Deck 6: Language and Communication

Question 1

Standard American English's cultural emphasis is on words referring to:

A) technology.
B) weather.
C) cows and crops.
D) religious artifacts.
E) the past (history).

Answer 1

technology.

Question 2

Which of the following is the best example of a synchronic study of language?

A) How greetings have changed in English during the past 200 years
B) Analyzing the word origins of "percussion"
C) Interpreting the colonialist legacy in the Swahili language
D) Separating out English words that have been borrowed from other languages
E) Comparative analysis of conjunctions in English and Spanish

Answer 2

Comparative analysis of conjunctions in English and Spanish

Question 3

Nuer terminology reflects the importance of _________in their society.

A) women
B) bracelets and necklaces
C) cattle
D) grain
E) witchcraft

Answer 3

cattle

Question 4

The study of the sound structure of a language is called:

A) phonology.
B) morphology.
C) the study of grammar.
D) the study of syntax.
E) displacement.

Question 5

Which statement about communication among nonhuman primates is false?

A) Gorillas use calls and facial expressions to communicate.
B) Nonhuman primate call systems are inflexible.
C) Nonhuman primates use closed systems of communication.
D) Animal call systems are based on tradition and not genetics.
E) Communication among primates is more complex than scientists used to think.

Question 6

Which of the following languages has had the most influence on English?

A) German
B) French
C) Spanish
D) Icelandic
E) Italian

Question 7

An example of a free morpheme is __________.

A) -ly
B) co-
C) car
D) -ist
E) -s (plural marker)

Question 8

English is a member of which language family?

A) Celtic
B) Indic
C) Slavic
D) Germanic
E) Latin

Question 9

An example of a bound morpheme is __________.

A) art
B) sun
C) paint
D) -ist
E) cat

Question 10

The meanings attached to any given word in all languages are totally:

A) specific.
B) arbitrary.
C) culturally-based.
D) displaced.
E) organic by nature.

Question 11

The language(s)most efficient at expressing abstract ideas:

A) is Navajo.
B) is Chinese.
C) is German.
D) is English.
E) does not exist; no single language is most efficient.

Question 12

The word "hats":

A) contains one morpheme.
B) contains a bound morpheme.
C) does not contain a bound morpheme.
D) contains three morphemes.
E) does not contain a morpheme.

Question 13

A language that is "moribund" is one that:

A) no longer has any living speakers.
B) is spoken by only a handful of people.
C) has no speakers that are bilingual.
D) has lost its capacity to communicate nonverbally.
E) uses metaphors of death in other aspects of life.

Question 14

Cultural emphasis refers to:

A) the major nonverbal forms of communication in a society.
B) the favorite forms of argument in a society.
C) the one language most members of society learn better than any other.
D) the group of words in a language that are considered more adaptively important in that culture.
E) certain types of words that are found repeatedly in different languages, such as "mama."

Question 15

Human language is found in all cultures:

A) that have writing.
B) that have had significant contact with Europe.
C) across the world.
D) where there is a formal educational system.
E) that use technology.

Question 16

Non-human primates and humans share which features of communication?

A) non-verbal forms of communication
B) an open call system
C) a closed call system
D) vocal speech
E) use of language from tradition and not experience

Question 17

Displacement,a feature of human communication,means:

A) combining one or more sounds to create new meanings.
B) the capacity to convey information about a thing or event that is hypothetical in nature.
C) not understanding the meaning of nonverbal communication.
D) an inability to place all morphemes in their proper grammatical place.
E) an arbitrary use of words.

Question 18

Research on chimpanzee communication shows that they:

A) possess the physical means of speaking like humans.
B) can communicate subtle shades of meaning.
C) use a closed communication system.
D) can combine one or more sounds to create a large number of meanings.
E) can express opinions about abstract ideas.

Question 19

The approximate number of discrete languages that exist in the world today is:

A) 100.
B) 550.
C) 1400.
D) 6000.
E) 10,000.

Question 20

The highly complex set of rules that regulates the formation of morphemes into words that convey meaning is called:

A) grammar.
B) dialogue.
C) phonology.
D) syntax.
E) metaphor.

Question 21

When Tanzania became independent in the 1960s,there were some 120 mutually unintelligible languages spoken there.How did Tanzania address this challenge?

A) They outlawed all tribal languages and chose to speak French instead,
B) They adopted Swahili as a neutral official language for everyone.
C) They mandated the language of the majority of their citizens to be their national language.
D) They declared no official language and instead encouraged people to become multilingual.
E) They selected two national languages as a way of accommodating many citizens.

Question 22

When he is at school,a Hispanic teenager will likely use English as his primary language,while at home,his family may encourage him to speak Spanish.This linguistic process is known as:

A) linguistic borrowing.
B) language doublespeak.
C) cultural emphasis.
D) diglossia.
E) code switching.

