Deck 9: Language and Communication

Question 1

Which of the following would best be classified as a symbol?

A) scream
B) sneeze
C) handshake
D) tears

Answer 1

handshake

Question 2

The identification and description of the distinctive sounds of a language is called:

A) phonetology
B) phones
C) phonology
D) phonetics

Answer 2

phonetics

Question 3

If you were sent out to decipher an unwritten language, which area of linguistics would be the most useful to you?

A) analytical linguistics
B) ethnolinguistics
C) descriptive linguistics
D) historical linguistics

Answer 3

descriptive linguistics

Question 4

Which of the following is the least significant for learning in humans?

A) observation
B) imitation
C) language
D) instinct

Question 5

The language family which includes English is approximately how old?

A) 6,000 years
B) 3 million
C) 400 years
D) 50,000 years

Question 6

Some chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans have been taught:

A) American Sign Language
B) International Sign Language
C) African Sign Language
D) Animal Sign Language

Question 7

Which of the following is not a Latin-derived Romance language?

A) Italian
B) Spanish
C) Russian
D) French

Question 8

The sounds and gestures of language are classified as:

A) proxemics
B) signs
C) metaphors
D) symbols

Question 9

Approximately how many languages exist today?

A) about 600
B) about 60,000
C) about 1,600
D) about 6,000

Question 10

Approximately how many new words do first-year medical student learn in the first year?

A) 60
B) 600
C) 6,000
D) 60,000

Question 11

Which of the following pairs of languages does not distinguish between masculine and feminine nouns?

A) English and Spanish
B) English and French
C) English and German
D) English and Quechua

Question 12

English is part of what subgroup of languages?

A) Germanic
B) Latinate
C) Slavic
D) Greek

Question 13

Language is a system of communication composed of:

A) signals and gestures
B) sounds and signals
C) sounds and gestures
D) abstract ideas

Question 14

The smallest unit of sound that carries a meaning in a language is called a:

A) morpheme
B) phonology
C) phone
D) phoneme

Question 15

Which of the following is not a main branch of linguistics?

A) descriptive linguistics
B) historical linguistics
C) sociolinguistics/ethnolinguistics
D) gestural linguistics

Question 16

What is the greatest strength of modern descriptive linguistics?

A) objectivity of its methods
B) advances of its theories
C) growth and popularity of the sub-discipline
D) importance of descriptive linguistics in the global economy

Question 17

The rules or principles of phrase and sentence-making in a language are called the:

A) linguistics
B) grammar
C) phonology
D) syntax

Question 18

During the Age of Exploration there was estimated to be approximately how many languages existing?

A) 12,000
B) 25,000
C) 8,500
D) 120,000

Question 19

In the word "heated," how many morphemes are there?

A) there are no morphemes
B) 1
C) 6
D) 2

Question 20

The smallest unit of sound that can make a difference in meaning is called a:

A) morpheme
B) phonology
C) phone
D) phoneme

Question 21

Technically, all dialects are:

A) languages
B) subcultural languages
C) partial languages
D) codes

Question 22

In North America, how many of the original indigenous languages are extinct?

A) 150
B) 700
C) 300
D) 75

Question 23

Which of the following statements is true about AAVE?

A) It is a highly structured and patterned form of English.
B) It is a substandard form of English.
C) It evolved primarily from East African origins.
D) It is a language that has no real connection with English.

Question 24

During the past 500 years, approximately how many of the world's languages have become extinct due to warfare, epidemics, and colonialism?

A) less than 150
B) 4,000
C) 6,000
D) 500

Question 25

French attempts to purge their language of non-French words are an example of:

A) selective borrowing
B) linguistic nationalism
C) linguistic semanticism
D) teleological borrowing

Question 26

The existence of over 200 words for the potato that reflects the potato's many uses in the Aymara language of highland Bolivia and Peru is an example of:

A) code switching
B) linguistic relativity
C) a dialect
D) gendered speech

Question 27

Changing from one mode of speech to another as the situation demands, whether from one language to another or from one dialect of a language to another is called:

A) ethnolinguistics
B) bilingualism
C) linguistic determination
D) code switching

Question 28

What kinds of information are transmitted through the gesture-call system?

A) reason and abstract thought
B) emotions and intentions
C) actions and motivations
D) warfare and aggression

Question 29

Individuals in a society vary on how they use language based on all of the following factors except:

A) gender
B) ethnicity
C) height
D) class

Question 30

What does AAVE stand for?

A) African Ancestral Validated English
B) All American Vernacular English
C) African American Valid English
D) African American Vernacular English

Question 31

In English it is estimated that about _______________ of emotional information is transmitted not by words spoken but by body language.

A) less than 50%
B) 85%
C) 90%
D) 95%

Question 32

Which American Indian language is gender-specific in the area of commands and queries?

A) Creek
B) Lakota
C) Seminole
D) Pima

Question 33

Distinct male and female patterns of speech are called:

A) ethnolinguistics
B) gendered speech
C) dialectic speech
D) code switching

Question 34

Which of the following is a difference between Hopi and English?

