Chapter.5 Language Exam Questions 10th Edition

Test Bank

Chapter 5: Language

Multiple Choice

1. Researchers study ______ to understand how human language may have evolved.

a. nonhuman primates

b. Paleolithic technology

c. art and music

d. subsistence strategies

Learning Objective: 5.1: Compare and contrast the laboratory studies of nonhuman animal communication with the studies of nonhuman animals in the wild.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Teaching Apes to Sign

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Psychologists and linguists have taught ASL and the use of lexigrams to nonhuman primates because nonhuman primates lack the ______.

a. intellectual capacity for language

b. physical attributes for speech

c. ability to express emotion

d. desire to communicate

Learning Objective: 5.1: Compare and contrast the laboratory studies of nonhuman animal communication with the studies of nonhuman animals in the wild.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Teaching Apes to Sign

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Based on his work with Washoe, Roger Fouts concluded that chimpanzee and human linguistic abilities differ in ______.

a. type

b. no way

c. symbolic capacity

d. degree

Learning Objective: 5.1: Compare and contrast the laboratory studies of nonhuman animal communication with the studies of nonhuman animals in the wild.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Teaching Apes to Sign

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. ______ was one of the most significant linguistic achievements of the nonhuman primates.

a. Inventing new signs

b. Mimicking signs performed by trainers

c. Speaking words aloud

d. Signing in exchange for rewards

Learning Objective: 5.1: Compare and contrast the laboratory studies of nonhuman animal communication with the studies of nonhuman animals in the wild.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Teaching Apes to Sign

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Which nonhuman primate scored just below a human child on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale?

a. Washoe

b. Lana

c. Koko

d. Nim Chimpsky

Learning Objective: 5.1: Compare and contrast the laboratory studies of nonhuman animal communication with the studies of nonhuman animals in the wild.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Teaching Apes to Sign

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. While it is clear that some nonhuman primates can learn signs and lexigram symbols, they seem to lack the ability to ______.

a. understand syntax

b. create new signs

c. understand new sentences

d. follow commands

Learning Objective: 5.1: Compare and contrast the laboratory studies of nonhuman animal communication with the studies of nonhuman animals in the wild.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ape Sign Language Reexamined

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. The ability to lie is an example of which feature of human language?

a. arbitrariness

b. displacement

c. productivity

d. combining sounds

Learning Objective: 5.2: Discuss what makes human languages unique in comparison with nonhuman animal communication.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Displacement

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. William von Humboldt’s described ______ as “the infinite use of finite media.” ______.

a. arbitrariness

b. displacement

c. productivity

d. combining sounds

Learning Objective: 5.2: Discuss what makes human languages unique in comparison with nonhuman animal communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Productivity

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. The existence of different languages that can express the same concepts is a result of human language’s ______.

a. arbitrariness

b. displacement

c. productivity

d. combination of sounds

Learning Objective: 5.2: Discuss what makes human languages unique in comparison with nonhuman animal communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Arbitrariness

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Which theory of linguistic evolution opposed the modern idea of the abritrariness of human language?

a. bowwow

b. ding-dong

c. onomatopoeia

d. socratic

Learning Objective: 5.3: Describe what anthropologists conclude about the evolution of language.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Evolution of Language

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. Which part of the brain is responsible for symbolic and cultural abilities?

a. parietal lobe

b. occipital lobe

c. cerebral cortex

d. brain stem

Learning Objective: 5.3: Describe what anthropologists conclude about the evolution of language.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Evolution of Language

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. Damage to Broca’s area in the brain may lead to difficulty with ______.

a. speaking

b. reading

c. understanding language

d. writing

Learning Objective: 5.3: Describe what anthropologists conclude about the evolution of language.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Human Brain and Speech

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Which gene is associated with human language capability?

a. PAH

b. SOX5

c. OCA2

d. FOXP2

Learning Objective: 5.3: Describe what anthropologists conclude about the evolution of language.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Human Brain and Speech

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. Neandertals likely had restricted linguistic abilities due to ______.

a. small brain size

b. the higher position of the larynx

c. overcrowded teeth

d. robust brow ridge

Learning Objective: 5.3: Describe what anthropologists conclude about the evolution of language.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Could Early Hominins Speak?

