Language and Communication

There are approximately ______ different languages that currently exist across the globe.

7,000

Tonal Languages

About 70 percent of the world's languages are tonal languages in which the distinctive sound pitches of spoken words are not only an essential part of their pronunciation but also key to their meaning: Mandarin Chinese is an example of a tonal language. English is non-tonal.

Gesture-Call System (Nonverbal Communication)

All languages are insufficient in communicating certain kinds of information that people need to know in order to fully understand what is being said: Human language is embedded within a gesture-call system similar to that which we share with nonhuman primates. The gesture-call system consists of body language and paralanguage. The gesture component of the gesture-call system consists of facial expressions and bodily postures and motions that convey intended and subconscious messages: 1. The method for notating and analyzing this body language is known as kinesics. 2. The cross-cultural study of humankind's perception and use of space is called proxemics.

linguistic relativity

Ethnolinguists may investigate how a language reflects the culturally significant aspects of a people's traditional natural environment; this is known as linguistic relativity. example: Aymara Indians- Potato = Their language has over 200 words for this vegetable, reflecting the many varieties they traditionally grow and the many different ways they preserve and prepare it.

Linguistic nationalism is an attempt to dominate one culture over another by incorporating foreign terms into the existing language.

False

Linguistics is the non scientific study of all aspects of human language.

False

Paralanguage is an aspect of the human communication gesture-call system.

False

English and American English are included in which Proto-Indo-European language family?

Germanic

Historical linguistics

Investigates relationships between earlier and later forms of the same language. Historical linguistics is the study of how languages change over time including: 1. deciphering "dead" languages 2. investigating relationships between earlier and later forms of the same language 3. studying older languages to track the processes of change into modern ones 4. examining interrelationships among older languages

sociolinguists

Language in relation to social and cultural settings Sociolinguistics is the study of the relationship between language and society through examining how social categories influence the use and interpretation of distinctive styles of speech. Sociolinguistics focuses on language and gender issues and social dialects. Study of the relationship between language and society

How do you define language?

Language is a system of communication using symbolic sounds, gestures, or marksthat are put together according to certain rules, resulting in meanings that are intelligible to all who share that language. Language involves symbols. Through language, people in every society are able to share their experiences, concerns, and beliefs and to communicate these to the next generation

The smallest unit of sound which carries meaning is called:

Morpheme

Origins of Language

Neandertals had the neurological and anatomical features necessary for speech, but because the biological apparatus for language is soft tissue, it is not preserved in the fossil record.

Can we communicate without language?

Of course! In fact, a majority of human communication takes place without language. However, language and its diverse ways of communication provide a very human way to convey information. Example is a women utilizing whistled speech

a majority of human communication takes place without language. However, language and its diverse ways of communication provide a very human way to convey information. Example: a women utilizing whistled speech

True

Key features of Descriptive linguistic study include ______.

all of the above

Many new words and expressions have been added to the English dictionary in recent years as a result of ____.

all of the above

All of the following are approaches that linguistic anthropologists may take except:

analyzing which languages are superior

Signals

are instinctive sounds or gestures that have a natural or self-evident meaning.

Symbols

are signs that are arbitrarily linked to something else and represent it in a meaningful way.

Morphemes

are the smallest units of sound that carry a meaning in a language.

Phonemes

are the smallest units of sound.

Dialects

are varying forms of a language that reflect particular regions, occupations, or social classes and that are similar enough to be mutually intelligible.

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis states that _______ .

each language provides particular linguistic expressions that predispose speakers of that language to perceive the world in a certain way

Which of the following are key areas of Historical linguistic study?

examining interrelationships among older languages

Descriptive linguistics

explains the features of a language at a particular time in its history. In descriptive linguistics the language itself is unraveled by recording, describing, and analyzing all of its features.This involves training in phonology, morphology, syntax, and grammar in order to understand the component parts of a language.

Paralanguage

involves specific voice effects that accompany speech and contribute to communication: These include vocalizations such as giggling, groaning, or sighing, as well as voice qualities such as volume, intensity, pitch and tempo.

language family

is a group of languages descended from a single ancestral language.

