalogue of what is spoken, and can be compiled into a dictionary.

A) dialect
B) grammar
C) lexicon
D) pidgin
E) paralanguage

Question 7

Based on evidence from Benjamin Whorf's research with the Hopi, a Native American group in the southwestern United States, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that:

A) the human brain is hardwired for organizing language in a universal manner.
B) languages of the Hopi are most similar to indigenous people in the Amazon River basin.
C) language occurs independently of thought.
D) thought occurs independently of language.
E) thought is rooted in language.

Question 8

According to the textbook, which of the following statements about the "N-word" is false?

A) It has been used as a derogatory word throughout much of U.S. history.
B) In 1962, the U.S. government started using the word "Negro."
C) It has been revived among African American youth involved in hip-hop music.
D) Most older African Americans advocate the use of the "N-word."
E) Many young people carefully say "niggah," taking an edge off the meaning of the word.

Question 9

Linguistic anthropologists would label new words that have emerged during the digital age, such as mouse, modem, download, and email, as part of our generation's ________ vocabulary.

A) cultural
B) ancestral
C) emotional
D) tonal
E) focal

Question 10

Deborah Tannen's research into the ways that boys and girls speak demonstrates that:

A) they essentially grow up in different linguistic worlds.
B) differences are primarily based on biology, not processes of socialization.
C) they have nearly identical communication strategies.
D) while boys hang out in small groups, girls tend to interact in larger groups.
E) the best way to understand gender and language is through the "dominance" model.

Question 11

Anthropologists who emphasize how culture, society, and a person's social position are what shapes language are best described as engaged in the study of:

A) cultural preservation.
B) sociolinguistics.
C) psychological anthropology.
D) the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
E) social Darwinism.

Question 12

The system of human communication based on a set of symbols and signs with learned and shared meanings is called:

A) grammar.
B) linguistic determinism.
C) productivity.
D) language.
E) speech community.

Question 13

Anthropologists refer to sounds that make a critical difference in meaning within a language as:

A) focal vocabulary.
B) key elements.
C) structures.
D) grammar/syntax.
E) phonemes.

Question 14

In Keith Basso's research with the Western Apache of Arizona, places in the landscape were:

A) organized into digital archives.
B) connected to local stories and cultural values.
C) embedded into texts that had been carefully translated into English.
D) difficult to find given the desert terrain.
E) separate from the local folklore.

Question 15

According to the text, studying the patterns and importance of sounds as spoken by a group of people helps linguistic anthropologists:

A) establish local kinship patterns.
B) identify how emotions are conveyed through nonverbal communication.
C) locate the eldest members of a community.
D) understand the elements and rules of a particular language.
E) determine how long a specific language has existed.

Question 16

Whereas many animals, such as dolphins and great apes, communicate with each other through gestures and sounds, only human language utilizes complex systems of:

A) dance.
B) symbols.
C) warnings and alerts.
D) chemical information.
E) sign language.

Question 17

The author suggests each of the following points to explain how men tend to dominate in mixed-gender conversations, EXCEPT:

A) men tend to use commands and criticisms, and are more likely to interrupt and to express doubts.
B) male communication patterns are unrelated to social stratification in the culture at large.
C) men speak more in public forums like board meetings, classrooms, and seminars.
D) women are more likely than men to apologize, agree, and ask.
E) men tend to dominate the conversation by the amount of talking they do.

Question 18

According to Keith Basso, the Apache tradition of "being shot by an arrow" during a conversation refers to:

A) instances that suggest violent incidents in the past.
B) the process used to prepare corn for planting.
C) how elders show neighboring groups where sacred sites are located.
D) altercations that take place between Apaches and outsiders.
E) the telling of stories, usually by elders, with themes intended to make a point.

