Unit 3: Culture (Patterns and Processes)

Question 1

Custom

Answer 1

The frequent repetition of an act, to the extent that it becomes characteristic of the group of people performing the act.

Question 2

Folk Culture

Answer 2

Culture traditionally practiced by a small, homogeneous, rural group living in relative isolation from other groups.

Question 3

Habit

Answer 3

A repetitive act performed by a particular individual.

Question 4

Popular Culture

Answer 4

Culture found in a large, heterogeneous society that shares certain habits despite differences in other personal characteristics.

Question 5

Taboo

Answer 5

A restriction on behavior imposed by social custom.

Question 6

Terroir

Answer 6

The contribution of a location’s distinctive physical features to the way food tastes.

Question 7

Animism

Answer 7

Belief that objects, such as plants and stones, or natural events, like thunderstorms and earthquakes, have a discrete spirit and conscious life.

Question 8

Autonomous Religion

Answer 8

A religion that does not have a central authority but shares ideas and cooperates informally.

Question 9

Branch

Answer 9

A large and fundamental division within a religion.

Question 10

Caste

Answer 10

The class or distinct hereditary order into which a Hindu is assigned according to religious law.

Question 11

Cosmogony

Answer 11

A set of religious beliefs concerning the origin of the universe.

Question 12

Denomination

Answer 12

A division of a branch that unites a number of local congregations into a single legal and administrative body.

Question 13

Ethnic Religion

Answer 13

A religion with a relatively concentrated spatial distribution whose principles are likely to be based on the physical characteristics of the particular location in which its adherents are concentrated.

Question 14

Fundamentalism

Answer 14

Literal interpretation and strict adherence to basic principles of a religion (or a religious branch, denomination, or sect).

Question 15

Ghetto

Answer 15

During the Middle Ages, a neighborhood in a city set up by law to be inhabited only by Jews; now used to denote a section of a city in which members of any minority group live because of social, legal, or economic pressure.

Question 16

Hierarchical Religion

Answer 16

A religion in which a central authority exercises a high degree of control.

Question 17

Missionary

Answer 17

An individual who helps to diffuse a universalizing religion.

Question 18

Monotheism

Answer 18

The doctrine or belief of the existence of only one god.

Question 19

Pagan

Answer 19

A follower of a polytheistic religion in ancient times.

Question 20

Pilgrimage

Answer 20

A journey to a place considered sacred for religious purposes.

Question 21

Polytheism

Answer 21

Belief in or worship of more than one god.

Question 22

Sect

Answer 22

A relatively small group that has broken away from an established denomination.

Question 23

Solstice

Answer 23

Astronomical event that happens twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth’s axis is most inclined toward or away from the Sun, causing the Sun’s apparent position in the sky to reach it’s most northernmost or southernmost extreme, and resulting in the shortest and longest days of the year.

Question 24

Universalizing Religion

Answer 24

A religion that attempts to appeal to all people, not just those living in a particular location.

Question 25

British Received Pronunciation (BRP)

Answer 25

The dialect of English associated with upper-class Britons living in London and now considered standard in the United Kingdom.

Question 26

Creole or Creolized Language

Answer 26

A language that results from the mixing of a colonizer’s language with the indigenous language of the people being dominated.

Question 27

Denglish

Answer 27

Combination of German and English.

Question 28

Dialect

Answer 28

A regional variety of a language distinguished by vocab, spelling, and pronunciation.

Question 29

Ebonics

Answer 29

Dialect spoken by some African Americans.

Question 30

Extinct Language

Answer 30

A language that was once used by people in daily activities but is no longer used.

Question 31

Franglais

Answer 31

A term used by the French for English words that have entered the French language; a combination of francais and anglais, the French words for “French” and “English”, respectively.

Question 32

Ideograms

Answer 32

The system of writing used in China and other East Asian countries in which each symbol represents and idea or a concept rather than a specific sound, as is the case with letters in English.

Question 33

Isogloss

Answer 33

A boundary that separates regions in which different language uses predominate.

Question 34

Isolated Language

Answer 34

A language that is unrelated to any other languages and therefore not attached to any language family.

Question 35

Language

Answer 35

A system of communication through the use of speech, a collection of sounds understood by a group of people to have the same meaning.

Question 36

Language Branch

Answer 36

A collection of languages related through a common ancestor that existed several thousand years ago.

Question 37

Language Family

Answer 37

A collection of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history.

Question 38

Language Group

Answer 38

A collection of languages with a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display relatively few differences in grammar and vocabulary.

Question 39

Lingua Franca

Answer 39

A language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages.

Question 40

Literary Tradition

Answer 40

A language that is written as well as spoken.

Question 41

Official Language

Answer 41

The language adopted for use by the government for the conduct of business and publication of documents.

Question 42

Pidgin Language

Answer 42

A form of speech that adopts a simplified grammar and limited vocabulary of a lingua franca; used for communications among speakers of two different languages.

Question 43

Spanglish

Answer 43

Combination of Spanish and English, spoken by Hispanic Americans.

Question 44

Standard Language

Answer 44

The form of a language used for official government business, education, and mass communications.

Question 45

Vulgar Latin

Answer 45

A form of Latin used in daily conversation by ancient Romans, as opposed to the standard dialect, which was used for official documents.