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. The ability to use language was likely the ______ major step in human evolution.

a. last

b. first

c. penultimate

Learning Objective: 5.3: Describe what anthropologists conclude about the evolution of language.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Could Early Hominins Speak?

Difficulty Level: Easy

16. The ______ allows linguists to transcribe any language.

a. International Phonemic Index

b. Global Phonemic Inventory

c. Global Phonetic Alphabet

d. International Phonetic Alphabet

Learning Objective: 5.4: Discuss how linguistic anthropologists study language.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Phonology

Difficulty Level: Easy

17. For English speakers, the /l/ and /r/ sounds are ______.

a. phones

b. homophones

c. phonemes

d. allophones

Learning Objective: 5.4: Discuss how linguistic anthropologists study language.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Phonology

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. The sound pre is an example of a ______ morpheme.

a. free

b. bound

c. syntactical

d. phonemic

Learning Objective: 5.4: Discuss how linguistic anthropologists study language.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Morphology

Difficulty Level: Medium

19. The sound poor is an example of a ______ morpheme.

a. free

b. bound

c. syntactical

d. phonemic

Learning Objective: 5.4: Discuss how linguistic anthropologists study language.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Morphology

Difficulty Level: Medium

20. An example of a fieldwork project in ______ would be mapping kinship terminology in a previously uncontacted society.

a. ethology

b. etiology

c. ethnosemantics

d. phonology

Learning Objective: 5.4: Discuss how linguistic anthropologists study language.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Semantics

Difficulty Level: Medium

21. Noam Chomsky’s idea of a universal grammar opposes ______ trial-and-error theory of language acquisition.

a. René Descartes’

b. Jane Goodall’s

c. B.F. Skinner’s

d. Derek Bickerton’s

Learning Objective: 5.5: Explain how children acquire their languages.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Language Acquisition

Difficulty Level: Medium

22. The critical period for language acquisition ends ______.

a. at age five

b. at the onset of puberty

c. at adulthood

d. at age two

Learning Objective: 5.5: Explain how children acquire their languages.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Language Acquisition

Difficulty Level: Easy

23. If John Locke’s belief that infant minds are a tabula rasa were true, then a ______ could not exist.

a. universal grammar

b. enculturation process

c. linguistic paradox

d. blank tablet

Learning Objective: 5.5: Explain how children acquire their languages.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Chomsky on Language Acquisition

Difficulty Level: Medium

24. The idea that language controls how human groups see reality comes from ______.

a. Chomsky

b. Skinner

c. Sapir and Whorf

d. Locke

Learning Objective: 5.6: Discuss the relationship between language and culture.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis

Difficulty Level: Medium

25. If Hopi and English speakers experience time differently based on their language, it provides support for the idea of ______.

a. contrasting pairs

b. universal grammar

c. cultural relativism

d. linguistic relativism

Learning Objective: 5.6: Discuss the relationship between language and culture.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: A Case Study: The Hopi Language

Difficulty Level: Medium

26. According to Sapir and Whorf, language ______ the sensations that reach the nervous system.

a. filters

b. rejects

c. reflects

d. has no relationship with

Learning Objective: 5.6: Discuss the relationship between language and culture.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis

Difficulty Level: Easy

27. In English, biological sex is marked on the third person singular pronouns. What is this an example of?

a. Borrowed words

b. Metaphorical bases

c. Linguistic postulates

d. Cognitive evolutions

Learning Objective: 5.6: Discuss the relationship between language and culture.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Weak Linguistic Relativity

