Deck 15: Language and Communication

Question 1

The central and most highly developed human system of communication is:

A)kinesics.
B)proxemics.
C)body language.
D)pheromones.
E)language.

Answer 1

language.

Question 2

Which of the following statements is not an example of linguistic nationalism?

A)You are a Spanish-speaking person in the U.S. ,but want your children to use English so they will fit in more easily with the surrounding society.
B)A national committee in France declares that certain widely used terms will no longer be allowed to appear in public print because they are not French.
C)You live in Scotland and are so alarmed by the rapid decline in the number of people speaking Gaelic that you start a school in which all subjects are taught in Gaelic.
D)The southern part of India declares itself a separate country called Tamiland (the land of the people who speak Tamil)in defiance of India's declaration of Hindi as the national language
E)A country previously colonized by the British passes a law requiring everyone to speak the native tongue;English is banned because of its association with colonial domination.

Answer 2

You are a Spanish-speaking person in the U.S. ,but want your children to use English so they will fit in more easily with the surrounding society.

Question 3

The development of different languages from a single ancestral language is called:

A)descriptive linguistics.
B)historical linguistics.
C)language subgroups.
D)linguistic divergence.
E)linguistic nationalism.

Answer 3

linguistic divergence.

Question 4

A language family is a group of languages:

A)that all have the same core vocabulary.
B)that are subordinate to a dominant language.
C)that all have the same syntax.
D)that use the same number of sounds.
E)that are descended from a single ancestral language.

Question 5

The entire formal structure of a language consisting of all observations about its meaningful units of sounds and the rules or principles of making phrases and sentences is called its:

A)syntax.
B)form classes.
C)morphology.
D)phonology.
E)grammar.

Question 6

What are the long-term goals of the Chantek Project?

A)To free all primates from zoos and labs and return them to the wild
B)For Chantek and other enculturated apes to live in culture-based preserves instead of zoos or research centers.
C)To teach all primates how to use American Sign Language
D)To begin teaching primates how to write
E)To work with Chantek so that they can collect and write down original gorilla language

Question 7

Which of the following is not a signal?

A)Coughs from cold
B)Winking from pleasure
C)Screams from fear
D)Crying from sadness
E)Sneezing from sickness

Question 8

Professor Greymorning worked on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming to help revitalize which Native American language?

A)Nez Perce
B)Blackfoot
C)Arapaho
D)Zuni
E)Assiniboine

Question 9

As a way of revitalizing Arapaho,Professor Greymorning did all of the following except:

A)developed an Arapaho-only university.
B)translated a new dictionary of Arapaho.
C)translated the Disney film Bambi into Arapaho.
D)developed a new methodology of language acquisition.
E)modeled teaching Arapaho through new methodology.

Question 10

The roots of linguistics,the modern scientific study of language,go back a long way to the works of ancient grammarians in__________________,more than 2,000 years ago.

A)South Asia
B)Central Asia
C)North Africa
D)Australia
E)Scandinavia

Question 11

Which of the following statements about the English language is incorrect?

A)English belongs to the Indo-European language family.
B)English belongs to the Germanic language subgroup.
C)English is one of the many languages that diverged from an ancient unified language called Proto-Indo- European.
D)English is a "daughter" language.
E)English has historically suffered a narrowing and loss of meaning.

Question 12

The systematic identification and description of distinctive speech sounds in a language is called:

A)grammar.
B)morphology.
C)linguistics.
D)phonetics.
E)phonemes.

Question 13

Chantek is a(n):

A)orangutan.
B)gorilla.
C)bonobo.
D)chimpanzee.
E)gibbon.

Question 14

Approximately how many languages are spoken today?

A)12,000
B)10,000
C)6,000
D)3,000
E)1,750

Question 15

A system of communication using sounds,gestures,or marks that are put together in meaningful ways according to a set of share rules is called a(n):

A)signal set.
B)language.
C)code.
D)linguistic system.
E)analogue.

Question 16

Chantek was able to do all of the following except:

A)use deception.
B)create complex meanings.
C)communicate through verbal words.
D)use displaced reference.
E)use code switching.

Question 17

Which of the following would be an acceptable research topic in the field of historical linguistics?

