Exam 4: Language

Just as information technology is helping to preserve some languages such as Lakota,it also can endanger a language.This might be because

According to the text,studying the patterns and importance of sounds as spoken by a group of people helps linguistic anthropologists

Because few children grow up learning to speak the Lakota language,efforts have been made to preserve language samples and artifacts in tribal areas.These efforts include

In part because the Hopi language has verb tenses that differ from those of English,Benjamin Whorf's linguistic research suggested that the Hopi people of Arizona have

How might an anthropologist refer to people born after 1980 regarding their abilities to navigate Web sites,wikis,and blogs,and to send text messages?

Anthropologists have shown that chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates are able to communicate about things and events that are not in the present.This is on par with the human aspect of language that allows for

Gender differences in communication often give rise to stereotypes.One common one in the United States suggests that women never seem to stop talking.This contradicts the research showing that men

The phrase "drop the ball," which is often used by men in sports situations,mirrors Robin Lakoff's work in gender and language and allows complex communication about human actions that is

At present,almost 85 percent,or 5.5 billion people,lack meaningful access to a digital communication network.This reflects

Although analyzing what is spoken and written is very important for linguistic anthropologists,the way that people convey messages through gestures,facial expressions,and postures is equally crucial in understanding human communication.Discuss how anthropologists can decipher the meaning of communication through examining paralanguage and what is indicated through body language.Illustrate how body language is not universal but rather depends on cultural context,and use examples to show how emotional information is communicated.

The effort to introduce Ebonics,which is a formalization of Black English,into the Oakland Unified School District in 1996 was met with considerable resistance.Critics predicted the erosion of Standard English and corresponding loss of national identity.As a nation of immigrants,the idea of a national identity has been part of how Americans cope with the influx of immigrants,and the willingness and ability to adopt the language of the United States has figured into this process.African American schoolchildren in the Oakland School District were struggling to succeed in school when Ebonics was introduced,which was one of the reasons for the Ebonics effort.Discuss why critics might have felt that Black English posed a threat to both identity and why it might or might not have contributed to changes in outcome for children,black and white.What is Ebonics,and why did it matter to speakers and critics alike? What role did identity play in this controversy? What were some of the other factors that drove both the controversy and the outcome?

The ________ of any language refers to names,ideas,and events that offer a kind of catalog of what is spoken and can be compiled into something accessible to others.

Noam Chomsky's research proposes that

Anthropologists refer to sounds that make a critical difference in meaning within a language as

According to the textbook,the government of ________ has struggled to monitor and censor highly decentralized information that publicizes worker strikes,oppressive working conditions,and local government corruption.

What can linguistic anthropologists learn from studying the focal vocabulary of a social group? Why would words that show a particular sophistication and that describe unique cultural realities of a group of people be useful to investigate? Discuss one example of how the focal vocabulary of a language has changed or may change in the future,and discuss how men and women may have different vocabularies on particular topics.

Whereas many animals,such as dolphins and great apes,communicate with each other through gestures and sounds,only human language utilizes both sounds and gestures as well as a complex system of

Language continuum is defined as

Worldwide,the language most widely spoken by native speakers is

The system of human communication based on a set of symbols and signs with learned and shared meanings is called