Deck 4: Communication

Question 1

The International Phonetic Alphabet is a means of:

A)Writing all of the sounds of all human languages.
B)Teaching children to read at very early ages.
C)Communicating between people who speak different languages.
D)Translating easily among European languages.
E)Preserving languages threatened with extinction.

Answer 1

Writing all of the sounds of all human languages.

Question 2

Human children appear to be programmed to learn language instinctively before the age of:

A)6 months.
B)3 years.
C)6 years.
D)12 years.
E)21 years.

Answer 2

6 years.

Question 3

When we say that human language is "conventional," we mean that:

A)Humans are very conservative and rarely change their way of speaking.
B)The words in human languages have no inherent relationship to the things they stand for.
C)All languages follow the same grammatical rules or conventions.
D)Human language was invented at a convention.
E)All human languages have basically the same structure and differences among them are only superficial.

Answer 3

The words in human languages have no inherent relationship to the things they stand for.

Question 4

A linguistic capacity to describe things that are not present is called:

A)Conventionality.
B)Displacement.
C)Productivity.
D)Openness.
E)Communication.

Question 5

In linguistic studies,phonemes are:

A)Used to call other linguists.
B)The set of all possible sounds that humans can make.
C)The set of sounds used in any particular language.
D)Never used to make words.
E)The same in every language.

Question 6

Studies of the ways in which children learn language show that:

A)A language must be consciously taught;otherwise a child will not learn it.
B)Children in different societies learn to speak their native languages at different ages because some languages are harder to learn than others.
C)Formal education is required for a child to learn to speak his or her native language grammatically.
D)Human beings have an inborn predisposition for learning language and will speak grammatically even if not taught to do so.
E)Boys learn to speak much earlier than girls.

Question 7

Many linguists argue that there is a universal grammar.This is:

A)A set of words that means the same thing in every language.
B)A set of principles,conditions,and rules that underlie all languages.
C)A single word order in which different parts of speech must appear in all languages.
D)A simple way of speaking that can be understood by everyone all over the world.
E)An alphabet in which all languages and the sounds that make them up can be written.

Question 8

Bound morphemes differ from free morphemes in which of the following ways?

A)The former have strictly one meaning,the latter have more than one meaning.
B)The former occur either in nouns or in verbs but never in both,while the latter may occur in both.
C)The former never stand alone as complete words;the latter do.
D)The former can be pronounced only one way,while the latter may have more than one pronunciation.
E)The former exist in all human languages;the latter exist in English only.

Question 9

The relationship between language and culture is illustrated by the fact that:

A)All languages have the same number of words.
B)The most complex societies have the most complex languages.
C)The vocabulary of a language emphasizes those features of the environment that are culturally most significant.
D)All languages contain words for all aspects of the physical environment.
E)Some words are the same in all cultures.

Question 10

Animal forms of verbal communication are called:

A)Response systems.
B)Animal vocal communication systems.
C)Call systems.
D)Stimulus-generated systems.
E)Stimulus-response systems.

Question 11

Which of the following statements is incorrect?

A)Human speech must be learned through a speech community.
B)There is a critical period in which language acquisition must occur in humans.
C)Children raised in isolation are never able to fully overcome this language disability.
D)Children begin experimenting with actual language sounds by the age of 6 months.
E)There is some limited biological basis for learning one language over another.

Question 12

The English word "cats" has how many morphemes?

A)4 morphemes: c-a-t-s.
B)2 morphemes: cat-s.
C)No morphemes.
D)1 morpheme: cat.
E)3 morphemes: ca-t-s.

Question 13

Human speech is infinitely productive.This means that:

A)Humans can combine words into new,meaningful utterances that they have never heard before.
B)Human beings never become tired of talking.
C)The more human beings talk,the more productive they are economically.
D)Every normal adult can produce an infinite number of sounds.
E)Human speech is always directed toward some productive purpose.

Question 14

When researchers tried to teach human language to chimpanzees and gorillas,they found that:

A)These animals were incapable of using language in ways that resembled those used by human beings.
B)While these animals were able to master the use of verbs,they were unable to produce new words.
C)There was very little difference between the linguistic capacities of humans and our nearest primate relations.
D)Language skills were never masterfully demonstrated in the chimpanzees or gorillas.
E)Language soon became as essential to the trained chimpanzees and gorillas as it is to humans.

Question 15

In English,bit and pit have different meanings.Thus,/b/ and /p/ are:

A)Words.
B)Sounds.
C)Morphemes.
D)Structures.
E)Phonemes.

Question 16

"The dog food under the table he fed" has what kind of error?

A)Lexicon.
B)Semantics.
C)Morphemes.
D)Phonemes.
E)Syntax.

Question 17

When anthropologists examine language across different cultures,they find that:

A)Children learn to speak very early when the culture has written language.
B)Children learn to speak early when mothers and babies interact a lot.
C)Children speak in the same way in all cultures regardless of different languages.
D)Children learn to speak at the same time in all cultures and with equal competence.
E)Children raised with their mothers speak better than children raised with other relatives.