A)Whether or not the speakers of Apache and Navajo once spoke a common language
B)Whether or not Apache and Navajo speakers use the same body language to signal gender differences
C)Whether or not Apache and Navajo speakers organize their languages using the same syntactical structures
D)All the features of a given language as it is spoken at a particular point in time
E)Frame substitution to investigate the syntax of a particular language

Question 18

Phonology is the:

A)modern scientific study of all aspects of language.
B)systematic identification and description of distinctive speech sounds in a language.
C)study of language sounds.
D)study of the patterns and rules by which words are arranged.
E)the entire formal structure of a language,including morphology and syntax.

Question 19

While the phonologist is making an inventory of permissible sounds in a language,the__________________is deciphering the groups or combinations of sounds that have meaning,or that are actually used to convey information.

A)phoneticist
B)morphologist
C)grammaticist
D)glottochronologist
E)consultant

Question 20

When countries react to a real or perceived threat of foreign cultural dominance by purging foreign words from the language,it is an example of:

A)cultural conservatism.
B)linguistic ethnocentrism.
C)linguistic parochialism.
D)linguistic nationalism.
E)ethnolinguistics.

Question 21

Native speakers of the Lakota language were amused when they saw the movie Dances with Wolves because the:

A)writers got it all wrong.
B)language did not fit the people group.
C)language was all male oriented.
D)language was all female oriented.
E)language was all spoken as if the actors were children.

Question 22

A Scottish butler in an English mansion says to the lady of the house,"You may wish to stay inside today,Madam;it's quite cold outside." But when he goes back to his own cottage he is likely to say to his wife in broad Scots,"Shut the door and get inside,Maggie,you'll freeze your buns off." In linguistics,this is an example of:

A)code switching.
B)class consciousness.
C)glottochronology.
D)phonological analysis.
E)linguistic nationalism.

Question 23

The influence of a person's class status on what pronunciation he/she uses,a speaker's choice of more complicated vocabulary and grammar when he/she is speaking to a professional audience,and the influence of language on culture are all concerns of:

A)descriptive linguistics.
B)historical linguistics.
C)sociolinguistics.
D)linguistic nationalism.
E)displacement.

Question 24

A series of symbols representing sounds of a language arranged in a traditional order is called a(n):

A)language.
B)dialect.
C)tonal language.
D)gesture.
E)alphabet.

Question 25

The number of mobile cellular users worldwide in early 2016 is nearly:

A)1.5 billion.
B)2.4 billion.
C)5.7 billion.
D)700 million.
E)3.8 billion.

Question 26

Which of the following are of greatest importance in human speech?

A)Mouth palate and trachea
B)Epiglottis and mouth palate
C)Trachea and larynx
D)Epiglottis and trachea
E)Larynx and epiglottis

Question 27

Which of the following statements about kinesics is correct?

A)Kinesics refers to the system of extralinguistic noises that accompany spoken language.
B)Kinesics research has demonstrated that gender signals communicated through posture are biologically based rather than learned.
C)Cross-cultural research indicates that the body language used when people are greeting each other is similar all over the world.
D)All cultures have the same gestures for "yes" and "no."
E)Anthropologists paid more attention to nonverbal communication prior to the 1950s.

Question 28

Paralanguage includes not only the way that people say things but also a variety of extralinguistic noises called:

A)phonemes.
B)kinesics.
C)vocalizations.
D)substitution frames.
E)syntax.

Question 29

A language in which the sound pitch of a spoken word is an essential part of its pronunciation and meaning is called a:

A)paralinguistic language.
B)tonal language.
C)linguistic subfamily.
D)dialect.
E)displacement.

Question 30

__________________ is the cross-cultural study of humankind's perception and use of space.

A)Kinesics
B)Phonetics
C)Proxemics
D)Syntax
E)Ethnology

Question 31

Humankind's repertoire of body language is enormous.We are capable of making more than__________________facial expressions.

A)1,500
B)10,000
C)7,000
D)4,000
E)3,500

Question 32

The term__________________is usually used to refer to varying forms of a language that reflect particular regions or social classes and that are similar enough to be mutually intelligible.

A)dialect
B)language subgroup
C)language family
D)accent
E)regionalism

Question 33

Approximately how many adults worldwide cannot read or write?

A)93 million
B)250 million
C)300 million
D)775 million
E)1 billion

Question 34

Edward Hall designated four categories of proxemically relevant spaces.Which of the following is incorrect?

