Chapter 14: Language and Communication (Connect Assignment)

According to Robin Lakoff, women are more likely to use which of the following?

"Lovely!" "Oh, dear!"

Which of the following is an example of a minimal pair?

"cat" and "hat"

After learning _______________ , Lucy and Washoe tried to teach the skill to others.

American Sign Language

Deborah Tannen, a linguist, has identified some American gender differences in nonverbal communication. What are some of the differences in communication styles she has identified?

American women and girls make direct eye contact, while males tend to stand or sit side by side to talk, avoiding direct eye contact.

How are animal call systems different from human language?

Animal calls are set, instinctive responses to particular stimuli and are based on only a few sounds.

Which of the following statements about language loss is true?

Colonial languages have expanded at the expense of indigenous ones. About 20 percent of the world's remaining language are endangered. The world's linguistic diversity has been cut in half in the past 500 years. Half of all remaining languages are predicted to disappear during this century.

Some linguistic anthropologists study how body language compares in different cultures. Which statement best describes their major findings?

Common movements such as nodding, head shaking, and bowing can mean very different things in different cultural communities.

Which statement best describes the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?

Different languages produce different ways of thinking.

True or false: If two languages are closely related, then their speakers must also be closely related culturally or biologically.

False

True or false: Language is the only kind of communication used by humans.

False

______________ linguistics study how languages over time, and how groups of languages called language families share a common ancient ancestor language.

Historical

Which of the following is NOT true about African American Vernacular English?

It is a grammatical hodgepodge.

In which culture are differences in social status regularly communicated through bowing?

Japan

____________ is the study of body language and gestures to understand nonverbal communication.

Kinesics

Which statement is true regarding language?

Language is a form of communication that must be learned.

What do linguistic anthropologists mean when they say that human language is culturally transmitted?

Language is acquired through teaching and learning.

William Labov did a study of how r was pronounced in New York City department stores. Which of the following statements best describes his findings?

Social class differences were revealed by whether or not the r was pronounced after vowels in words such as "fourth" and "floor."

True or false: Many items of vocabulary in contemporary English come from French.

True

Robin Lakoff, a linguist who has studied American speech patterns, identified some gender differences. Why did she say that women were more likely to say such things as "Oh my goodness!" while men were more likely to curse or swear?

Women's speech reflects women's traditional lesser power in American society.

What is a lexicon?

a list of words and other meaningful units in a language; a dictionary

What is a phoneme?

a minimal sound contrast that differentiates meaning in a language

What is a morpheme?

a minimal unit of meaning

When Washoe the chimp taught American Sign Language (ASL) to her son and when Koko tried to teach her cat to sign, that was an example of a fundamental aspect of human language called

cultural transmission.

Some chimps such as Lucy and Washoe were taught American Sign Language (ASL) to test their language abilities. Which statement best summarizes the human language abilities these primates manifested?

cursing, telling jokes, lying, and teaching language to others

English is considered a Germanic language and belongs to the same language family as German and Dutch. English, German, and Dutch all came from one original ancient parent language. What is the general term for a group of languages that share a common ancestor?

daughter languages

What is the term for a set of related languages that have descended from the same parent language over a period of hundreds or thousands of years?

daughter languages

If you need to study a spoken language that has never been written, and you need to identify all the sounds, meanings, and grammatical rules for that language, which type of linguistics would be most helpful?

descriptive linguistics

When Koko the gorilla was asked to do something that she did not want to do, she would respond by using the sign for "later" to put off doing it. In those instances, Koko was demonstrating a humanlike language ability referred to as

displacement.

When humans talk about things that happened in the past or that are going to happen in the future, they are manifesting a language ability known as

displacement.

Which of the following studies classification systems in various languages, such as kinship terminology or color terminology?

ethnosemantics

How do Brazilians indicate "no"?

finger wagging

Peter is a sailing instructor and frequently uses such terms as jib, tack, tiller, and sheet. His nonsailing friends cannot understand him when he uses such terms. Peter is using

focal vocabulary.

Specialized sets of words and terms that are particularly important to certain groups are known as

focal vocabulary.

Anthropological linguists study

historical linguistics, language and thought, and sociolinguistics.