Question 18

Charles Hockett argues that the following two steps were critical in the evolution of human language:

A)Productivity and displacement.
B)Displacement and blending.
C)Blending and dual structure.
D)Blending and duality of patterning.
E)Duality of pattern and productivity.

Question 19

Which of the following is not a subsystem of language?

A)Symbology.
B)Phonology.
C)Morphology.
D)Syntax.
E)Semantics.

Question 20

When learning language,the human instinct is to:

A)Learn the language your father speaks.
B)Learn the language your mother speaks.
C)Learn the language of the group in which you are socialized.
D)Humans do not have an instinct to learn language.
E)Learn as many languages as possible.

Question 21

Which of the following is the most noticeable object of linguistic change?

A)Vocabulary.
B)Morphology.
C)Syntax.
D)Kinesics.
E)Proxemics.

Question 22

Sociolinguistics is helpful to anthropologists in understanding culture because:

A)People's speech varies depending on their position in a social structure or social relationship.
B)Speech is a constant,while social structure is variable.
C)Speech is always consistent within a social group.
D)The ways in which people speak determine their position in the social structure.
E)The distribution of irregular verbs can indicate the relative importance of different actions in a cultural system

Question 23

Which of the following statements about language and culture in the United States is incorrect?

A)Simply sharing the same language is not sufficient for effective communication.
B)As of 2011,31 states have enacted legislation to make English their state's official language.
C)English is the national language of the United States.
D)In 2007,it was calculated that about 1 in every 8 U.S.residents was an immigrant.
E)The U.S.has increasingly become a multilingual society.

Question 24

An important method comparative linguists use to draw conclusions about the relationship between two languages is:

A)Determining the amount of core vocabulary they share.
B)Establishing the biological relationship between the speakers of the languages.
C)Showing that the linguistic style of one group diffused to members of the other.
D)Examining the degree of intracultural variation in the languages.
E)Determining if they share complex and unusual words not found in other languages.

Question 25

Linguists view African American Vernacular English (AAVE)as:

A)Inferior to Standard Spoken American English (SSAE).
B)Neither superior nor inferior to SSAE.
C)More complicated but less abstract than SSAE.
D)Simpler than SSAE but more abstract.
E)Linguists do not recognize the existence of AAVE.

Question 26

One aspect of language that appears to contradict the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is that human languages are similar in that:

A)They are all created by humans.
B)There are only so many ways that humans can interpret the world around them.
C)Anything that can be said in one language can be translated into every other human language.
D)They are only so many words that can be invented in a language.
E)Every language uses the same set of sounds.

Question 27

A study of speech norms in the United States indicated that:

A)Social class has no effect on speech patterns.
B)Each social class has only one norm regarding pronunciation.
C)Variation of speech patterns is most characteristic of upwardly mobile social classes.
D)The lowest classes make the most effort to impress others by using different speech forms in different situations.
E)Studies of linguistic variation make no real contribution to understanding social class differences.

Question 28

Haptics refers to:

A)The study and analysis of touch.
B)The variation in musical taste among cultures.
C)The methods linguists use to describe phonemes.
D)The study of this history of linguistic change.
E)Any fieldwork in linguistic anthropology

Question 29

According to Ferdinand de Saussure,language can best be separated into language (langue)and speech (parole).The difference between these two things is best described as:

A)Language is written and speech is spoken.
B)Language is an arbitrary and abstract system of signs that exists independently of any speaker,speech is the actual performance of language by an individual speaker.
C)Language is the actual performance of speech by an individual speaker,while speech is an arbitrary and abstract system of signs that exists independently of any speaker.
D)Language is formal and proper;speech is often slang.
E)Language does not exist if speech does not occur.

Question 30

Researchers who study interpersonal space generally refer to three different ranges of space.They are:

A)Friendly distance,antagonistic space,neutral space.
B)Intimate distance,personal distance,and social distance.
C)Built space,social distance,and personal distance.
D)City space,peri-urban space,and rural space.
E)Fixed space,negotiated distance,and individual space.

Question 31

Which of the following best characterizes the cross-cultural meaning of smiling?

A)A smile always means that people are happy.
B)Smiling is a reasonably good indicator of happiness or nonviolent intent.
C)In most cultures,people smile just before they kill.
D)The meaning of a smile varies from culture to culture.
E)Americans are virtually unique in equating smiling with happiness.

Question 32

Anthropologists Heather Horst and Daniel Miller studied high levels of cell phone use among Jamaicans in two different communities.Which of the following statements best illustrates why Jamaicans use cell phones so regularly?

A)They are used to engage in long casual conversations about daily life.
B)They are used primarily to create social networks and request needed resources.
C)They are used as emergency technology in case the individual is in any kind of danger.
D)They are used primarily among young people who are dating via cell phone.
E)They are used to order groceries and supplies on a daily basis.

Question 33

Which of the following is an example of code-switching?

A)Conversations in which people try to avoid committing themselves to any specific position or course of action.
B)Conversations in which people attempt to offer a particular deal or advantage without specifying exactly what it is.
C)Conversations in which people try to let some people know that they are lying to other people.
D)Conversations in which,even after repeated attempts,people fail to understand each other.
E)Conversations in which people talk to some people in one language while talking to others in a different language.

