Chapter 12

Animal call systems

1. Animal call systems are limited in what and how much they can communicate 2. Call systems are stimuli dependent, which means that an animal can only communicate in response to a real-world stimulus 3. Each call is distinct and the calls are never considered to produce a song with a different meaning 4. Animal call systems tend to be nearly the same within a species with only minor differences between call systems used in the widely separated region

Proto-language:

A hypothetical common ancestral language of two or more living languages

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 simplified grammar, typically borrowing its vocabulary from one language but its grammar from another.

Language:

A system of communication consisting of sounds, words, and grammar.

How do animal call systems differ from language?

Animal calls are set instinctive responses to stimuli and are limited in number in each species that has call systems.

What anthropological approach to language distinguishes the ways people actually speak from the ideal ways that people are supposed to speak?

Descriptive linguistics, anthropological linguistics, and ethnography of speaking.

What is the study of how people classify things in the world called?

Ethnoscience

__________ is the idea that people speaking different languages perceive the world differently.

Linguistic relativity

Is it true that some languages are better than others?

No, false

Syntax:

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

Call systems:

Patterned sounds or utterances that express meaning.

____ is the study of how sociocultural norms and contexts shape language use in a 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.

Philology:

The comparative study of ancient texts and documents.

Linguistic relativity:

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

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

Phonology:

The systematic pattern of sounds in a language, also known as the language sound system.

What is language death?

When a language no longer has any native speakers.

What does nongenetic language change mean?

When people are multilingual, their use of each language subtly influences the other languages' sounds, words, syntax, and grammar.

Language ideology:

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

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

Talking about sports as a battlefield is an example of

a metaphor

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

a pidgin language

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

a summarizing symbol

Edward Sapir urged cultural anthropologists to pay close attention to language during field research because

all of the above

Which of the following features are characteristic of language?

all of the above

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

all of the above

Which of the following is a feature of language?

all of the above

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?

all of these

Linguistic anthropologist Dennis Tedlock developed a new approach to the ethnography of speaking called ethnopoetics. What viewpoint does ethnopoetics assume?

all speech acts are performances

Koko and Washo were two primates who had learned

american sign language

The set of sounds and movements that animals make to communicate is called a ___?

call system

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.

chimp; gorilla

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

cognate words

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.

false

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 with similar meanings in the several dialects

The key scenario differs from other kinds of symbols because it

implies how people should act

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

langue

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

langue ; parole

___ is the idea that people speaking different languages perceive the world differently.

linguistic relativity

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

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

minimal

What is the study of grammatical categories, such as tense and word order, called?

morphology

Anthropologist Sherry Ortner distinguished three kinds of culturally powerful symbols that include all of the following except ___.

narrative symbols

Is it true that all countries find it relatively easy to decide what language the citizens will speak?

no, false

Is it true that because of the widespread use of mass media today, sociolinguists have founds increasing homogeneity in the use of language in the united states?

no, false

Is it true that languages change very slowly, taking generations or even centuries to shift?

no, false

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

parole

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

philology

What term refers to the structure of speech sounds?

phonology

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

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

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

position or social standing

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

record how younger people, middle aged, and senior citizens pronounces ordinary american words

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

red

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

sign

__________ are words or objects that stand for something else.

symbol

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

the density of the population in the several communities

What would an ethnography of speaking entail?

the study of, writing about, and or a description of people ; cultural knowledge

In evolutionary terms, humans are distinct from other primates with respect to their ability to use language because ___?

we can speak using our larynx

Is it true that America's pattern of gender inequality is built into our linguistic practices?

yes, true

Is it true that according to Edward Sapir, language is the symbolic guide to culture?

yes, true

Is it true that although language is one of the most rule-bound aspects of human culture, it is also one of the least conscious?

yes, true

Is it true that most people are unaware of the stricture of a language until someone speaking it makes a mistake?

yes, true