Question 1

The study of cultural categories and word meanings is called:

Accepted Answer

Ethnosemantics is the study of how members of a culture understand their own world, focusing specifically on the words and categories they use to do so.

Question 2

Why do Eskimo languages have so many more specific words for types of snow than does English?

Accepted Answer

Eskimo languages have more specific words for types of snow because snow is a crucial part of their environment and daily life, necessitating a more detailed vocabulary to describe its various forms and conditions.

Question 3

The features of a society's language are most directly related to:

Accepted Answer

Language is shaped by both the natural environment and cultural history of a society, reflecting how people interact with their surroundings and each other over time.

Question 4

What are the four characteristics of the human communication system? Briefly define each.

Accepted Answer

The answer of What are the four characteristics of the...

Question 5

Evaluate the communication of honeybees in terms of the four features of the human communication system.

Accepted Answer

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Question 6

What is the evidence that human language has a biological basis?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is the evidence that human language...

Question 7

Why do we say that the word "unbelievable"
is composed of three morphemes? What are they?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Why do we say that the word...

Question 8

Explain why "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously"
sounds like a real, meaningful sentence but "Furiously sleep ideas green colorless"
does not.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Explain why "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously"
sounds...

Question 9

What do we mean when we say human language is referential? Why is this important?

Accepted Answer

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Question 10

What kinds of evidence have been examined to try to determine the time of origin of modern human language? What answer to this question do these suggest?

Accepted Answer

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Question 11

Why have attempts to teach apes to speak human language failed?

Accepted Answer

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Question 12

What is the evidence that apes taught to sign or use symbols on a computer are communicating in a real human language?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is the evidence that apes taught...

Question 13

If apes don't use a humanlike language in the wild, why are we able to teach them to use one?

Accepted Answer

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Question 14

What major type of evidence do we use in trying to classify and reconstruct languages?

Accepted Answer

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Question 15

In English, nouns have no gender. In French, Spanish, and German-among many others-nouns are conceived of as masculine, feminine, or neuter. This is an example of what phenomenon? How would you account for such differences?

Accepted Answer

The answer of In English, nouns have no gender. In...

Question 16

Address the claim that written languages are more advanced that unwritten ones.

Accepted Answer

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Question 17

Under what circumstances does it appear that writing was invented?

Accepted Answer

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Quiz 11: Communication: Sharing What We Need to Know