Question 23

Sociolinguistics concentrates on variations in language that:

A) are likely to become extinct in the next fifty years.
B) do not change over time.
C) have a majority of bilingual speakers.
D) depend upon the social situations or contexts in which the speaker operates.
E) are caused by colonialism or political systems of oppression.

Question 24

Which accent carries the highest prestige in the United States?

A) German
B) Southern U.S.
C) British
D) French
E) Australian

Question 25

Which statement about language reflecting a culture's basic values is true?

A) Individualism is reflected in English spoken in the United States.
B) A concern for the group and conformity is a major aspect of English.
C) No language communicates its values. Language is only a symbol system.
D) The English language and Japanese language carry the same cultural value system.
E) English values supporting individualism are changing and the language reflects this.

Question 26

Opponents of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis argue that:

A) language simply reflects, rather than determines, culture.
B) culture reflects language.
C) culture determines language.
D) language and culture are independent of each other.
E) language and culture are one and the same, so there is no need to distinguish them.

Question 27

All of the following are reasons for the decline of dialects recently in the U.S.except:

A) regional dialects are so associated with class status that they are dropped as someone "moves up" the social ladder.
B) regional dialects have become less noticeable because of mass media.
C) regional dialects are disappearing because of geographic mobility.
D) regional dialects have declined because so much of the culture itself is being lost.
E) regional dialects have changed because of changing immigration patterns.

Question 28

Long-distance truck drivers have developed a specialized vocabulary.This is a form of:

A) diglossia.
B) code switching.
C) dialects.
D) cultural emphasis.
E) arbitrary nature of language.

Question 29

A lingua franca refers to:

A) the French language.
B) a common language.
C) a world-wide language understood by most people in the world.
D) a language with no form of nonverbal communication.
E) an artificial language that is spoken by no one (a kind of techno-speak).

Question 30

Which statement best describes the difference in linguistic style between speakers of Japanese and speakers of American English?

A) Japanese is direct while English is indirect.
B) Japanese is indirect while English is direct
C) Japanese tends to use exaggeration.
D) Japanese tends to be confrontational.
E) Japanese does not express cultural values.

Question 31

What is the theoretical significance of linguistic systems such as Ebonics?

A) It shows how difficult it is to unite a country linguistically.
B) It is an example of cultural linguistics and diachronic change.
C) It is an example of what causes racism and poverty.
D) It is an example of displacement and diachronic change.
E) It is a form of synchronic change and shows us the legacy of slavery.

Question 32

Black English Vernacular (BEV):

A) is a fully efficient language with its own grammar.
B) is grammatically incorrect.
C) cannot express abstract thoughts.
D) suffers from a lack of syntax.
E) differs widely across the United States.

Question 33

Sociolinguists:

A) study the structures (phonology and morphology) of a language.
B) focus on how people actually speak in any given social situation.
C) study language change over time.
D) study language families and the relationships between different lexicons.
E) study how non-standardized forms of language are related to other languages.

Question 34

Diglossia refers to:

A) fluency in two languages.
B) an inability to speak.
C) a practice of using more than one form of the same language within the same language community.
D) a speech problem that causes a person to not be able to associate words with meanings.
E) the inability of a person to learn more than one language during a lifetime.

Question 35

Language,according to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis:

A) causes all people to perceive the world in the same way.
B) causes all humans to construct reality in similar ways.
C) establishes in our minds categories that affect our perception.
D) determines how well-formed our brain will be.
E) is the sole force of cultural innovation.

Question 36

Which of the following is normally associated with low form English?

A) TV programs
B) University lectures
C) Political speeches
D) Newspapers
E) Religious services

Question 37

Black English Vernacular is a(n):

A) form of street slang.
B) incorrect form of English.
C) full-fledged linguistic system with its own grammatical structure.
D) primitive language that shows remnants of its past.
E) language that was used in Africa many years ago.

Question 38

Doublespeak:

A) is a medieval form of language no longer used today.
B) refers to the differences in languages between the wealthy and the commoners.
C) is a way of saying something through nonverbal communication.
D) is the same as being bilingual.
E) is designed to change our perception of what is real.

Question 39

Regionalisms,such as many words that are associated with Southerners,are a form of:

A) dialect.
B) diglossia.
C) code switching.
D) phonology.
E) grammar.

Question 40

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis argues that language:

A) influences perception.
B) is genetically based.
C) is solely a means of communication.
D) helps people adjust to their environment.
E) is a system of communication that is as much verbal as nonverbal.

Question 41

Why has the number of Russian speakers declined so rapidly during the last few decades?

