Unit 4: Linguistic Anthropology Flashcards
Linguistic anthropologists examine human language as a form of communication that
a) in central to understanding culture
b) results from biological universals of grammar
c) includes speech and writing, but not accent or style
d) that changes little over time
A. in central to understanding culture
Which of the following research projects would NOT belong to the province of linguistic anthropology?
a) Learning about a culture by finding out which objects or events are associated with a large vocabulary
b) Reconstructing the evolution of the brain to find out at what time humans began to speak
c) Comparing languages to see which ones can be traced back to a single unifying language
d) Describing how, in a particular language, sounds are combined to form words, and how words are combined to form sentences
b) Reconstructing the evolution of the brain to find out at what time humans began to speak
_______________ is concerned with the study of relationships between earlier and later forms of a language, antecedents (in older languages) of developments in modern languages, and relationships among older languages.
a) Extralinguistics
b) Historical linguistics
c) Sociolinguistics
d) Descriptive linguistics
b) Historical linguistics
The influence of a person’s class status on what pronunciation he/she uses; a speaker’s choice of more complicated vocabulary and grammar when he/she is speaking to a professional audience; the influence of language on culture–all these are the concerns of
a) sociolinguistics
b) historical linguistics
c) descriptive linguistics
d) linguistic nationalism
a) sociolinguistics
A student is hot in the classroom and asks the professor, “Can you crack the window? It’s really hot today.” If the professor were to take this question at its literal meaning, and physically break the window, they would not have understood the ________ meaning of the question.
a) Semantic
b) Rhetorical
c) Sarcastic
d) Pragmatic
d) Pragmatic
Semantics
a) is dependent upon the audience and situation under which the utterance is spoken
b) is the meaning of an utterance in context
c) is often more important than the pragmatics of an utterance
d) is the dictionary meaning of an utterance
d) is the dictionary meaning of an utterance
A man is shopping at Wal-Mart when an employee approaches him.
Employee: “Sir, can I help you find something?”
Man: “No, I’m good.”
Negative politeness is evident in which part of this interaction?
a) when the employee approaches the customer
b) in the phrase “Sir, can I”
c) in the response “No, I’m good”
d) when the customer stops to answer the employee
b) in the phrase “Sir, can I”
Positive politeness strategies include
a) complimenting
b) stating a general rule
c) apologizing
d) indirect statements
a) complimenting
In Bailey’s Communication of Respect, the African American community practices involvement politeness while the Korean immigrant community practices restraint politeness. A typical example of restraint politeness would be
a) Involving the recipient in gatherings
b) Not imposing on others in apologies and not demanding them
c) Not imposing on others to join in gatherings
d) Involving the recipient in friendly jokes and compliments
b) Not imposing on others in apologies and not demanding them
As a variation of cultural relativity, the principle of linguistic relativity states that
a) all dialects are equally effective as systems of communication
b) all languages have a common grammatical basis.
c) all dialects are equally valued in the societies in which they are spoken
d) all languages can be fully translated from one language into another
a) all dialects are equally effective as systems of communication
The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis states that
a) people’s perception of reality affects their language
b) there is no relation between thought and language
c) language affects how people perceive reality
d) no translation can ever be complete
c) language affects how people perceive reality
As understood by Deutscher in his article, “Whorf Revisited: You Are What You Speak”, which of the following terms describes the form of spatial language used in the following sentence? “When you get up from your seat head south, then at the third desk sit down.”
a) Directional
b) English
c) Geographic
d) Egocentric
c) Geographical
When linguistic anthropologists use the term, “standard language”, they are claiming that the language
a) is the only correct way for people to speak in a community
b) is viewed as “the norm”, and has its own dictionary and language experts
c) is more than just a linguistic variety or dialect
d) has not changed over time and will not change in the future
b) is viewed as “the norm”, and has its own dictionary and language experts
MacNeil talks about the complexity of American English and our understandings of it in his article “Do You Speak American?”. Which of the following is an example of language that prescriptivist supporters would use?
a) She told David they Mama had went to Chicago to see her sister and her sister’s new baby.
b) I can vaguely remember when we had ‘bosses’ with the antennas on top.
c) I hope it won’t rain tomorrow.
d) Howya doin’?
c) I hope it won’t rain tomorrow.
Which of the following is true about language variation?
a) People use different variants only depending upon the social situation.
b) People can only speak one variant, which they do throughout their lives.
c) Both context and social identity have an affect on a speaker’s choice of variant.
d) Variants used by a person differ in their formality, but not in their complexity.
c) Both context and social identity have an affect on a speaker’s choice of variant.
