Language and Communication

Question 1

A meaningful sound is a:

a) phone
b) phoneme
c) morpheme
d) vowel
e) consonant

Answer 1

b) phoneme

Question 2

_________ refers to the ability to refer to events and issues beyond the immediate present.

Answer 2

Displacement

Question 3

Human language has _________, or the ability to create an infinite range of understandable expressions from a finite set of rules.

Answer 3

Productivity

Question 4

What is the study of the meaning of words, phrases and sentences

Answer 4

Semantics

Question 5

Wich term refers to social inequality in access to new and emerging information technology, especially access to up-to-date computers, the Internet and training related to their use.

Answer 5

Digital divide

Question 6

Which of the following would be an example of observer’s paradox?

a) children under study stop talking about "boogers" when the principal walks into the classroom.
b) while having lunch at a research participant's home, she changes the topic of conversation when her husband walks in to the room.
c) an hour into an interview, a research participant relaxes and starts talking much more informally, using some profanity and colloquialisms.
d) while doing research, a researcher seeks to speak informally, adopting local idioms.
e) during an interview, a research participant refrains from swearing.

Answer 6

During an interview, a research participant refrains from swearing.

Question 7

What does the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis says

Answer 7

It says that a people’s language affects how a person thinks and sees the world.

Question 8

Tag questions are:

Answer 8

Questions seeking affirmation placed at the end of sentences.

Question 9

All early writing systems use _________, symbols that convey meaning through a form or picture resembling that to which it refers.

Answer 9

Glyphs

Question 10

The best example of language shift is:

a) Cree children learning the Cree language at school.
b) an immigrant living in Vancouver learning English in an ESL class.
c) a French speaker who speaks his language with great difficulty after living in New York for 30 years.
d) the child of Guatemalan refugees who only speaks English as his parents refused to speak Spanish in his presence.
e) a global language displacing indigenous languages.

Answer 10

c) a French speaker who speaks his language with great difficulty after living in New York for 30 years.

Question 11

Which language has a superior ability to project images of the future?

a) English
b) Hungarian
c) Cantonese
d) None of the above

Answer 11

d) None of the above

Question 12

In English, certain obligatory categories seem to reflect a social bias in favor of:

Answer 12

Males

Question 13

The fact that the Hungarian and Finnish languages were once the same indicates that they belong to the same …

Answer 13

Family

Question 14

The sounds that native speakers perceive as being distinct are:

Answer 14

Phonemes

Question 15

True or False
Human languages are inherently flexible and creative and not closed systems. This human language trait is called productivity.

Answer 15

True

Question 16

True or False

The English word ‘dogs’ contains one free morpheme and one bound morpheme.

Answer 16

True

Question 17

True or False

Modern anthropologists think that language determines thought.

Answer 17

False

Question 18

True or False

Scientific attemps to teach apes to speak human languages have been extremely successful, especially with chimpanzees.

Answer 18

False

Question 19

Words in human languages seldom have any necessary connection with the concrete objects or abstract symbols they represent. This human language trait is called:

Answer 19

Arbitrariness

Question 20

Linguistic differences in pronunciation, vocabulary, or syntax that may differ within a single language are known as:

Answer 20

Dialects