THE QUIZ...

To give you a better idea of what I presented at Dartmouth, perhaps some of
you would like to take the following 10-question quiz It is not my work
alone, and I am grateful to Sydney Lamb for having suggested at least one
question and several other changes as we conferred together on my
presentation during the months before the conference. Simply jump in and
give the best answers you can, judge for yourself what each question means,
and don't worry too much if a few of the questions admit to either answer.
You might also do best to ignore the carping comments by some here who
object to what this quiz may have to say about the current state of
linguistics.

LINGUISTICS: A Quick True or False Self-Test

Do not enter your name on this test unless you want to. A method for
calculating your score and some comments about the methodology are presented
near the beginning of the piece on my website at:

http://languag2.home.sprynet.com/f/evidence.htm

You can send me a copy of your answers if you want to or even post them on
sci.lang. But it is certainly not required. No one besides yourself has any
need to know the results.

1. Linguistics is the science of language. ___True ___False

2. The detailed study of grammar will ultimately unveil all major secrets
of language.
___True ___False

3. Mathematics and especially computational mathematics are far more
complex than language and will necessarily sooner or later produce solutions
for most linguistic problems.
___True ___False

4. The consequences of decoding the human genome together with the
development of ever smaller nanotechnological tools will lead to discoveries
so vast and all-embracing that the solution to relatively trivial linguistic
problems will become an insignificant detail by comparison.
___True ___False

5. If Whorfian theories were correct, this would lead to a form of
linguistic predeterminism governing our actions and attitudes. But all
human beings enjoy free will, and no one is ever influenced by the
structures of their languages alone. ___True ___False

6. Furthermore, if Whorfian theories were true, translation between
languages would be impossible. But since we all know that translation is in
fact perfectly possible, this means that Whorfian theories must be
incorrect. Therefore, we do not need to study translation as a branch of
linguistics or listen to what mere translators try to tell us about
language. ___ True ___False

7. Despite all appearances to the contrary, advances in machine translation
over the decades have been so encouraging that after only a few more years
of research the long-sought goal of Fully Automatic High Quality translation
for all texts is likely to become a reality. ___True ___False

8. Words and morphemes have core-meanings, and the painstaking study of
these core-meanings is certain to yield important new insights into how
language functions and perhaps lead to the creation of universal conceptual
glossaries. ___True ___False

9. Some 180 professional societies in our field are currently active around
the world and most hold annual conferences lasting from two to five days
each year, which means that scarcely a day passes when a learned conference
about language is not in session. Such intensive activity can only mean
that our knowledge of how language has evolved in the past and functions
today is at an absolute peak and that all major linguistic problems are
likely to soon be resolved.
___True ___False

10. The invention of language by humans was a decisive step in all of
evolution--it ranks as our highest and most advanced achievement as a
species and marks us as quite unique among all other creatures on our
planet. ___True ___False



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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Another Sterling Massachusetts Alum
    ... They have been trying to develop a translation ... Do you mean LANGUAGE departments? ... departments were both cut and courses. ... Linguistics (as Columbia eliminated the department pretty much in the ...
    (alt.sports.baseball.bos-redsox)
  • Re: Another Sterling Massachusetts Alum
    ... They have been trying to develop a translation ... Do you mean LANGUAGE departments? ... departments were both cut and courses. ... Linguistics (as Columbia eliminated the department pretty much in the ...
    (alt.sports.baseball.bos-redsox)
  • Re: THE QUIZ...
    ... > complex than language and will necessarily sooner or later produce solutions ... Furthermore, if Whorfian theories were true, translation between ... > linguistics or listen to what mere translators try to tell us about ... > today is at an absolute peak and that all major linguistic problems are ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Another Sterling Massachusetts Alum
    ... They have been trying to develop a translation ... Do you mean LANGUAGE departments? ... departments were both cut and courses. ... Linguistics (as Columbia eliminated the department pretty much in the ...
    (alt.sports.baseball.bos-redsox)
  • Re: Related languages (Re: A China-Sumer connection)
    ... Do I need to rattle off the dozen or so linguistics ... their simplistic hypothesis that language spreads with farming. ... from a 2002 conference IIRC -- articles on teasing out ...
    (sci.lang)