Chapter 5: Language and Communication

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

"Lovely!" "Oh, dear!" (softer, less aggressive language)

An example of a minimal pair:

"cat" and "hat"

What do anthropological linguists study?

- Historical linguistics - Language and thought - Sociolinguistics

What is true about African American Vernacular English?

- It is a nonstandard dialect. - Its phonology and syntax are similar to those of southern dialects. - It is a complex linguistic system with its own rules.

What aspects of language are studied in descriptive linguistics?

- Phonology (sounds) - Morphology (word form) - Syntax (word order)

True statements about language loss:

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

The major subjects studied in linguistic anthropology:

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

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.

After learning ________, Lucy and Washoe tried to teach the skills to others.

ASL (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.

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.

Washoe the chimp teaching her son ASL is 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

Which statement best describes the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?

Different languages produce different ways of thinking.

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

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

False. Gestures and body language are part of human communication.

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

False. People can adopt new languages, so a close relationship between languages does not necessarily mean that their speakers are related biologically or culturally.

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

The study of languages over time, and how groups of languages called language families share a common ancient ancestor language is called:

Historical Linguistics

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

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 r's 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

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

Japan

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

The study of body language and gestures to understand nonverbal communication is:

Kinesics

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

Language is acquired through teaching and learning.

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

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

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

Phonology

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

Productivity

When Washoe, a chimp who learned ASL, didn't know the sign for swam she combined two signs she did know to name it "waterbird". This showed that she had the linguistic ability called _____.

Productivity

What do animal call systems lack that human languages have?

Productivity and displacement

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.

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."

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

What is syntax?

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

True or False: Language is a form of communication that must be learned.

True

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

True

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 grammar

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

Urban youth