Question 19

Archaeological evidence that offers clues to the origins of human language includes:

A) the fossilized brain casts of Neandertals that show the anatomical features for speech.
B) the existence of the FOXP2 gene, which is also found in chimpanzees.
C) the invention of the European printing press in the fifteenth century.
D) the discovery that the classic stories of English literature could be translated.
E) rules for paralanguage discovered in Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Question 20

In part because the Hopi language has verb tenses that differ from those of English, Benjamin Whorf's linguistic research suggested that the Hopi people of Arizona have:

A) a worldview where past and present represent lived reality and the future is hypothetical.
B) been able to retain their cultural traditions.
C) three seasons of the year instead of four.
D) no word for the color red.
E) paralanguage that indicates the future.

Question 21

Code switching is defined as:

A) a nonstandard variation of a language that is particular to a specific region.
B) the study of the development of language over time, including its changes and variations.
C) alternating back and forth between more than one linguistic variant depending on the context.
D) the idea that variation in languages appears gradually over distance between places.
E) the study of the intersection between language and systems of power such as race, class, and age.

Question 22

Compared to digital ________, people born before 1970 have more trouble navigating websites, wikis, blogs, and text messages.

A) natives
B) entrepreneurs
C) linguists
D) preservationists
E) translators

Question 23

One of the consequences of the "Ebonics" controversy around Black English in Oakland, California, was:

A) research by anthropologists showing that Black English lacks clear rules or patterns.
B) a new federal policy that prohibited the teaching of nonstandard English.
C) the replacement of Standard English with Black English in the school district.
D) a permanent move toward certifying teachers as proficient in Black English.
E) resistance to recognizing the challenges Black English speakers have in education settings.

Question 24

A nonstandard variation of a language is referred to as a:

A) prestige language.
B) type of displacement.
C) speech community.
D) morpheme.
E) dialect.

Question 25

According to the textbook, the ________ government has struggled to monitor and censor highly decentralized information that publicizes worker strikes, oppressive working conditions, and local government corruption.

A) Australian
B) Chinese
C) Canadian
D) French
E) Swedish

Question 26

Based on what linguistic anthropologist David Harrison found in Asia, which of the following statements best describes how language shapes the idea of time in Tuva?

A) Tuvans are digital natives.
B) Words for time were not part of the focal vocabulary in Tuva.
C) Words for time and space are no longer known among people in Tuva.
D) While the future is seen as behind them, the past is seen as in front.
E) Like Americans, Tuvans see the future as in front of them and the past behind.

Question 27

Digital activism is:

A) the gap between those fully able to participate in the digital age and those without access to electricity, the Internet, and mobile phones.
B) social struggles for worker rights and democracy that are aided by social media, mobile phones, and electronic communication.
C) those born after the 1980s; this generation has spent their lives using devices like smartphones and laptops.
D) the era defined by the proliferation of high-speed communication technologies, social networking, and personal computing.
E) the generation that uses technology, but in a process more akin to learning a new culture or language.

Question 28

The digital divide is:

A) the gap between those fully able to participate in the digital age and those without access to electricity, the Internet, and mobile phones.
B) social struggles for worker rights and democracy that are aided by social media, mobile phones, and electronic communication.
C) those born after the 1980s; this generation has spent their lives using devices like smartphones and laptops.
D) the era defined by the proliferation of high-speed communication technologies, social networking, and personal computing.
E) the generation that uses technology, but in a process more akin to learning a new culture or language.

Question 29

According to the textbook, human languages are:

A) not in danger of extinction.
B) being lost at a rate of three per day.
C) being created at a rate faster than they are being lost.
D) being lost at a rate of one every ten days.
E) are only being lost outside of the United States.

Question 30

Some linguistic anthropologists find the work of the Summer Institute of Linguistics controversial because:

A) they only work in Africa.
B) their Christian perspective may ignore some aspects of local culture, such as song and art.
C) they are using information technology.
D) they promote the use of prestige language.
E) they refuse to publish which languages they are trying to preserve.

Question 31

Digital natives are:

A) the gap between those fully able to participate in the digital age and those without access to electricity, the Internet, and mobile phones.
B) social struggles for worker rights and democracy that are aided by social media, mobile phones, and electronic communication.
C) born after the 1980s; this generation has spent their lives using devices like smartphones and laptops.
D) the era defined by the proliferation of high-speed communication technologies, social networking, and personal computing.
E) the generation that uses technology, but in a process more akin to learning a new culture or language.

