ANTH Exam 2 - Review 2

Question 1

How is human language is unique among animals primarily in its complexity? (Champec)

Answer 1

Most successful at learning signs-> learned over 500 signs
Had baby and taught here 55 signs with no human interactions -

Question 2

What are the Four primary attributes of language?

Answer 2

1. Tremendous intraspecific Diversity
2. Language is based on symbols
3. Multiplicity of patterning
4. Displacement -

Question 3

What is the ability to refer to something that is not immediately present or even abstract? (such as Heaven or Hell)

Answer 3

Displacement -

Question 4

What is the smallest unit of a language?

Answer 4

Phonemes -

Question 5

How many different phonemes are in the English language?

Answer 5

42 -

Question 6

What are the smallest units of language which have a semantic meaning?

Answer 6

Morphemes -

Question 7

What are the 2 types of morphemes?

Answer 7

1. free
2. bound -

Question 8

What is an example of a free morpheme ?

Answer 8

a word such as girl or boy that is not dependent -

Question 9

What is an example of a bound morpheme?

Answer 9

must be bound to a free morpheme (such as “s”) -

Question 10

What is the ability to combine and recombine a limited number of phonemes into billions of combinations in order to express thoughts?

Answer 10

Multiplicity of patterning -

Question 11

What is intraspecific communication?

Answer 11

the interchange or transmission of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs from one member of a species to another member of the same species.

Question 12

How diverse is intraspecific communication among humans?

Answer 12

Tremendous intraspecific diversity -
- humans communicate in thousands of languages

Question 13

What is intraspecific communication among animals?

Answer 13

o Animals have one common language that exists over geographic areas

Question 14

In social scenes, what is the only safe place to touch a woman?

Answer 14

above the elbow. Other types of touching are not acceptable.

Question 15

What are gestures, volume, and repetition that is the meaning beyond the word spoken?

Answer 15

Linguistic frames -
(for example, how a parent speaks to a child)

Question 16

What is word order (that varies from one language to the next)?

Answer 16

syntax -

Question 17

What are the 2 broad avenues about non verbal communication?

Answer 17

proxemics and kinesics -

Question 18

What is the study of the use of space, both private and public, both between cultures and within cultures?

Answer 18

Proxemics -

Question 19

In the US, what is the approximate amount of personal space?

Answer 19

3 feet -

Question 20

What is the approximate amount of greeting space in the US?

Answer 20

20-12 feet -

Question 21

What is the process through which we perceive and process information?

Answer 21

Cognition -

Question 22

What is an example of cognition?

Answer 22

folk taxonomies and monolexemic color terms -

Question 23

What is the study of body language, how people use the body and the info they convey, and is highly situation/status dependent?

Answer 23

Kinesics -

Question 24

What affects kinesics?

Answer 24

marriage, gender, clothes organizational membership, age, wealth, status, situation -

Question 25

What is an example of how touching between adults to children vs adults to adults is different?

Answer 25

Adults pick up kids and swing them around, ruffle kid’s hair, and hug them when they just met which they would never do to another adult -

Question 26

What is a hierarchical system of classification of phenomena?

Answer 26

Taxonomy -

Question 27

What is an example of taxonomy?

Answer 27

Vehicle: Can thing that carries people from one place to another->then can break it down more specific by a lot-> Land, water, space-> truck, car, SUV -

Question 28

What is an example of kinesics being situation dependent?

Answer 28

grown men slapping each other’s butts during football, would not be appropriate in other situations -

Question 29

What is a lexeme?

Answer 29

The fundamental unit of the lexicon (vocabulary) of a language.
Ex. Find, finds, found, and finding are forms of the English lexeme find.

Question 30

What is polysemy?

Answer 30

When a symbol, word, or phrase can mean many different things.
Ex. The verb “get” — it can mean “procure” (I will go and get it), “become” (I get tired when I run), or “understand” (Do you get it?)

Question 31

What are two or more words that belong to more than one category? (you can get a lot more specific)

Answer 31

Polyexemically -

Question 32

What is an example of polyexemically?

Answer 32

plant taxonomy and domain of snow and ice for eskimos -

Question 33

Describe plant taxonomy?

Answer 33

o Unique beginner (everyone can tell a animal from a tree)
o Life form (tree, bush, grass…) — We really don’t go any further than this but people who are dependent on the environment will go further
o Generic (oak, vs cedar, vs spruce)
o Specific (white oak vs red oak)
o Varietal (red oak vs red scrub oak) -

Question 34

Why were there differences in the light patterns in different cultures?

Answer 34

dependence on the environment -

Question 35

What does monolexemic mean?

Answer 35

Consisting of a single lexeme.

Question 36

What are the 2 monolexemic criteria?

Answer 36

1. Cannot be subsumed into a larger category (eg. Vehicle.)
2. Wide applicability, can be used to refer to many things -

Question 37

What are eleven monolexemic terms to classify colors on light spectrum in English?

Answer 37

Light spectrum basic colors - ‘black’, ‘white’, ‘red’, ‘green’, ‘yellow’, ‘blue’, ‘brown’, ‘orange’, ‘pink’, ‘purple’, and ‘grey’
–not specific like light green or forest green, just green

Question 38

How many monolexemic terms are there to classify colors on the light spectrum?

Answer 38

11 -

Question 39

What colors are found in all cultures?

Answer 39

black and white -

Question 40

Why are there differences in patterns of colors in different cultures?

Answer 40

Dependence on environment -