Difficulty Level: Medium

28. According to “weak linguistic relativity,” speakers of a language with only one word for tree ______.

a. cannot perceive the differences between pine, oak, and other tree types

b. do not consider the differences between tree types significant

c. only live near one type of tree

d. borrowed the word from another language

Learning Objective: 5.6: Discuss the relationship between language and culture.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Weak Linguistic Relativity

Difficulty Level: Medium

29. The word “mother” in English and “matar” in Sanskrit refer to the same concept. The fact that the words are so similar reflects that ______.

a. English speakers and Sanskrit speakers are frequently in contact

b. English and Sanskrit have the same parent language

c. mothers are very important in both cultures

d. a universal grammar exists

Learning Objective: 5.7: Describe how anthropologists study the history of languages.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: The Family-Tree Model

Difficulty Level: Medium

30. One useful tool for studying linguistic relationships is ______.

a. dendrochronology

b. lingua franca

c. glottochronology

d. mind mapping

Learning Objective: 5.7: Describe how anthropologists study the history of languages.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Family-Tree Model

Difficulty Level: Medium

31. Sociolinguists study ______.

a. biograms

b. modules

c. phonemes

d. pragmatics

Learning Objective: 5.8: Describe what the field of sociolinguistics tells us about language use.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Sociolinguistics

Difficulty Level: Easy

32. Honorifics are used to linguistically distinguish ______.

a. job titles

b. social levels

c. types of objects

d. meanings of words

Learning Objective: 5.8: Describe what the field of sociolinguistics tells us about language use.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Honorifics in Language

Difficulty Level: Easy

33. Greeting behaviors around the world are ______.

a. socially complex

b. typically straightforward

c. culturally ambiguous

d. universal

Learning Objective: 5.8: Describe what the field of sociolinguistics tells us about language use.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Greeting Behaviors

Difficulty Level: Medium

34. Hand gestures ______ from culture to culture.

a. are offensive

b. communicate the same information

c. vary in meaning

d. are universal

Learning Objective: 5.9: Discuss other forms of communication humans use beside language.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Kinesics

Difficulty Level: Medium

35. Nonverbal communication is an example of ______.

a. modular division

b. nature

c. culture

d. biology

Learning Objective: 5.9: Discuss other forms of communication humans use beside language.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Nonverbal Communication

Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

1. Nonhuman primates can combine sounds to produce new meanings.

Learning Objective: 5.2: Discuss what makes human languages unique in comparison with nonhuman animal communication.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Combining Sounds to Produce Meanings

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Every human language across space and time has comprised the same five basic components of language.

Learning Objective: 5.4: Discuss how linguistic anthropologists study language.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Structure of Language

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Human infants are born preprogrammed to speak a particular language.

Learning Objective: 5.5: Explain how children acquire their languages.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Language Acquisition

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. The absence of gender-biased language indicates the absence of gender bias in a society.

Learning Objective: 5.6: Discuss the relationship between language and culture.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Linguistic Relativity

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. AAVE is an improper form of English.

Learning Objective: 5.8: Describe what the field of sociolinguistics tells us about language use.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Dialectal Differences in Spoken Language

Difficulty Level: Medium

Essay

1. How are nonhuman primate studies in the laboratory different from those in the wild?

Learning Objective: 5.1: Compare and contrast the laboratory studies of nonhuman animal communication with the studies of nonhuman animals in the wild.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Ethological Research on Ape Communication

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. Why is the ding-dong theory of language evolution discredited today?

Learning Objective: 5.3: Describe what anthropologists conclude about the evolution of language.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Evolution of Language

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. Discuss the ways that sounds can be modified to produce phonemes. Which ways apply to the English language?

Learning Objective: 5.4: Discuss how linguistic anthropologists study language.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Phonology

Difficulty Level: Hard

4. Discuss the data for and against linguistic relativity.

Learning Objective: 5.6: Discuss the relationship between language and culture.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: The Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis

Difficulty Level: Hard

5. Discuss how anthropologists determine how languages are related to one another.

Learning Objective: 5.7: Describe how anthropologists study the history of language.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Historical Linguistics

Difficulty Level: Hard