Ethical concerns prompted linguistic anthropologist Harriet E. Manelis Klein, in her
work with Ngobe speakers in Panama to
a. refuse to teach missionary priests and nuns the Ngobe language.
b. start a Spanish language school for Ngobe speakers, to help them become informed
so that they would not sign away their land rights to multinational corporations.
c. teach nuns and priests Ngobe even though she disagreed with their objection to
Ngobe polygyny.
d. begin the website “NgobeEndangerment.com”, to raise money to preserve this
language.
A pidgin is a language which:
a. developed as a trade language.
b. developed from a creole.
c. has no grammar.
d. lasts many generations.
The difference between language and dialect has mostly to do with:
a. strict linguistic measures of mutual intelligibility.
b. the number of words that are shared.
c. social and political attitudes of the speakers.
d. how long ago two groups of speakers split apart.
Grammars that describe the structure and patterning of languages on their own terms
are called:
a. generative grammars.
b. prescriptive grammars.
c. descriptive grammars.
d. discursive grammars.
In a writing system, which of the following is a sign that helps to separate different
words that might be pronounced similarly?
a. phonetic indicator
b. phonetic determinative
c. semantic indicator
d. semantic determinative
What percent of human communication is estimated to be nonverbal?
a. 5 percent
b. 10 percent
c. 60 percent
d. 100 percent
The idea that language affects, and even determines, your ability to perceive and think
about things, as well as to talk about them, is referred to as:
a) linguistic relativity.
b) linguistic determinism.
c) the linguistic principle.
d) ethnocentrism.
Someone who demonstrates communicative competence can also lay claim to having
accumulated:
a. communicative capital.
b. economic capital.
c. symbolic capital.
d. linguistic competence.
The term used by cognitive anthropologists to refer to a specific area of cultural
emphasis is:
a. semantic domain.
b. cultural focal point.
c. taxonomy.
d. componential analysis.
Which of the following best defines the meaning of “genetically related” languages?
a. languages spoken by people who are genetically related
b. languages spoken by members of the same race
c. languages thought to have developed from a common ancestor language
d. languages belonging to the a single language community.
Although the capacity for speech appears to be part of the human genetic makeup, most
linguistic anthropologists now believe that children learn languages:
a. primarily in social and cultural settings.
b. primarily from listening to folktales.
c. primarily in school.
d. only by playing with other children.
Which of the following refers to a graphic mark that represents one or more of the
sounds of language?
a. phonetic sign
b. semantic sign
c. pedantic sign
d. reflexive sign
The Ethnography of Reading refers to
a. participant observation in a city in Pennsylvania.
b. research on literacy inspired by Hymes ethnography of speaking.
c. a Whorfian approach which focuses on the consequences of literacy.
d. one branch of the autonomous approach to literacy.
Gestures with direct verbal translations, such as a wave goodbye, are called:
a. affect displays.
b. emblems.
c. regulators.
d. illustrators.
The design feature of language that allows you to produce and comprehend entirely
new utterances that you”ve never spoken or hear before is which of the following?
a. discreteness
b. displacement
c. productivity
d. duality of patterning
A linguistic anthropologist sits down and starts asking you questions like these: What
are the steps to selecting a class? Is what time the class happens something you think
about when you select a class? What other things do you think about when you select a
class? This linguistic anthropologist is probably constructing
a) a self-help book.
b) a grammar of university student English.
c) a taxonomy describing your mental map.
d) a survey of student attitudes about courses.
The gradual loss in English of the “ly ending on adverbs such as quickly and slowly are
examples of which of the following kinds of language change?
a. internal change
b. external change
c. language degradation
d. reanalysis
The use of Mock Spanish in the children’s book series about the character Skippy Jon
Jones
a. cannot be racist, since it includes only positive images.
b. is a topic of discussion to which linguistic anthropology can contribute.
c. is of little interest to linguistic anthropologists, as it is not considered literature.
d. uses only correct Spanish words and grammar, and promotes true bilingualism.
According to recent research by linguistic anthropologists, sign language:
a. is the origin of human language.
b. does not exhibit duality of patterning.
c. is based on written language.
d. are languages, just like spoken languages.
Theoretical linguistics, in contrast with linguistic anthropology, is:
a. analytical, data interpretive, and structural.
b. diverse, grammar based, and syntax related.
c. focused, specific, and intuitive.
d. comparative, hierarchical, and laboratory based.
Grammars designed to serve as models of “proper” speech are called:
a. generative grammars.
b. prescriptive grammars.
c. descriptive grammars.
d. polite grammars
Franz Boas, father of American anthropology, taught the importance of:
a. fieldwork.
b. patriotism.
c. Russian Marxist/Leninist social sciences.
d. German comparative linguistics.
A “rich point” is a phrase that refers to moments when things flow harmoniously and
mutual understanding is close to perfect in a speech situation.
a. True
b. False
The study of all people, at all times, and in all places is a broad definition of what
academic discipline?
a. anthropology
b. linguistics
c. biology
d. literature
The term ___________ is an unmarked form in English.
a. actress
b. nurse
c. waitress
d. bachelor
Proxemics is the study of the culturally patterned use of:
a. taboos.
b. euphemisms.
c. gestures.
d. personal space.
Anthropologists are expected to be particularly attentive to ways in which their
presence, or their writings, might cause dangers to the people who are hosting them,
from revealing sensitive political or religious information to introducing damaging
changes. This mandate to “do no harm” is called a:
a. code of ethics.
b. legal code.
c. bill of rights.
d. code of elements.
A written language in which each lexeme takes up exactly the same space as every
other lexeme is:
a. Arabic.
b. English.
c. Chinese.
d. Russian.
Gestures that depict or illustrate what is said verbally, such as turning an imaginary
steering wheel while talking about driving, are called:
a. emblems.
b. adaptors.
c. affect displays.
d. illustrators.
Using more than one dialect (or language) in a single conversation is referred to as:
a. code switching.
b. portmanteau construction.
c. code talking.
d. dialectology.
The variants of a morpheme are called:
a. allophones.
b. morphemes.
c. allomorphs.
d. whorfemes.
Variant forms of phonemes, such as the p of pit and spit in English are called:
a) phones.
b) phonemes.
c) allophones.
d) marked sounds.
The theoretical approach to literacy that defines it as a technology that you can learn to
use is called the:
a. automatic approach.
b. autonomous approach.
c. alphabetic approach.
d. practice approach.
Which of the following English words is analyzable into three English morphemes?
a. cat
b. Connecticut
c. firefighter
d. brunch
The term used to describe hand placement in phonemic analysis of American Sign
Language is
a. dez
b. tab
c. sig
d. height