Question 1

Language, like culture, is

Accepted Answer

Language is learned from others within a culture, involves symbols (such as words or signs), and is shared among members of a community, making all of the options correct.

Question 2

Which of the following is NOT a reason for anthropological interest in language?

Accepted Answer

C

Question 3

The transfer of information from one person to another is

Accepted Answer

Communication is the correct term for the transfer of information from one person to another, encompassing various forms including language and speech.

Question 4

What is the difference between speech and language?

Accepted Answer

Speech refers to the actual sound of spoken language. Language encompasses a broader system that includes grammar, vocabulary, and syntax, which can be both spoken and written.

Question 5

Human communication can be defined as

Accepted Answer

Human communication is broadly defined as the transfer of information from one person to another. This encompasses a wide range of methods, including verbal and non-verbal communication, written communication, and more, making it a more inclusive definition than the others listed.

Question 6

"Primitive" human languages

Accepted Answer

All human languages, regardless of their historical or cultural background, have complex structures, extensive vocabularies, and are capable of expressing a wide range of ideas and concepts. The notion of "primitive" languages is a misconception; all languages are sophisticated in their own right.

Question 7

Members of a speech community

Accepted Answer

Members of a speech community do not all possess identical knowledge about the language they share because individuals come from different backgrounds, have varying levels of education, and are exposed to different aspects of the language.

Question 8

Which of the following statements about a speech community is true?

Accepted Answer

Speech communities are diverse and dynamic, with members having varying degrees of linguistic knowledge, and the language itself evolving over time. There can be tensions in verbal communication due to differences in usage among members.

Question 9

The design feature of language called "openness" refers to the

Accepted Answer

Openness in language design refers to the ability to create new linguistic messages freely and easily, allowing for the endless creation and understanding of new sentences and expressions.

Question 10

There are few calls in the vocal communication systems of apes, and any particular call is produced only when the animal finds itself in a particular situation. This means that ape vocal communication systems lack the linguistic design feature of

Accepted Answer

Openness in linguistic terms refers to the ability of a language system to create and understand an infinite number of ideas or messages. Since ape vocal communication is limited to specific calls for specific situations and does not allow for the creation of new messages or ideas beyond those situations, it lacks openness.

Question 11

As reported in the text, Terrence Deacon argues that primate call systems

Accepted Answer

Deacon argues that primate call systems do not map onto any of the elements of human symbolic language, highlighting a fundamental difference between how primates communicate and the complex symbolic nature of human language.

Question 12

Nonhuman primates cannot communicate vocally about absent or nonexistent objects or past or future events. Thus, their call systems lack the linguistic design feature of

Accepted Answer

Displacement is the linguistic feature that allows language users to talk about things that are not present in the immediate physical environment, including past and future events or imaginary concepts. Nonhuman primates' vocal communication lacks this feature, as they are generally only able to communicate about things that are directly present or happening in the moment.

Question 13

"Displacement" in language refers to the

Accepted Answer

Displacement in language refers to the capability of language to communicate about things that are not immediately present or are abstract, allowing speakers to refer to past or future events, and objects or ideas that are not physically present.

Question 14

In ape call systems, the link between the sound of a call and its meaning appears to be fixed and under considerable direct biological control. Thus, ape call systems lack the linguistic design feature of

Accepted Answer

The link between the sound of a call and its meaning in ape call systems being fixed and under direct biological control indicates a lack of arbitrariness. In human language, the connection between a word and its meaning is often arbitrary, meaning there is no inherent connection between the sound of the word and its meaning.

Question 15

There is nothing inherent in the nature of a large quadruped well suited for long-distance running that requires us to call this creature a "horse." This illustrates the linguistic design feature of

Accepted Answer

The statement illustrates the concept of arbitrariness in language, which means that there is no inherent connection between the words used to describe something (in this case, a "horse") and the object or concept itself. The choice of the word "horse" to describe a large quadruped well suited for long-distance running is arbitrary and could be different in another language.

Question 16

Human languages are patterned at different levels, and the patterns that characterize one level cannot be reduced to the pattern of any other level. Hockett recognized this phenomenon in which of his linguistic design features?

Accepted Answer

Duality of patterning refers to the characteristic of human language where sounds (at one level) form meaningful elements (words, at another level), and these patterns are distinct and cannot be reduced to one another. This feature highlights the complexity and structured nature of human languages across different levels of organization.

Question 17

The association of linguistic signals with aspects of the social, cultural, and physical world of a speech community is called

Accepted Answer

Semanticity refers to the association of linguistic signals with specific meanings, including aspects of the social, cultural, and physical world of a speech community.

Question 18

Linguistic messages can be false, and they can be meaningless in the logician's sense. This highlights the linguistic design feature of

Accepted Answer

Prevarication refers to the ability to make statements or convey messages that can be false or meaningless, which is a unique feature of human language.

Question 19

Which design feature of language accounts for the ability to lie and to formulate hypotheses?

Accepted Answer

Prevarication is the design feature of language that allows for the possibility of lying and formulating hypotheses, as it refers to the ability to make statements that are not necessarily true or to use language to imagine and discuss situations that are not real or present.

Question 20

The ability of native speakers of a language to distinguish correctly between grammatical and ungrammatical sentences is called

Accepted Answer

Linguistic competence refers to the innate ability of native speakers to recognize the grammatical correctness of sentences in their language, even if they might not be able to explicitly explain the grammatical rules.

Quiz 5: What Is Human Language