Identifying someone as "Professor," "Reverend," or "Lady" are all examples of

honorifics

Terms of respect that are sometimes used to convey or imply a status difference between the speaker and the person being referred to or addressed are known as ___________.

honorifics

In a well-known linguistic study in New York City department stores, William Labov analyzed how status differences were revealed in language patterns. Which specific feature did he analyze in the language of employees in these stores?

how rs were pronounced after vowels in words such as "fourth" and "floor."

Which type of linguistic research would historical linguists most likely conduct?

how the English language has changed over the past 1,000 years

What is phonology?

identifying which sounds are important in a language

Humans often use gestures such as enthusiastic "fist pumps" or hanging our heads in shame. What is the term that linguistic anthropologists use to describe this type of communication?

kinesics

I may say the words "I am very excited," but, if I lower my head, slump my shoulders, frown, and close my eyes, I am communicating a complete lack of enthusiasm. The study of the way body posture affects communication is called

kinesics.

_______________ can be spoken or written and is based on learned meanings and symbols.

language

A language's ______ is a dictionary containing all its morphemes and their meanings.

lexicon

Anthropological linguists generally accept the principle that all languages and dialects are equally effective as systems of communication. What is the term used to describe this principle?

linguistic relativity

People tend to evaluate certain dialects as less sophisticated or as more prestigious. In contrast anthropological linguists view all dialects as equally logical and effective means of communication, and they do not rank speech patterns as better or worse. This approach to the study of language by anthropological linguists is known as

linguistic relativity.

The tendency for men using public transportation to open their legs and thus take up more than one place is called

manspreading.

In English, the words "dog" and "hog" resemble each other in all but one sound, but they have completely different meanings. What is the linguistic term used to describe a set of two words, such as these, that can be used to identify phonemes?

minimal pairs

In the word "toaster" there are two units of meaning: "toast" and "-er." What is the general term, used in descriptive linguistics, for these units of meaning?

morpheme

The meanings of spoken language can be changed, enhanced, or even negated by accompanying facial expressions or gestures. What is the general term for this other dimension of human communication?

nonverbal communication

If you hear the words "cat" and "hat" you can hear a single sound difference at the beginning of each of those words, which is important because it makes the two words have different meanings. What is the general term that descriptive linguists use to describe an important sound difference that affects word meanings?

phoneme

What aspects of language are studied in descriptive linguistics?

phonology or sounds, morphology or word form, and syntax or word order

Analyzing the sounds that are important in a language is the part of descriptive linguistics called

phonology.

What do animal call systems lack that human languages have?

productivity and displacement

The ability to combine words and meanings to create new expressions is referred to as

productivity.

When Washoe, a chimp who learned American Sign Language, saw a swan and did not know the sign for it, she combined two signs that she did know to give it the name "waterbird." This feat showed that she had a linguistic ability called

productivity.

Romance languages such as French, Spanish, and Portuguese are related languages that descended from Latin. What is the general term used in historical linguistics to describe a "root" language or ancestor such as Latin?

protolanguage

In historical linguistics, groups of related languages called daughter languages are considered to have developed out of the same parent language. The linguistic term for such a parent language is a

protolanguage.

A language's meaning system is referred to as ______________.

semantics

In Madagascar and Polynesia, people of lower status

should not hold their heads above those of higher-status people.

Some linguists study how factors such as region, social class, ethnicity, or gender influence language. What is the name for this field of linguistics?

sociolinguistics

Which field of linguistics analyzes the ways that language is used in different social contexts?

sociolinguistics

The question of whether nouns usually come before verbs is one of

syntax.

Some linguists have proposed that the grammar of different languages causes different ways of thinking in particular cultures. What name do linguistics use to refer to this idea?

the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Which phrase best describes the major subjects studied in linguistic anthropology?

the history of languages, linguistic differences among cultures, and linguistic diversity related to social differences

What is syntax?

the rules governing word order and the arrangement of words into sentences

According to K. David Harrison, an indigenous language is lost every

two weeks.

Noam Chomsky proposed that the structure of the human brain causes all human languages to be structured similarly. What is the term used to describe this concept?

universal grammar

On colonial sugar plantations in the Caribbean, enslaved people from various African nations who originally spoke many different languages developed new languages called creole languages. These languages, such as Gullah, Haitian creole, and New Orleans creole, share certain rules of syntax and language structure. Chomsky theorizes that these similarities in language structure occur because of the nature of the human brain, and calls this recurring pattern for organizing language

universal grammer

Among African Americans, who is most likely to use African American Vernacular English?

urban youth