A) Hopi can express that the event talked about is a regular thing that generally occurs
B) English primarily structures thinking and behavior with a focus on the present
C) Hopi does not have verbs
D) Hopi apply numbers to time but not to counting

Question 35

The method for notating and analyzing body language is called:

A) proxemics
B) kinesics
C) gesture-call
D) glottochronology

Question 36

What is the greatest linguistic risk that is posed by the growing popularity of Internet?

A) development of slang words
B) loss of face-to-face communication
C) decline in linguistic diversity
D) loss of written languages

Question 37

Approximately what number of people claims English as their native language?

A) 200 million
B) 375 million
C) 150 million
D) 700 million

Question 38

In the past, one of the most powerful forces for linguistic change has been:

A) colonialism
B) industrialism
C) exploration
D) migration

Question 39

Approximately how many people speak English as a foreign language?

A) 200 million
B) 372 million
C) 973 million
D) 1 billion

Question 40

The study of the relationship between language and society is called:

A) sociolinguistics
B) sociological linguistics
C) social linguistics
D) structural linguistics

Question 41

Why is speech unique to humans?

A) great apes do not have the anatomy to speak like humans
B) no one has pioneered a way to teach great apes
C) great apes are not interested in speaking to us
D) we are not able to hear the vocal ranges expressed by great apes

Question 42

Humans are biologically programmed for language.

Question 43

Which of the following was a fully developed early writing system?

A) Iroquois wampum belts
B) Chinese tortoise shells
C) Egyptian hieroglyphics
D) Inca quipus

Question 44

What is the name of the Project established by UNESCO to support linguistic and cultural diversity?

A) Project Speak
B) Project Diversity
C) Project Chantek
D) Project Babel

Question 45

Although non-human primates can use language, the distinction is that they do not cognize symbols.

Question 46

All human cultures require language.

Question 47

All of the languages in Europe belong to the Indo-European family.

Question 48

Hall identified what four categories of proxemically relevant space?

A) intimate, friendly, neutral, aggressive
B) intimate, personal-casual, social consultive, public distance
C) sexual, friendly, casual, alien
D) friendly, passive, unfriendly, aggressive

Question 49

What was the purpose of wampum belts?

A) to designate who would be the next chief
B) to hold up symbolic clothing
C) to give the speaker magic powers
D) to represent important messages

Question 50

All human languages use the same set of sounds.

Question 51

What anatomically allows the characteristic human sound of speech?

A) the compete separation of air and food pipes
B) the raised position of the larynx and epiglottis
C) the lowered position of the larynx and epiglottis
D) the existence of the pharynx

Question 52

Edward Hall pioneered the study of:

A) proxemics
B) kinesics
C) gesture-call system
D) linguistic nationalism

Question 53

A human being has about 50 facial muscles and can make about how many facial expressions?

A) 37
B) 175
C) 4,500
D) 7,000

Question 54

American Sign Language is a fully developed language.

Question 55

Approximately what percentage of human communication takes place nonverbally?

A) 70
B) 60
C) 50
D) 40

Question 56

About 70 percent of the world's languages are:

A) tonal languages
B) paralanguages
C) extinct languages
D) indigenous languages

Question 57

How many adults worldwide cannot read or write?

A) 1 million
B) 8 million
C) 100 million
D) 800 million

Question 58

What is an "eyebrow flash"?

A) a smiley face
B) a signal made with two fingers
C) using one's hands to cover and then reveal the eyes
D) rapid eyebrow movement

Question 59

Phonemes have no meanings by themselves.

Question 60

What do we call the cross-cultural study of human perception and use of space?

A) gesture-call system
B) conversational distance
C) kinesics
D) proxemics

Question 61

The preservation of native languages is essential to the preservation of native cultures.

Question 62

A _______________ is a sound or gesture that has a natural or self-evident meaning.

Question 63

Our use of language reflects the rest of our culture.

Question 64

Ethnolinguistics is part of historical linguistics.

Question 65

Nonverbal signals have the power to undercut verbal ones.

Question 66

The idea that distinctions encoded in one language are unique to that language is called linguistic nationalism.

Question 67

Two-thirds of the nearly 800 million adults worldwide who cannot read or write are women.

Question 68

Edward Sapir and Noam Chomsky pioneered ethnolinguistic research in the 1930s.

Question 69

It takes many years of practice for people to master the muscular movements needed to produce the precise sounds of any particular language.

Question 70

Nearly 800 million adults worldwide cannot read or write.

Question 71

When a language family breaks into subgroups it is called _________________.

Question 72

Every culture has distinctive norms for closeness.

Question 73

Languages acknowledge different aspects of the color spectrum.

Question 74

English is a tonal language.

Question 75

Aymara has more than 200 words for potato.

Question 76

The systematic identification and description of the distinctive sounds of a language is called _______________.

Question 77

The use of the word French word "beignet" in English is an example of _________________________.

Question 78

Routine greetings are similar around the world.

Question 79

Displacement is a part of all communication systems.

Question 80

The smallest unit of sound that carries unattached meaning in a language is called a/an _______________.