Linguistics MASTERSHEET
What does the term grammar mean in linguistics? Our mental dictionary .The underlying unconscious set of rules for generating language. A set of principles we are taught. The rules of how humans should speak and write a particular language.
.The underlying unconscious set of rules for generating language.
Features are helpful in describing the rules that account for what type of change? Change in the beginning of words Allophonic variation Change in the meaning of words Change from one phoneme to another
????
What is the most common change in the process of conversion? The addition of grammatical information The addition of an affix A change in stress placement A change in the word's syntactic placement
A change in stress placement ??
Which of the following best describes the IPA symbol of [v]?
A labiodental fricative
Which of the following best describes an opaque orthographic system?
A language which has irregular sound-spelling correspondences
When considering abductive change, which of the following best describes semantic bleaching? A word refers to a subset of its previous meaning Functional elements are weakly stressed or unstressed compared to lexical elements A lexical item loses part or all of its meaning Functional elements are highly restricted in their distribution and are often clitics or affixes
A lexical item loses part or all of its meaning
Which of the following is an example of a phonological change? Changes in the distributional properties of verbs The word dog used to refer to a specific breed of dog A long vowel turning into a diphthong Development of an adverbial suffix into a derivational suffix
A long vowel turning into a diphthong
What is a minimal pair? A pair of words that differ by only one sound segment in the same position A pair of words with no equivalent sound segments A pair of words that have the minimum amount of sound similarities A pair of words that are the same in two separate language systems
A pair of words that differ by only one sound segment in the same position
How would one define the term behaviourism? The physiological instinct for communication The theory of language as a form of communication The physiological response to hearing language A psychological theory of learning based on habit formation
A psychological theory of learning based on habit formation
What is language to behaviorists? A form of communication learned by instinct A set of habits that is acquired through the reinforcement of certain responses to stimuli A man-made concept of communication developed from natural instincts None of the above.
A set of habits that is acquired through the reinforcement of certain responses to stimuli
Which of the following best describes aspiration?
A small puff of air that is exhaled when producing voiceless stops
Which of the following is an example of a positive face? A request that elicits a positive response from the receiver A student mentioning the professor's fairness when asking for a raised mark A decision to take something without asking Asking someone a challenging question that has no easy answer
A student mentioning the professor's fairness when asking for a raised mark
Which of the following best describes palatalization? A vowel is lengthened when a following consonant is lost A segment (usually an unstressed or weakly stressed vowel) is lost at the end of a word A phonemic contrast between two segments is lost and they merge as one and the same segment A velar or dental stop develops a palatal articulation or affrication before front vowels
A velar or dental stop develops a palatal articulation or affrication before front vowels
Which of the following best describes a dialect from a linguistics perspective? A stateless version of a given language A way in which someone speaks a given language An unwritten version of a given language A substandard way of speaking a given language
A way in which someone speaks a given language
When considering semantic change, which of the following best describes semantic narrowing? A word acquires a negative connotation as part of its meaning A word refers to a subset of its previous meaning A word acquires a positive connotation as part of its meaning The metaphorical use of a lexical category becomes its primary function
A word refers to a subset of its previous meaning
Which of the following is a maxim in the Cooperative Principle? Make your contribution relevant Make your contribution one that is true Make your contribution as informative as required All of the above
All of the above
What does emergentism argue?
All of the above (Language emerges as a by-product of the structure of the brain, Language emerges from the human need to communicate, Certain systems, including language, emerge naturally from multiple factors that interact at several levels)
What is the name for sounds that change their pronunciation based upon predictable contexts? Phonemic vowels Allophones Phonemes Allomorphs
Allophones
Which of the following is true of languages in which the adjective consistently precedes the noun? They are Romance languages Only one adjective per noun can exist in any given language An "evaluative" adjective always precedes an adjective of "origin or nationality" Adjectives always follow nouns that refer to living things
An "evaluative" adjective always precedes an adjective of "origin or nationality"
What occurs in the process of derivation? The meaning and/or category of an affix is changed Grammatical information is added that does not change the meaning and/or the category of the root An affix is added that changes the meaning and/or the category of the base, creating new lexemes The meaning and/or category of a word is changed by adding grammatical information.
An affix is added that changes the meaning and/or the category of the base, creating new lexemes
Which of the following best describes a complement? An argument that is required by the head in order to complete its meaning An argument that is required by all adjectives and adverbs An argument that cannot be used with prepositions The part of a sentence all tensed verbs are required to have
An argument that is required by the head in order to complete its meaning
Which of the following best describes nasalization? A consonant takes on the phonetic feature from the following segment A segment (usually an unstressed or weakly stressed vowel) is lost in the middle of a word An oral vowel becomes nasalized before (or, more rarely, after) a nasal stop A vowel is lengthened when a following consonant is lost
An oral vowel becomes nasalized before (or, more rarely, after) a nasal stop
How do generative accounts explain language? As a form of knowledge that is generally acquired in school As a form of knowledge limited by grammatical rules to a fixed number of utterances As a form of knowledge that is able to generate an infinite number of sentences As a form of knowledge that must be both spoken and written
As a form of knowledge that is able to generate an infinite number of sentences
What is the Maximum Onset Rule? - There should be as many onsets as there are syllables in a word, as long as the resulting sequence is allowed in the language. - The number of onsets in a word should outnumber the number of codas, as long as the resulting sequence is allowed in the language. - As many consonants as possible should be syllabified in the onset, as long as the resulting sequence is allowed in the language. - The creation of a nucleus depends on the use of the maximum number of onsets, as long as the resulting sequence is allowed in the language.