Question 32

Dialect is defined as:

A) a nonstandard variation of a language that is particular to a specific region.
B) the study of the development of language over time, including its changes and variations.
C) alternating back and forth between more than one linguistic variant depending on the context.
D) the idea that variation in languages appears gradually over distance between places.
E) the study of the intersection between language and systems of power such as race, class, and age.

Question 33

When individuals speak in a manner that does not conform to what is known as "Standard English," according to the author, they are:

A) speaking a dialect of English that is linguistically flawed.
B) usually seen as speaking a prestige language.
C) unaffected by their nonstandard speech.
D) often considered to be uneducated or low class.
E) thought to be creative and poetic.

Question 34

In his study of store clerks in New York City, William Labov discovered that increased pronunciation of the letter "r" in words like car, floor, and fourth:

A) shows that the English language has more than twenty known dialects.
B) depended on how adept employees were at code switching.
C) was related to the prestige of the store and higher prices.
D) was closely tied to how these words were pronounced in Boston.
E) had no relationship to the prestige of the store.

Question 35

Which of the following statements is correct about the worldwide language diversity?

A) The 3,500 least widely used languages are spoken by one-third of the world's population.
B) English is spoken by nearly 90 percent of the world's population.
C) Ten of the most prominent languages are spoken by half of the world's population.
D) Colonialism spread languages like Hindi, Korean, and Urdu across the globe.
E) Global media like radio and television are diminishing the influence of prominent European languages.

Question 36

Language continuum is defined as:

A) a nonstandard variation of a language that is particular to a specific region.
B) the study of the development of language over time, including its changes and variations.
C) alternating back and forth between more than one linguistic variant depending on the context.
D) the idea that variation in languages appears gradually over distance between places.
E) the study of the intersection between language and systems of power such as race, class, and age.

Question 37

Historical linguistics is defined as:

A) a nonstandard variation of a language that is particular to a specific region.
B) the study of the development of language over time, including its changes and variations.
C) alternating back and forth between more than one linguistic variant depending on the context.
D) the idea that variation in languages appears gradually over distance between places.
E) the study of the intersection between language and systems of power such as race, class, and age.

Question 38

Digital immigrants are:

A) the gap between those fully able to participate in the digital age and those without access to electricity, the Internet, and mobile phones.
B) social struggles for worker rights and democracy that are aided by social media, mobile phones, and electronic communication.
C) born after the 1980s; this generation has spent their lives using devices like smartphones and laptops.
D) the era defined by the proliferation of high-speed communication technologies, social networking, and personal computing.
E) the generation that uses technology, but in a process more akin to learning a new culture or language.

Question 39

Which of the following outcomes is NOT associated with efforts to preserve the Native American Lakota language, spoken by about 50,000 people in the United States?

A) preserving language sample and cultural knowledge
B) creating visual dictionaries of images tagged with Lakota terms
C) comparing the Lakota language to Turkic languages in central Asia
D) uploading school projects to community websites
E) using participatory social media technology like YouTube and Flickr

Question 40

Sociolinguistics is defined as:

A) a nonstandard variation of a language that is particular to a specific region.
B) the study of the development of language over time, including its changes and variations.
C) alternating back and forth between more than one linguistic variant depending on the context.
D) the idea that variation in languages appears gradually over distance between places.
E) the study of the intersection between language and systems of power such as race, class, and age.

Question 41

The Summer Institute of Linguistics:

A) is a secular institution with the mission of preserving indigenous religious practices.
B) sends missionaries into the field to create written versions of indigenous languages with the goal of disseminating the Christen Bible in those languages.
C) has attempted to wipe out indigenous languages and replace them with English.
D) promotes tourism to remote areas by establishing programs that teach local languages to wealthy hobbyists.
E) has attempted to create written records of less widely spoken languages by transcribing ritual language and songs connected to indigenous religion.

Question 42

According to your textbook, a particular language variation is associated with wealth, success, education, and power. These language variations with elevated status are known as prestige languages. Using the concepts of cultural capital and prestige language, discuss two examples of how nonstandard variations of languages can be linked to particular positions with a culture. How are linguistic standards established or reinforced? Explain why it has been said that a dialect is a language without a navy or an army.