Writing System

is a set of visible or tactile signs used to represent units of language in a systematic way: Symbols carved into 8600-year-old tortoise shells discovered in China may represent the earliest evidence of elementary writing. Fully-developed writing systems, Egyptian hieroglyphics and cuneiform, developed about 5,000 years ago.

Whistled speech

is an exchange of whistled words using a phonetic emulation of the sounds produced in spoken voice: It is endangered today.

Linguistic nationalism

is the attempt by ethnic minorities and even countries to proclaim independence by purging their language of foreign terms. The most powerful force for linguistic change is the domination of one society over another, as demonstrated during 500 years of European colonialism.

Linguistic divergence

is the development of different languages from a single ancestral language. The most powerful force for linguistic change is the domination of one society over another, as demonstrated during 500 years of European colonialism.

Grammar

is the entire formal structure of a language, consisting of all observations about the morphemes and syntax of a language.

Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

is the idea that each language provides particular grooves of linguistic expression that predispose speakers of that language to perceive the world in a certain way: BASED ON research conducted on Hopi by Edward Sapir and student Benjamin Lee Whorf during the 1930s

Linguistics

is the modern scientific study of all aspects of language and it has three branches: Descriptive linguistics Historical linguistics sociolinguists / ethnolinguistics

Syntax

is the patterns or rules for the formation of phrases and sentences in a language.

Phonology

is the study of language sounds.

Morphology

is the study of the patterns or rules of word formation in a language.

Ethnolinguistics

is the study of the relationships between language and culture, and how they influence and inform each other. Ethnolinguists may investigate how a language reflects the culturally significant aspects of a people's traditional natural environment; this is known as linguistic relativity.

Phonetics

is the systematic identification and description of distinctive speech sounds in a language.

Which of the following is not a focus of sociolinguistic study?

language relativity

Which of the following is not a form of human communication?

none of the above

Displacement

occurs when referring to things and events removed in time and space: While this is unique to human language, both humans and apes are capable of displacement.

Gendered speech

refers to distinct male and female speech patterns which vary across social and cultural settings: One of the first in-depth studies (1970) asserted that neither language nor gender can be studied independently of the socially-constructed communities in which we live.

Which of the following is a morpheme?

s, cow, ed

Siberia is at a _______ threat level for the extinction of a number of indigenous languages.

severe

ethnolinguists

study language as it relates to society and culture. investigates how a language reflects the culturally-significant aspects of a people's traditional natural environment

Which of the following does not reflect a language dialect?

tonal language

"Bit and pit" are examples of a________.

Phoneme

Which of the following is not a branch of linguistics:

Phonetic linguistics

proxemics Edward Hall

The cross-cultural study of humankind's perception and use of space. Edward Hall identified four categories of proxemically-relevant spaces or body distances: intimate (0-18 inches) personal-casual (1-1/2-4 feet) social-consultive (4-12 feet) public distance (12 feet and beyond)

kinesics

The method for notating and analyzing body language

Language in Social and Cultural Settings

This branch of linguistics involves two different approaches: sociolinguistics, which is the study of the relationship between language and society ethnolinguistics which investigates how a language reflects the culturally-significant aspects of a people's traditional natural environment

Literacy

Today, nearly 775 million adults worldwide cannot read or write: Two-thirds of those who cannot read or write are women.

A language family is a group of languages descended from a single ancestral language.

True

Gendered speech refers to distinct male and female speech patterns which vary across social and cultural settings.

True

Grammar is the formal structure of language that dictates syntax and the subtleties of morphemes.

True

Homo neanderthal had the neurological and anatomical features necessary for speech.

True

Language is a system of communication using symbolic sounds, gestures, or marks.

True

Sounds and gestures are both important in linguistic study.

True

The Mayan form of writing was hieroglyphics.

True

The main function of any language is to share experiences, concerns and beliefs and to communicate these to the next generation.

True