Anthropology ch 5 study guide

Edward Sapir, who had been a student of Franz Boas's, saw himself as both a cultural anthropologist and a professionally trained linguist. He urged cultural anthropologists to pay close attention to language during field research because

- the "real world" is to a large extent unconsciously built from the language habits of a particular social group - language is a guide to "social reality" - we understand the material world through the language we speak

Which of the following is a feature of language?

- used to communicate - it is systematic - it consists of sounds organized into words according to some sort of grammar

The Canadian government helps preserve the use of French by requiring all official documents to be written in both English and French. The provincial government of the Canadian province of Quebec has implemented further regulations that require that signs have French letters larger than English letters. Why is the size of letters important?

-Symbolically, the size of the letters suggest the importance of the language -The regulations themselves give French Canadians a feeling that they are as important as English speakers, even though they are in the minority -It is impossible to control what language ordinary Canadians use, but they can evaluate and distinguish the size if letters on signs

If Jakob Grimm, who developed what has come to be known as Grimm's law, were analyzing the historical relationships among the so-called dialects of Chinese (such as Cantonese and Mandarin), what data would he be looking for in his linguistic fieldwork?

-how the speakers of each dialect pronounce different words w/ similar meanings in the several dialects

According to anthropologists Sherry Ortner's analysis, the American flag is an example of

A summarizing symbol

The U.S. government's prohibition of Native American children speaking their indigenous languages in Indian schools has contributed most profoundly to

Language death

which of the following features are characteristic of language?

-developed over time -dynamic -flexible

Although all primates use some form of call system, some, such as _______________ and _______________, are known to be capable of more complex communication than a simple call system.

- Chimps (Washo) -Gorillas (Koko)

Anthropologists Sherry Ortner distinguished three kinds of culturally powerful symbols

- Elaborating symbols - Key scenarios - Summarizing symbols

which of the following is a contributing factor to development of creoles, pidgins, and other hybrid forms of language?

- colonialism - globalization - commerce -migration

_______ are words or objects that stand for something else

Signs

Most people are unaware of the structure of a language until someone speaking it makes a mistake. T/F

True

For pastoral groups such as the Dinka and the Nuer, the cow acts as which of the following symbol?

an elaborating symbol

philology

the comparative study of ancient texts and documents

language ideology

widespread assumptions that people make about the relative sophistication and status of particular dialects and languages

Ferdinand de Saussure made a distinction between the formal rules of language ___________ and the ways people speak it __________.

-langue -parole

Creole language

A language of mixed origin that has developed from a complex blending of two parent languages and that exists as a mother tongue for some part of the population

pidgin language

A mixed language with a simplified grammar, typically borrowing its vocabulary from one language but its grammar from another.

Koko and Washo were two primates who had learned

American Sign Language

Words that came from the same ancestral language and originated from the same word are called

Cognate words

The study of how people classify things in the world is called

Ethnoscience

Languages change very slowly, taking generations or even centuries. T/F

False

Most mammals use some form of call system to communicate with others of their species. Dogs and chimpanzees share an additional linguistic characteristic because they can communicate simple combinations of ideas about things they are not currently seeing. T/F

False

_____________ __________ is the idea that people speaking different languages perceive the world differently. (Sapir-Whorf hypothesis)

Linguistics relativity

If you were a linguistic anthropologist interested in language change in smaller American cities, building on William Labov's studies from the 1980's, what method would you use?

Record how younger people, middle-aged people, and senior citizens pronounce ordinary American words.

___________________ is the study of how sociocultural norms and contexts shape language use in society.

Sociolinguistics

Stops

Sounds that are formed by closing off and reopening the oral cavity so that it stops the flow of air through the mouth, such as the consonants p, b, t, d, k, and g.

If Benjamin Whorf were trying to find further proof that grammar shapes the way people perceive the world, what would not be a focus of his research?

The in-depth analysis of the grammars of European languages.

According to Edward Sapir, language is the symbolic guide to culture. T/F

True

America's pattern of gender inequality is built into our linguistic practices. T/F

True

Cognate words

Words in two languages that show the same systematic sound shifts as other words in the two languages, usually interpreted by linguists as evidence for a common linguistic ancestry.

A language of mixed origin that developed from a complex blending of two parent languages is called

a creole

Proto-language

a hypothetical common ancestral language of two or more living languages

talking about sports as a battlefield is an example of

a metaphor

A stoplight is a visual example of which of the following?

a sign

language

a system of communication consisting of sound, words, and grammar

The set of sounds and movements that animals make to communicate is called a ____________.

call system

B/c of the widespread use of mass media today, sociolinguists have found increasing homogeneity in the use of language in the U.S. T/F

false

Countries find it relatively easy to decide what language its citizens will speak T/F

false

the key scenario differs from other kinds of symbols because it

implies how people should act

The use of mock spanish reinforces a common impression that Hispanic people are socially inferior. This is an example of the power of which of the following?

language ideology

If you studied speech patterns such as those analyzed in Robin Lakoff's study of gendered speech, you might find that "talking like a lady"

marginalizes women's voices in work contexts

Words that differ by only one single sound contrast, like in the case of "ban," "man", and "pan" are called ____________ pairs.

minimal

How words fit together to make meaningful units is called

morphology

The study of grammatical categories, such as tense and word order, is called

morphology

Syntax

pattern of word order used to form sentences and longer utterances in a language

The approach that compares ancient texts and documents to analyze long-term linguistic change is called ____________.

philology

______________ refers to the structure of speech sounds

phonology

Linguists refer to mixed languages with a simplified grammar that people rarely learn as a mother tongue as

pidgin languages

Brent Berlin and Paul Kay found that if a language had only three color terms, the would always be black (dark), white (light) and _________.

red

On the island of Java in Indonesia, nearly every sentence marks a person's __________ ___________ between speaker and listener

social status

linguistic relativity

the idea that people speaking different languages perceive or interpret the world differently because of differences in their languages

Phonology

the systematic pattern of sounds in a language, also known as the language's sound system

Although language is one of the most rule-bond aspects of human culture, it is also one of the least conscious. T/F

true

Elaboration symbols and summarizing symbols work in opposite ways T/F

true

If you were conduction a symbolic analysis of TV programs and wanted to identify a key scenario such as the Horatio Alger myth, what would you focus on?

Plots that are repeated in many of the programs that American viewers interpret as commonplace social experiences.

Animal call systems are

only able to communicate in response to real world stimuli

When anthropologists study the way people use language in real settings rather that as a set of grammatical rules, they are focusing on

parole

when language speakers use slang or metaphor, they are engaging in which concept suggested by French linguist Ferdinand de Saussure?

parole

Call system

patterned sounds or utterances that express meaning

Morphology

the structure of words and word formation in a language

Ethnoscience

the study of how people classify things in the world, usually by considering some range or set of meanings

Sociolinguistics

the study of how sociocultural context and norms shape language use and the effects of language use on society

descriptive linguistics

the systematic analysis and description of a language's sound system and grammar

In evolutionary terms humans are distinct from others primates with respect to their ability to use language b/c

we can speak using a larynx