Question 43

Linguistic anthropologists have discovered that the languages spoken in Europe such as Latin, English, German, and Greek are derived from an earlier language they call:

A) Proto-Indo-European.
B) Pre-Modern European.
C) Pan Archaic European.
D) Proto-Germanic.
E) Proto-Latin.

Question 44

Because few children grow up learning to speak the Lakota language, efforts have been made to preserve language samples and artifacts in tribal areas. These efforts include:

A) a participatory social media platform built by LiveandTell.
B) replacing Standard English with the Lakota language in local schools.
C) translation of the Christian Bible into the Lakota language by the Summer Institute of Linguistics.
D) expanding tribal areas to include more speakers.
E) legislation making the Lakota language the official language in tribal areas.

Question 45

As new speech communities have been formed through the digital activism of the Arab Spring, a new ________ that includes events, names, and ideas pertaining to social protest has also emerged.

A) mock language
B) prestige language
C) lexicon
D) set of phonemes
E) syntax

Question 46

Which of the following statements about language is true?

A) Language can be spoken, written, or conveyed through body movements or gestures.
B) Language includes speech and writing only.
C) Humans are genetically predisposed to learn specific languages.
D) Language is widespread throughout the animal kingdom.
E) All languages share a common syntax, and vary only in the morphemes used to form words.

Question 47

American women are far more likely than men to distinguish between colors like teal and turquoise, or magenta and purple. This is an example of:

A) a biological difference between men and women.
B) a focal vocabulary that exists within American culture.
C) a paralanguage that differentiates female culture from the dominant male culture.
D) descriptive linguistics.
E) linguistic productivity and displacement.

Question 48

Noam Chomsky's research proposes that:

A) all humans share a similar ability to learn language based on the way that our brains are hardwired.
B) human brains are genetically hardwired to learn specific languages.
C) different languages create different ways of thinking.
D) a language's grammar is derived from the culture in which it develops.
E) humans' ability to learn language varies widely from culture to culture.

Question 49

What can linguistic anthropologists learn from studying the focal vocabulary of a social group? Why would words that show a particular sophistication and that describe unique cultural realities of a group of people be useful to investigate? Discuss one example of how the focal vocabulary of a language has changed or may change in the future, and discuss how men and women may have different vocabularies on particular topics.

Question 50

In 1996, the Oakland School District proposed:

A) supporting Mock Spanish speakers as if they were learning Standard English as a second language in school.
B) supporting Black English, or Ebonics, speakers as if they were learning Standard English as a second language in school.
C) teaching Ebonics as a second language alongside Spanish and French.
D) replacing the teaching of Standard English with teaching of Ebonics.
E) creating a bilingual curriculum in which Spanish and English would be mixed freely.

Question 51

Worldwide, the most spoken language is:

A) Hindi.
B) Chinese.
C) Spanish.
D) English.
E) Arabic.

Question 52

The digital age is:

A) the gap between those fully able to participate in the digital age and those without access to electricity, the Internet, and mobile phones.
B) social struggles for worker rights and democracy that are aided by social media, mobile phones, and electronic communication.
C) those born after the 1980s; this generation has spent their lives using devices like smartphones and laptops.
D) the era defined by the proliferation of high-speed communication technologies, social networking, and personal computing.
E) the generation that uses technology, but in a process more akin to learning a new culture or language.

Question 53

________ is the linguistic ability to refer to events or objects not present or to events that are happening in the future or past.

A) Displacement
B) Productivity
C) Phonology
D) Kinesics
E) Syntax

Question 54

The fact that 85 percent, or 5.5 billion people, lack meaningful access to a digital communication network reflects:

A) increasing attempts by computer hackers to shut down global media.
B) the efforts of European nations to prevent citizens in the global South from participation.
C) the minimal investment in technological infrastructure made by the Chinese government.
D) the inability to translate software into languages other than English.
E) the tendency of globalization to increase the effects of uneven development.