Question 34

A Tuareg man wears his veil at different positions on his face in different social situations.This is an example of:

A)Universal grammar.
B)Nonverbal communication.
C)The universal relationship between language and action.
D)The genetic patterning of behavior.
E)Bad manners.

Question 35

A fundamental principle of language is that:

A)The more phonemes a language has,the more different ideas can be expressed in it.
B)The more material goods a culture has,the more talkative its members will be.
C)Oppressed groups rarely contribute words to the language of their oppressors.
D)Language always reflects the history of those who use it.
E)The more primitive a culture,the more likely its members are to be dependent on senses such as smell and hearing rather than language.

Question 36

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that:

A)The best way to study language is with subjects in a laboratory.
B)The vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers perceive reality.
C)The ability to use language determines an individual's intelligence.
D)Formal education increases vocabulary.
E)There is no connection between language and other aspects of culture.

Question 37

A dialect is:

A)A language that contains fewer than 1,500 words.
B)Language that is used in informal social settings.
C)Language that is used by less powerful groups in society.
D)Speech that consciously breaks the grammatical rules of language.
E)A language that does not have a logical system of grammar.

Question 38

Your investigation of two different languages reveals that their basic vocabularies differ by 28 percent.Using Glottochronology,you determine that some historical event caused the groups speaking these languages to separate:

A)500 years ago.
B)1000 years ago.
C)1500 years ago.
D)2000 years ago.
E)Insufficient information to answer question.

Question 39

All of the following are reasons why language is being lost today in such great numbers except:

A)Nation-states often try to suppress linguistic diversity.
B)Global trade favors more populous languages from more wealthy nations.
C)Linguistic minorities are increasingly working to teach their languages to their children.
D)It is more profitable and advantageous to speak languages that are numerically superior.
E)A vast majority of media is conducted in a few languages.

Question 40

A Pidgin is:

A)A language of contact and trade that includes a mixture of other languages.
B)A language that can be taught to parrots and other non-human animals.
C)A language made by blending of other,earlier languages.
D)The language of lower class or oppressed groups in a society.
E)The language dialect speakers use when conversing with speakers of the standard version of a language.

Question 41

If a person speaks a more "proper" form of English (such as SSAE instead of AAVE),then their thought process will become more complex and rational.

Question 42

There is one language spoken by the majority of the world's people.

Question 43

The core vocabulary is a list of words which designate things,actions,and activities likely to be named in all the world's languages.

Question 44

In some cultures,the speech form used depends on the relative social status of the individuals speaking.

Question 45

The study of the social use of space is called kinesics.

Question 46

The vocabulary of a language reflects the culture of the people who speak it.

Question 47

Some languages do not have syntactic structure.

Question 48

In more than one half of the states of the U.S. ,English has been designated as the official state language.

Question 49

The ability of humans to use language depends partially on the linkage between the visual and auditory areas of the brain.

Question 50

All children,regardless of culture,go through the same stages and sequence for language learning.

Question 51

Even though biologically capable of capable of making the sounds of human language,no chimp has ever produced voluntary speech-like verbalization.

Question 52

Communication among nonhuman animals can be as complex as human language.

Question 53

Each language has its own set of phonemes.

Question 54

Even a child brought up in isolation will automatically be able to speak the language of his or her parents.

Question 55

Most of the Jamaican cell phone users studied by Horst and Miller only gave gifts to return earlier favors.

Question 56

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis argues that because the human brain is similar regardless of cultures,then all language is similar as well.

Question 57

The actual performance of a language by an individual speaker (parole)is arbitrary and abstract.

Question 58

All the sounds used in the different languages of the world can be represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Question 59

Wearing clothes with designer labels on them can be considered a form of nonverbal communication.

Question 60

When a language is lost,so also are many important cultural elements.

Question 61

What is code switching?

Question 62

How does Ferdinand de Saussure distinguish between language and speech,and why is this important for anthropologists?

Question 63

How can linguists determine the age of a language?

Question 64

Why is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis significant to linguistic studies?

Question 65

According to Keith Basso,why do Apache Indians find white speech so offensive?

Question 66

What are the four components of any language?

Question 67

Describe the goals of U.S.English,Inc.

Question 68

How do linguists define a "word"?

Question 69

What did anthropologists Horst and Miller find to be the primary uses of cell phones among Jamaicans?

Question 70

What is AAVE,and how is it related to social stratification?

Question 71

What is chronemics?

Question 72

What is the "language instinct"?

Question 73

What are the three things that make human language unique?

Question 74

Define sociolinguistics and give an example of it.

Question 75

What arguments are there against the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis? Why is this approach not accepted by every linguist today?

Question 76

Some global forces do not lead toward linguistic homogenization.What two factors today do not show linguistic homogenization?

Question 77

What success did Dr.Sue Savage-Rumbaugh have in teaching sign language to the bonobo chimpanzee Kanzi?

Question 78

What is the importance of a speech community for a human child?

Question 79

The study of the cultural use of interpersonal space is called _________.

Question 80

What is an allophone?