A)Intimate (0-18 inches)
B)Social-consultative (4-12 feet)
C)Conventional (7-10 feet)
D)Public distance (12 feet and beyond)
E)Personal-casual (1.5‐4 feet)

Question 35

The American anthropologist Edward Sapir and his student,Benjamin Whorf,drawing on his experience with the language of the Hopi Indians,developed a full-fledged theory now known as the theory of:

A)cultural relativity.
B)linguistic relativity.
C)code switching.
D)linguistic nationalism.
E)phenomenology.

Question 36

In the 1930s and '40s,Edward__________________Sapir and__________________investigated the idea that language,by providing habitual grooves of expression,predisposes people to see the world in a certain way.

A)Leslie White
B)Franz Boas
C)Benjamin Lee Whorf
D)Peter Woolfson
E)Bill Haviland

Question 37

Most of the alphabets in use today descended from the:

A)Egyptians.
B)Greeks.
C)Phoenicians.
D)Romans.
E)Anglo Saxons.

Question 38

Which of the following is a traditional telecommunication system?

A)Whispered speech
B)Hummed speech
C)Danced talk
D)Cried speech
E)Whistled speech

Question 39

Although language may be studied as an independent system,it is also important to look at in terms of what it tells us about society and culture.Whatever its phonemes,syntax,and history,language is a dynamic,adaptive system that facilitates the speaker's survival and gives clues about what is significant in his/her life.When we focus on the relationship between language and culture of those who speak it and how they inform each other,we are doing:

A)ethnolinguistics.
B)descriptive linguistics.
C)historical linguistics.
D)glottochronology.
E)frame substitution.

Question 40

Displacement refers to the concept of being able to refer to things that are:

A)not there.
B)visibly there.
C)in the process of being moved.
D)both symbolic and realistic.
E)arbitrary and changing.

Question 41

The mobile phone is a fast method of communicating,even in remote rural areas of the world.

Question 42

Over the past 500 years,about half of the world's 12,000 languages have become extinct.

Question 43

Edward Sapir is the first anthropologist to do research in proxemics.

Question 44

Linguistic nationalism refers to the establishment of a nation where everyone speaks only one language.

Question 45

Lakota is a language that uses gendered speech.

Question 46

Arapaho is a Native American indigenous language.

Question 47

Code switching refers to the tendency of people who speak more than one language to confuse which language they are currently speaking in as they converse with others.

Question 48

Humans are programmed for language.

Question 49

Anthropologists predict that by the year 2100,there will only be about 100 languages in the world.

Question 50

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

Question 51

The earliest known alphabet was Egyptian hieroglyphics about 5,000 years ago.

Question 52

Chantek was a gorilla who learned American Sign Language.

Question 53

Ethnolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and the cultural setting in which it is used.

Question 54

Descriptive linguistics of the analysis of a language and its component parts.

Question 55

Anthropologists believe there is a cultural value in preserving languages.

Question 56

Passive bilingualism is when someone comprehends more than one language but is only able to express him/herself in one of them.

Question 57

All languages recognize a stable set of colors.

Question 58

English is a tonal language.

Question 59

The study of language sounds is grammar.

Question 60

The study of nonverbal signals is called proxemics.

Question 61

Define language.

Question 62

What is the relationship between culture and linguistic nationalism?

Question 63

What is code switching? Give an example from your own life to illustrate this concept.

Question 64

What is a signal,and how is it used in language?

Question 65

Is English a tonal language? Describe why or why not.

Question 66

Give two examples of nonverbal communication.

Question 67

Why is telecommunication important in our world today?

Question 68

Describe two different types of traditional telecommunication.

Question 69

When did Europeans begin to study language?

Question 70

Why is it important to preserve the Arapaho language?

Question 71

What does the Chantek Project illustrate about language?

Question 72

What is the role of biology in human speech?

Question 73

What is ethnolinguistics?

Question 74

Describe each of the components of language.

Question 75

How was anthropological linguistics applied to language development among the Arapaho?

Question 76

Why do anthropologists study language?

Question 77

What is the origin of the alphabet?

Question 78

Describe the origin and meaning of linguistic relativity.

Question 79

What is proxemics?

Question 80

Define sociolinguistics,and give an example of this specialty.