Special Sub-Topic: Linguistic Anthropology Click Here To Play: Linguistic Anthropology

The study of the sounds of language is known as:

Phonology. Phonology is split into two subordinate units: phonetics (precise identification and description of speech sounds), and phonemics (identification of the system of the sets of sounds of any language).

Which of the following words can be described as containing an affricate?

budged. Pill is a stop, Hammer is a nasal (the 'em' sound), and huffle is a fricative.

The study of the structure of words is known as:

Morphology. The smallest segments that carry meaning are called morphemes.

This early anthropologist is considered to be one of the giants of modern linguistics...who was it?

Edward Sapir. Sapir added psychological theory to the study of language.

Spoken language is believed to have arisen in what early human group?

Modern Homo sapiens. There is speculation regarding spoken language in Neanderthals. Unfortunately, the delicate hyoid bone is rarely found in excavation sites. Some suggest that speech may have originated in Homo habilis, but this is currently under great debate.

Ferdinand de Saussure made a distinction between speech and language. In his words, how did he label these two categories?

parole and langue. de Saussure regarded language to be a social fact, arising as a set of conventions shared by a community of speakers.

Fricatives are formed by:

narrowing the air passage. Fricatives are formed by narrowing the air passage. There is audible frictional noise due to this constriction.

True or False : Sounds can be voiced or voiceless.

True. For example, a voiced fricative is " zip" whereas a voiceless fricative is "sip".

Noam Chomsky believes that there is a(n):

Universal mental grammar. The Universal mental grammar, as noted by Chomsky, is the central throetical construct of modern linguists.

One who studies language can be considered a(n):

all answers are correct. Semantics....