Chapter 2 Language and Communication Full Test Bank

Chapter 2 Test Bank Questions

Long Answer

1. What constitutes the basis for modern public debate regarding the use of male-gendered language in everyday communication? (Answer on pp. 28-30)

2. How do certain social groups use reverse discourse to transform a stigmatized word into a source of empowerment and grassroots mobilization for positive change? (Answer on p. 40)

3. Why do men in the English-speaking nations such as the United States and England, assert their masculinity by using nonstandard language associated with physical prowess, toughness, violence, and an anti-authoritarian identity? (Answer on pp. 42-43)

4. Explain how women sometimes use standard language as a strategy for economic upward mobility. (Answer on p. 43)

5. Why does the theory of performativity reject the notion that we have only one true self? (Answer on pp. 46-48)

6. How does one’s social and economic class affect how men and women communicate with each another? (Answer on pp. 49-50)

7. Why do words undergo semantic transformations and often lose their original meanings and associations? (Answer on p. 38)

8. How are speech and expression forms of action? (Answer on p. 45)

9. What do asymmetries in derogatory language suggest about different groups? (Answer on p. 36)

10. How are the terms lady and gentlemen frequently used asymmetrically? (Answer on p. 35)

Short Answer

1. Despite the growing popularity of nonsexist language in contemporary American daily life, why does the use of the generic he still persist today? (Answer on pp. 28-30)

2. How has the primacy of males as the norms influenced medical testing for drugs and animal-model research? (Answer on p. 33)

3. How does nonparallelism in language determine the marital status of women but not men in Western societies? (Answer on p. 37)

4. How do hairstyles represent an important example of symbolic communication beyond words? (Answer on p. 41)

5. In English, why are some nouns like boats and “alma mater” gendered? (Answer on p. 34)

6. Why are names for electrical and plumbing equipment in English gendered? (Answer on pp. 34-35)

7. Explain how the gender-neutral pronoun Yo appeared unexpectedly from African American youth in Baltimore in the late 20^th century. (Answer on p. 31)

8. Why has the term mankind persisted despite the increase in the use of the word “humankind” in scholarly texts and popular writing since 1970? (Answer on pp. 29-30)

9. What are the different grammatical alternatives that people use to avoid using the generic he in the English language? (Answer on p. 29)

10. How can both jock and “burnout” boys achieve status without using either standard language (jock boys) or nonstandard language (burnout boys)? (Answer on pp. 42-43)

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which scholar stated that a word is “a bridge thrown between myself and another?” (C is correct. Answer on p. 39)

1. Sigmund Freud
2. Casey Miller
3. Mikhail Bakhtin
4. Michel Foucault
5. Ronald Adler

2. Which national magazine became the first one to make feminist viewpoints accessible to the general public? (B is correct. Answer on p. 39)

a. Bitch

b. Ms.

c. Bust

d. Elle

e. Self

3. In 1597, the Bishop John King made which one of the following comments about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden: (D is correct. Answer on p. 38)

1. “The Lord had but one paire of men and women in paradise.”
2. “The Lord had but one paire of young men and women in paradise.
3. “The Lord had but one paire of women in paradise.”
4. “The Lord had but one paire of men in paradise.”
5. “The Lord had but one paire of married men and women in paradise.”

4. In linguist Penelope Eckert’s study on high school students, where was the high school named “Belten High” located? (A is correct. Answer on p. 42)

a. Detroit

b. Dearborn

c. Lansing

d. Grand Rapids

e. Ypsilanti

5. Which group wore earrings to signify a feminine form of adornment during the 1950s? (C is correct. Answer on p. 46)

a. Rock musicians

b. Athletes

c. Housewives

d. Hippies

e. Gay men

6. Which setting provided linguist Scott Kiesling with his research on communities of practices? (E is correct. Answer on p. 49)

a. Catholic seminary

b. An American sorority

c. UNICEF High School club

d. High school debate society

e. A U.S. fraternity

7. Which landmark study that analyzes women’s oppression was published by French philosopher and feminist Simone de Beauvoir? (B is correct. Answer on pp. 32-33)

a. The Dialogic Imagination

b. The Second Sex

c. Gender Trouble

d. Gender and Discourse

e. The Lenses of Gender

8. In her 1994 study, anthropologist and linguist Janet Hill studied women who spoke a combination of which indigenous language and Spanish? (D is correct. Answer on pp. 43-44)

a. Spanish and Kikapú

b. Spanish and Mixe

c. Spanish and Garifuna

d. Spanish and Nahuatl

e. Spanish and Itza

9. Which of the following scholars were the first to contend that people’s gender remains a work in progress? (A is correct. Answer on p. 45)

