Question 1

Linguistic relativity argues that "Language influences but does not control us."

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 2

Which of the following is an inferential statement?

Accepted Answer

A)  The man is red-faced and sweating. 
B)  The man is irritated. 
C)  The man is a lunatic. 
D)  all of the above

Question 3

Euphemism

Accepted Answer

A)  is a specialized language of a group 
B)  is language that numbs us to the unpleasant or offensive 
C)  should always be avoided 
D)  none of the above

Question 4

Semantics determines the proper word order and organization for a given language.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 5

The Pentagon called our conflict in Iraq "Operation Iraqi Freedom." The Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations called it "an act of genocide." The two versions of the same war are examples of

Accepted Answer

A)  signal reactions 
B)  framing 
C)  operational definitions 
D)  denotation

Question 6

Which of these claims related to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is valid?

Accepted Answer

A)  We can perceive phenomena, events, objects, and ideas more easily when a lexicon to describe them is readily available. 
B)  We are prisoners of the language we speak, incapable of perceiving small distinctions in color, for example, without labels that identify the color differences. 
C)  Having a large vocabulary for a specific phenomenon, event, or object reflects the significance a speech community places on these. 
D)  both a and c

Question 7

Which of the following are valid versions of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?

Accepted Answer

A)  linguistic relativity 
B)  linguistic determinism 
C)  linguistic structure 
D)  both a and b

Question 8

Americans and Britons speak the same language, yet they have different meanings for the same words. This is a problem of

Accepted Answer

A)  connotative meaning 
B)  operational definitions 
C)  denotative meaning 
D)  jargon

Question 9

The capacity of language to transform a small number of phonemes into whatever words, phrases, and sentences you require to communicate your abundance of thoughts and feelings is called

Accepted Answer

A)  syntax 
B)  productivity 
C)  using language to talk about objects, ideas, events, and relations that don't just exist in the physical here and now

Question 10

Language facilitates human survival

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 11

A morpheme is the smallest unit of sound in a language.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 12

There are three dimensions to denotative meaning: potency, evaluation, and activity.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 13

The weak version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis seems to have some validity.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 14

Using language to shape meaning for others is called framing.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 15

Language is not thought, but language is interconnected with thought.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 16

"Meow" is the word we often use to communicate the sound of a cat. This is the sound a cat makes; no other word, even in other languages, could be used to represent this sound.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Exam 4: Language: Sharing Meaning With Words

Linguistic relativity argues that "Language influences but does not control us."

Which of the following is an inferential statement?

Euphemism

Semantics determines the proper word order and organization for a given language.

The Pentagon called our conflict in Iraq "Operation Iraqi Freedom." The Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations called it "an act of genocide." The two versions of the same war are examples of

Which of these claims related to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is valid?

Which of the following are valid versions of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis?

Americans and Britons speak the same language, yet they have different meanings for the same words. This is a problem of

The capacity of language to transform a small number of phonemes into whatever words, phrases, and sentences you require to communicate your abundance of thoughts and feelings is called

Language facilitates human survival

A morpheme is the smallest unit of sound in a language.

There are three dimensions to denotative meaning: potency, evaluation, and activity.

The weak version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis seems to have some validity.

Using language to shape meaning for others is called framing.

Language is not thought, but language is interconnected with thought.

"Meow" is the word we often use to communicate the sound of a cat. This is the sound a cat makes; no other word, even in other languages, could be used to represent this sound.