Unit 3 Vocabulary

Question 1

dialect

Answer 1

a regional variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation

Question 2

ideograms

Answer 2

the system of writing used in China and other East Asian countries in which each symbol represents an idea of a concept rather than a specific sound

Question 3

isogloss

Answer 3

a boundary between variations in pronunciation or word usage

Question 4

language family

Answer 4

a collection of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history

Question 5

language branch

Answer 5

a collection of language related through a common ancestor that existed several thousand years ago - differences are not as extensive or old as language families

Question 6

language group

Answer 6

a collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past

Question 7

lingua franca

Answer 7

a common language used by people who don’t share the same native language

Question 8

pidgin language

Answer 8

a language with fewer grammar rules and a smaller vocabulary developed when speakers don’t share the same native language (ex. Swahili)

Question 9

branch (religion)

Answer 9

a large and fundamental division within a religion

Question 10

denomination

Answer 10

a division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations in a single legal and administrative body

Question 11

demography

Answer 11

the scientific study of population characteristics

Question 12

Diaspora

Answer 12

the displacement of Jews from their homeland

Question 13

diaspora

Answer 13

displacement of a group from their homeland

Question 14

hierarchical religion

Answer 14

a religion in which a central authority exercises a high degree of control

Question 15

missionary

Answer 15

an individual who helps diffuse a universalizing religion

Question 16

monotheism

Answer 16

the doctrine or belief of the existence of only one god

Question 17

pagan

Answer 17

a follower of a polytheistic religion in ancient times

Question 18

polytheism

Answer 18

belief or worship of more than one god

Question 19

sect

Answer 19

a relatively small group that has broken away from an established denomination

Question 20

syncretism

Answer 20

the combining of different beliefs, religions, cultures, schools of thought

Question 21

theocracy

Answer 21

countries whose governments are run by religious leaders through the use of religious laws

Question 22

acculturation

Answer 22

when an ethnic or immigrant group moves to a new area and adopts the values and practices of the larger group that has received them, while still maintaining major elements of their own culture

Question 23

assimilation

Answer 23

when an ethnic group can no longer be distinguished from the receiving group

Question 24

cultural hearth

Answer 24

the area in which a unique culture or a specific trait develops

Question 25

cultural landscape

Answer 25

fashioning of a natural landscape by a cultural group

Question 26

relocation diffusion

Answer 26

the spread of a cultural trait by people who migrate - ex. the spread of pizza by Italian immigrants to the U.S. in the late 19th century

Question 27

expansion diffsusion

Answer 27

the spread of cultural traits through direct or indirect exchange without migration

Question 28

contagious diffusion

Answer 28

when a cultural trait spread continuously outward from its hearth through contact among people - ex. the spread of blues music in the U.S. from the hearth in the south

Question 29

hierarchical diffusion

Answer 29

the spread of culture outward from centers of wealth and importance - ex. the spread of cell phones

Question 30

stimulus diffusion

Answer 30

when people in a culture adopt an underlying idea or process from another culture, but modify it because they reject one trait of it - ex. Hindus in India adopting the trait of eating fast food but rejecting eating beef

Question 31

maladaptive

Answer 31

diffusion of a process with negative side effects or what works well in one region may not in another

Question 32

gender bias

Answer 32

the discrimination of a gender (usually women)

Question 33

gender gap

Answer 33

differences in the privileges given to males and females in culture

Question 34

gendered spaces

Answer 34

areas in which particular genders of people, and particular types of gender expression, are considered welcome or appropriate, and other types are unwelcome or inappropriate

Question 35

material culture

Answer 35

visible objects that a group possesses and leaves behind for the future

Question 36

multiculturalism

Answer 36

the coexistence of several cultures in one society