Question 55

While analyzing what is spoken and written is very important for linguistic anthropologists, the way that people convey messages through gestures, facial expressions, and postures is equally crucial in understanding human communication. Discuss how anthropologists can decipher the meaning of communication through examining paralanguage and what is indicated through body language. Illustrate how body language is not universal but rather depends on cultural context, and use examples to show how emotional information is communicated.

Question 56

Consider the following passage where David Harrison discusses the power of metaphor among people who speak the Tuvan language: "If you are hopelessly in love with someone in Tuvan, you say 'My liver aches.' Because to them, the liver is the seat of emotion. Now we know that's not true of course. The brain is the seat of emotion, but that doesn't stop us from using the heart [as] the seat of emotion in American culture." If Harrison's research has to do with how language shapes how people view their reality, explain how his findings relate to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Offer examples of how the way people think may or may not be affected by their native language.

Question 57

Linguistic anthropologists have shown that languages are disappearing at an unprecedented rate. Many argue that efforts should be made to preserve these endangered languages by documenting their lexicon and grammar. Why are anthropologists interested in preserving languages? Do you agree with these efforts? Why or why not? Which types of knowledge are embedded in language that might make them worthwhile to preserve? What are some of the techniques or strategies that have been used to either preserve or revitalize less-prominent languages? Discuss two examples where anthropologists have been involved in preserving endangered languages, and reflect on how information technology may be used in language revitalization.

Question 58

What types of evidence have anthropologists drawn on to approximate when humans first began to use language? Using examples, analyze how genetic and archaeological information have been used to determine when the human capacity for speech evolved. How did language enhance the ability of humans to survive and adapt to inhospitable environments?

Question 59

While anthropologists have gone to lengths to show that languages are linguistically equal, languages often exist in a hierarchical manner within a given place. Compare how language and power intersect by discussing how nonprestige languages may be marginalized, such as in the case of Spanish speakers in the United States. How are boundaries between language policed, and what happens when speakers "code switch" in different cultural contexts? What did Jane Hill discover when she investigated how white Americans speak words in Mock Spanish?

Question 60

Anthropology professor Michael Wesch:

A) has taken advantage of the technology skills of "digital immigrants" to write texts, e-mails, and blogs about their educational experiences.
B) has taken advantage of the technology skills of "digital natives" to write texts, e-mails, and blogs about their educational experiences.
C) confiscates students' cell phones before class so they can experience the digital divide.
D) made news by advocating that Kansas State University ban digital devices across the entire campus.
E) has found that educational institutions have adapted quickly and easily to teaching in the digital age.

Question 61

According to your textbook, preserving endangered languages is an important goal of linguistic anthropologists. Discuss the potentially ambiguous role that information technology and the digital divide may play in language preservation. Using examples from the text, assess the potential benefits that may accrue as members of less-prominent languages gain access to community technology and cross over the "digital divide." Consider how the tendency of prominent languages to crowd out speakers of lesser-spoken languages may be accelerated with increased cultural contact and exposure to global languages. How is the digital divide related to issues of language extinction?

Question 62

What was the emphasis of William Labov's study of the pronunciation of the letter "r" in New York City? How did the pronunciation vary over time and in different parts of the city? How did Labov's research relate to the idea of how different ways of speaking can be associated with prestige?

Question 63

What do linguistic anthropologists think about how women and men use language in different ways? What are the two models that explain why language is used in gendered ways, and what are examples that illustrate their hypotheses? Which one of these two models is more compelling to you, and why?

Question 64

What are some of the key differences between the ways that digital natives and digital immigrants interact with information and communication technology? Given that digital natives grow up using a range of social media, how has technology reshaped their experience in higher education? How does the experience of digital natives vary in different parts of the world?

Question 65

According to the textbook, the development of social media technologies such as Facebook and YouTube and ubiquitous access to information networks through smartphones have transformed digital activism. Discuss how digital activism has taken place in recent years by comparing democratic protests that have taken place in China to the events of the Arab Spring or the Occupy movement in the United States. How have activists challenged authorities in government and corporations by using novel methods?