Chapter 2

Question 1

communicative signals

Answer 1

behaviors used intentionally to provide information

Question 2

glossolalia

Answer 2

also known as “speaking in tongues”,
the production of sounds and syllables in a stream of speech that seems to have no communicative purpose (e.g. chirping and singing of birds)

Question 3

informative signals

Answer 3

behaviors that provide information, usually unintentionally (e.g. sneezing)

Question 4

reflexivity

Answer 4

a special property of human language that allows language to be used to think and talk about language itself

Question 5

arbitrariness

Answer 5

a property of language describing the fact that there is no natural connection between a linguistic form and its meaning

Question 6

displacement

Answer 6

a property of language that allows users to talk about things and events not present in the immediate environment (e.g. Santa Claus, fairies)

Question 7

productivity

Answer 7

a property of language that allows users to create new expressions, also called “creativity” or “open-endedness”

Question 8

cultural transmission

Answer 8

the process whereby knowledge of a language is passed from one generation to the next

Question 9

fixed reference

Answer 9

a property of a communication system whereby each signal is fixed as relating to one particular object or occasion (e.g. scent-based signaling)

Question 10

duality

Answer 10

a property of language whereby linguistic forms have two simultaneous levels of sound production and meaning, also called “double articulation” (e.g. bin and nib)

Question 11

recursion

Answer 11

the repeated application of a rule in generating structures