A) There has been a significant decline in reproductive rates in Russian countries and there are fewer and fewer people to speak the language.
B) So many Russians have emigrated from their homeland that there is very little linguistic basis for the population today.
C) After the break-up of the Soviet Union, many countries have chosen to substitute their own indigenous languages and replace Russian.
D) Russians are very protective of their language and will not allow other countries to use it.
E) Russian is a difficult language and few people are able to learn it.

Question 42

The Nuer have a cultural emphasis on pigs and pig-rearing.

Question 43

Cell phone technology now enables us to do all of the following except:

A) send deceptive or false messages.
B) pretend to be somewhere other than where we are.
C) pretend that we need to leave a particular meeting.
D) create new forms of shorthand language to communicate.
E) understand greater amounts of nonverbal communication.

Question 44

The government of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela is proposing to limit baby names to an approved list of some 100 names.Which of the following is NOT one of the reasons for this?

A) Eliminating doubts about a person's gender
B) Protecting children's self-esteem
C) Keeping out so-called foreign names
D) Enabling bureaucrats to more easily register citizens
E) Allowing the government to trace people's genealogy

Question 45

Displacement is a unique attribute of human language.

Question 46

Syntax is the set of principles guiding how words are arranged into phrases and sentences.

Question 47

In the European Union,it is estimated that _____ of the population has proficiency in a second language; in the U.S.it is estimated that _____ of the population has proficiency in a second language.

A) 50%; 25%
B) 56%; 9%
C) 27%; 53%
D) 77%; 17%
E) 100%; 11%

Question 48

A protolanguage is an ancestral language.

Question 49

Hawaiian is being spoken much more on the island today,but it is not the official state language.

Question 50

Which phrase best characterizes second language competence in the United States?

A) basically monolingual
B) fiercely bilingual
C) accepting of all foreign languages
D) striving toward multilingualism
E) diglossic

Question 51

Nonverbal communication includes all of the following except:

A) hand gestures and touching.
B) communication on a telephone.
C) use of scents and perfumes.
D) conversational distance
E) eye contact.

Question 52

The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis argues that language is more than just communication.

Question 53

Ninety-five percent of the world's people speak fewer than 100 of the world's 6,000 languages.

Question 54

Which statement is not true about the new communications technology of the 21ˢᵗ century?

A) There are space limitations that will ultimately restrain the development of new technologies.
B) New technology has exploded in the last several decades.
C) Networking websites such as Facebook, cell phones, and blogs are changing many aspects of the social structure.
D) Cell phones are now used for sending "disinformation."
E) Cell phones are used to avoid social contact in some areas.

Question 55

A major limitation to the development of language among gorillas and chimps is physical because they do not possess the vocal equipment for speech.

Question 56

The way that people hold their bodies often communicates information about all of the following except:

A) emotional states.
B) submissiveness or dominance.
C) sexual intentions.
D) bilingualism.
E) relaxation and intimacy.

Question 57

The English language has a total of forty phonemes.

Question 58

Which statement about text messaging is false?

A) It allows you to communicate without divulging your emotions.
B) Chinese send text messages more frequently than do Americans.
C) Text messaging encourages brevity and blandness.
D) Teens in the United States predominately use text messaging to communicate with their parents.
E) Text messaging creates a generational divide in the United States.

Question 59

What percent of all messages sent and received is believed to be nonverbal?

A) 100%
B) 80%
C) 70%
D) 50%
E) 25%

Question 60

The study of the relationship between language and culture is called cultural emphasis.

Question 61

Researchers estimate that as much as 70% of all messages sent and received by humans are nonverbal in form.

Question 62

In the United States approximately 60% of the adult population has a functional knowledge of a second language.

Question 63

What is displacement?

Question 64

On what aspect of language do sociolinguists concentrate?

Question 65

Doublespeak is a form of code switching.

Question 66

The incidence of dialects is increasing in the U.S.today.

Question 67

Bowing in Japan signals both the beginning and end of a conversation.

Question 68

What are three forms of nonverbal communication?

Question 69

Cell phones became widely used in the mid-1980s.

Question 70

The Japanese do not use silence as a way of communicating.

Question 71

What is diglossia?

Question 72

Nonverbal communication can aid in interpreting linguistic messages but cannot carry messages of its own.

Question 73

How is a bound morpheme different from a free morpheme?

Question 74

How does the lack of large-scale bilingual and multilingualism in the U.S.negatively impact us?

Question 75

The new information technology has altered human communication.

Question 76

What are the three unique attributes of human language?

Question 77

Why has the Hugo Chavez government proposed to limit baby names to a list of 100 approved names?

Question 78

Define a language family.

Question 79

Name and describe the two particular aspects of structure that pertain to all human languages.

Question 80

"Spanglish" is a form of code switching.