a. Candace West and Don Zimmermann

b. Penelope Eckert and Scott Kiesling

c. Annabelle Mooney and Betsy Evans

d. Casey Miller and Kate Swift

e. Marion Pitts and Keith Phillips

10. What type of speech in the English language provides men with power and prestige? (D is correct. Answer on p. 42)

a. Standard language

b. Middle-class speech

c. Working-class speech

d. Nonstandard language

e. Ebonics

11. Which one of the following words doesn’t have a meaningful parallel term? (E is correct. Answer on pp. 35-36)

a. Ladies

b. Bridegroom

c. Heroine

d. Widower

e. Slut

12. Which one of the following expressions is not gendered in the English language? (B is correct. Answer on p. 34)

a. Mother Tongue

b. Mover and shaker

c. Mommy Jeans

d. Mother Earth

e. Alma Mater

13. Which one of the following is not an unmarked category? (A is correct. Answer on pp. 32-33)

a. Atheists

b. Men

c. Heterosexual

d. White

e. Able-Bodied

14. In which city did Elaine Statko and Margaret Troyer conduct their research on the use of the gender-neutral pronoun “yo” by African American youth in school? (D is correct. Answer on p. 31)

a. Annapolis

b. Rockville

c. Aberdeen

d. Baltimore

e. New Carrollton

15. Which one of the following scholars asserted that sexist language has the “effect of minimizing women’s importance and diverting attention away from their very existence”? (B is correct. Answer on p. 30)

a. Sigmund Freud

b. Brian Earp

c. William Roscoe

d. Julia T. Wood

e. George Lakoff

16. Which is the appropriate gender-neutral alternative to the phrase “Men Working”? (E is correct. Answer on p. 29)

a. Men and Women Working

b. Males and Females Working

c. Guys Working

d. They are Working

e. People Working

17. What word would not describe the original meaning of the word “queer”? (C is correct. Answer on p. 39)

a. Suspicious

b. Odd

c. Gay

d. Eccentric

e. Dubious

18. How did Western societies traditionally regard the process of communication? (A is correct. Answer on p. 45)

a. Passive

b. Active

c. Neutral

d. Aggressive

e. Gendered

19. Who stated that gender identities emerge through “a stylized repetition of acts”? (D is correct. Answer on p. 44)

a. Sandra Bem

b. Sally McConnell-Ginet

c. Kimberly Hause

d. Judith Butler

e. Jack Halberstam

20. Who wrote a popular bestseller that claimed men and women’s speech differences were intrinsic? (B is correct. Answer on p. 49)

a. Lois Gould

b. John Gray

c. Roxane Gay

d. Ruth La Ferla

e. Charlene Muehlehard

21. When do most scholars believe that the use of some sexist language began declining in the American society? (E is correct. Answer on p. 29)

a. About 2000

b. By 1960

c. Since 1990

d. Around 1945

e. Since 1970

22. Which expression does not represent an example of a male-generic term? (C is correct. Answer on p. 29)

a. Mankind

b. Lumberjack

c. Homemaker

d. Manned

e. Masterful

23. Where in the Bible does the reader first encounter the primacy of men in the text? (D is correct. Answer on p. 31)

a. The Book of Numbers

b. The Book of Exodus

c. The Book of Job

d. The Book of Genesis

e. The Book of Ruth

24. What word in Spanish is supposed to be the contemporary equivalent to the English-language title Ms.? (A is correct. Answer on p. 38)

a. Sa.

b. Sra.

c. Srta.

d. Doña

e. Ud.

25. Which one of the following is an activity that does not allow “burnout boys” to demonstrate their masculinity? (D is correct. Answer on pp. 42-43)

a. Rumbling

b. Working on cars

c. Drinking Alcohol

d. Reading

e. Dirt-Biking

True or False Questions

1. In modern English, the term “guy” refers only to men. (False. Answer on p. 29)

2. People in Finland, Hungary, and Azerbaijan speak a language that uses different pronouns for she and he. (False. Answer on p. 34)

3. The title Miss originally was an abbreviation of the “mistress”. (True. Answer on p. 37)

4. The study of how symbols or messages are acknowledged is often known as communication theory. (False. Answer on p. 41)

5. The Gullah language spoken by some African Americans in rural South Carolina represents a fusion of various West African languages. (True. Answer on p. 43)

6. A stylized act is an act that is regarded as predictable and ubiquitous. (True. Answer on pp. 44-45)

7. Gender represents a notion based on repetitive series of acts. (False. Answer on p. 48)

8. Author John Gray wrote a popular book that highlights the notion that men’s and women’s communication differences are natural. (True. Answer on p. 49)

9. Linguists Penelope Eckert and Scott Kiesling discovered that speech often differs within groups of females and males based on race. (False. Answer on pp. 50-51)

10. The term “slut” has a significant parallel word. (False. Answer on p. 36)