ANTH Exam 2 - Review 2 Flashcards
How is human language is unique among animals primarily in its complexity? (Champec)
Most successful at learning signs-> learned over 500 signs
Had baby and taught here 55 signs with no human interactions -
What are the Four primary attributes of language?
- Tremendous intraspecific Diversity
- Language is based on symbols
- Multiplicity of patterning
- Displacement -
What is the ability to refer to something that is not immediately present or even abstract? (such as Heaven or Hell)
Displacement -
What is the smallest unit of a language?
Phonemes -
How many different phonemes are in the English language?
42 -
What are the smallest units of language which have a semantic meaning?
Morphemes -
What are the 2 types of morphemes?
- free
- bound -
What is an example of a free morpheme ?
a word such as girl or boy that is not dependent -
What is an example of a bound morpheme?
must be bound to a free morpheme (such as “s”) -
What is the ability to combine and recombine a limited number of phonemes into billions of combinations in order to express thoughts?
Multiplicity of patterning -
What is intraspecific communication?
the interchange or transmission of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs from one member of a species to another member of the same species.
How diverse is intraspecific communication among humans?
Tremendous intraspecific diversity -
- humans communicate in thousands of languages
What is intraspecific communication among animals?
o Animals have one common language that exists over geographic areas
In social scenes, what is the only safe place to touch a woman?
above the elbow. Other types of touching are not acceptable.
What are gestures, volume, and repetition that is the meaning beyond the word spoken?
Linguistic frames -
(for example, how a parent speaks to a child)
What is word order (that varies from one language to the next)?
syntax -
What are the 2 broad avenues about non verbal communication?
proxemics and kinesics -
What is the study of the use of space, both private and public, both between cultures and within cultures?
Proxemics -
In the US, what is the approximate amount of personal space?
3 feet -
What is the approximate amount of greeting space in the US?
20-12 feet -
What is the process through which we perceive and process information?
Cognition -
What is an example of cognition?
folk taxonomies and monolexemic color terms -
What is the study of body language, how people use the body and the info they convey, and is highly situation/status dependent?
Kinesics -
What affects kinesics?
marriage, gender, clothes organizational membership, age, wealth, status, situation -
What is an example of how touching between adults to children vs adults to adults is different?
Adults pick up kids and swing them around, ruffle kid’s hair, and hug them when they just met which they would never do to another adult -
What is a hierarchical system of classification of phenomena?
Taxonomy -
What is an example of taxonomy?
Vehicle: Can thing that carries people from one place to another->then can break it down more specific by a lot-> Land, water, space-> truck, car, SUV -
What is an example of kinesics being situation dependent?
grown men slapping each other’s butts during football, would not be appropriate in other situations -
What is a lexeme?
The fundamental unit of the lexicon (vocabulary) of a language.
Ex. Find, finds, found, and finding are forms of the English lexeme find.
What is polysemy?
When a symbol, word, or phrase can mean many different things.
Ex. The verb “get” — it can mean “procure” (I will go and get it), “become” (I get tired when I run), or “understand” (Do you get it?)
What are two or more words that belong to more than one category? (you can get a lot more specific)
Polyexemically -
What is an example of polyexemically?
plant taxonomy and domain of snow and ice for eskimos -
Describe plant taxonomy?
o Unique beginner (everyone can tell a animal from a tree)
o Life form (tree, bush, grass…) — We really don’t go any further than this but people who are dependent on the environment will go further
o Generic (oak, vs cedar, vs spruce)
o Specific (white oak vs red oak)
o Varietal (red oak vs red scrub oak) -
Why were there differences in the light patterns in different cultures?
dependence on the environment -
What does monolexemic mean?
Consisting of a single lexeme.
What are the 2 monolexemic criteria?
- Cannot be subsumed into a larger category (eg. Vehicle.)
- Wide applicability, can be used to refer to many things -
What are eleven monolexemic terms to classify colors on light spectrum in English?
Light spectrum basic colors - ‘black’, ‘white’, ‘red’, ‘green’, ‘yellow’, ‘blue’, ‘brown’, ‘orange’, ‘pink’, ‘purple’, and ‘grey’
–not specific like light green or forest green, just green
How many monolexemic terms are there to classify colors on the light spectrum?
11 -
What colors are found in all cultures?
black and white -
Why are there differences in patterns of colors in different cultures?
Dependence on environment -