As many consonants as possible should be syllabified in the onset, as long as the resulting sequence is allowed in the language.
How do functional accounts view communication?
As the main function of language
Which of the following best describes the maxim of relation in the Cooperation Principle? Strive for brevity and order Avoid obscurity and ambiguity Be as informative as requires Be relevant
Be relevant
What is the theta role of Julie in the sentence: Joe baked Julie a cake? Beneficiary Agent Cause Goal
Beneficiary
Which of the following is similar to what we associate with the "raspberry" sound?
Bilabial trill
How are nasal sounds produced? Without a complete blockage of airflow in the vocal tract By the tongue tip touching the roof of the mouth, with air escaping from the nasal cavity By lowering the velum, allowing air to escape through the nose By pulling the vocal folds together
By lowering the velum, allowing air to escape through the nose
How do approaches to connectionism model language acquisition?
By using computer simulations
In building a tree diagram, which of the following will be the same for every sentence? Adjuncts are required by the head Complements are represented to the left of the head An adjunct is always projected as the sister to the head Each sentence is the projection of the tense head T
Each sentence is the projection of the tense head T ?
In which one of Talmy's typologies are direction and manner expressed by equivalent grammatical forms? Satellite-framed languages Fixed word-order languages Verb-framed languages Equipollently-framed languages
Equipollently-framed languages
In what way can animals be said to communicate? Mirroring the communication strategies that humans model Using a complex grammar Adapting species-specific vocabulary throughout evolution Evolving over time a set of signals that can be interpreted by other animals
Evolving over time a set of signals that can be interpreted by other animals
What is it called when a phone is pronounced in different ways, but the phonetic context does not change? Near minimal pair Free variation Complementary distribution Semantic change
Free variation
In what way did the focus of linguistics in the 19th and early 20th centuries change? From focusing on how languages evolve over time, to studying languages as autonomous systems which should be studied in their own right None of the above From focusing on the study of the Latin language, to including English and Arabic From understanding human communication, to understanding its relation to animal communication
From focusing on how languages evolve over time, to studying languages as autonomous systems which should be studied in their own right
Which of the following is true about intonation?
In written language, punctuation fulfills many of the functions that intonation does in spoken language?
When considering change and diffusion, which of the following is true about change? It is a flawed transmission It affects the E-language but not the I-language of a linguistic community It must be studied using the tools of sociolinguistics analysis It affects the E-language but not the I-language of an individual
It affects the E-language but not the I-language of an individual
Why might a language be considered an isolate? It shares similarities with multiple other languages It is no longer actively spoken in the world It is only spoken in one region of the world It cannot be grouped with other languages as a member of a language family
It cannot be grouped with other languages as a member of a language family
Which of the following is true about conversation analysis? It is an area of semantics that deals with how sentences are used in conversation It deals with how we take turns and structure conversations It reveals that humans are not in complete control of their conversations It deals with the pronunciation of each speaker in a conversation
It deals with how we take turns and structure conversations
Which of the following best describes pragmatic meaning? It describes the patterns and rules for building less elaborate meanings It depends on knowledge of the world and the situation surrounding the conversation It looks at the meaning of lexical items and how they relate in the mind It looks at how phrases contribute to the meaning of the sentence
It depends on knowledge of the world and the situation surrounding the conversation
Which of the following best describes pragmatics? It reflects on how history contributes to meaning It is a companion subfield to phonetics It studies meaning in words and phrases It is concerned with the study of meaning in context
It is concerned with the study of meaning in context
How does phonology deal with the sounds of a language? It looks at the psychology of language learners encountering new sounds It looks at how sounds are produced by speakers It looks at how a specific language selects segments and organizes the sound system It looks at the way in which sounds are perceived in a sounds system
It looks at how a specific language selects segments and organizes the sound system
Why is the feature [number] important to syntax? It anchors the event in time It may affect agreement with the verb It is the first feature that is noticeable in a word It specifies the timeframe that applies to the action
It may affect agreement with the verb
What is required of a bound morpheme? It must be able to appear on its own It must be used within a sentence of two or more words It must carry secondary stress It must attach to another morpheme
It must attach to another morpheme
When considering change and diffusion, which of the following is true about I-language change? It must be studied using the tools of sociolinguistics It affects the way dialect variation is seen by the community It must be studied with the analytical tools used in theoretical linguistics It is synonymous with the mental lexicon of a language user
It must be studied with the analytical tools used in theoretical linguistics
What does the concept of lexeme represent? It distinguishes between morphemes and their allomorphs It represents what all the forms of a word have in common It represents the structure of a word It represents the meaning of a phrase
It represents what all the forms of a word have in common
What is a word's denotation? Its compound lexical meaning Its emotional and cultural meaning Its literal, dictionary meaning Its grammatical function
Its literal, dictionary meaning
What do usage-based approaches suggest about language? Language varies in usefulness depending on how often it is used Language is acquired instinctively regardless of frequency of use Language is acquired mainly through repeated use in social interactions Association between language forms plays no role in language acquisition
Language is acquired mainly through repeated use in social interactions
Which of the following is a claim made in cognitive semantics? Truth-conditions are expressed relative to various models of the word Language is not a special innate capacity The natural world exists and is open to human cognition Sentence-world relations should be maximally explicit and precise
Language is not a special innate capacity
When can a language be considered complete in its transformation process? When speakers of the language become isolated to one region Languages are constantly changing Once it has become unrecognizable form its ancestral language When the language becomes a written language
Languages are constantly changing
Which of the following is a reason that a language may shift from being an isolating language? Multiple morphemes in this language type can have the same meaning Many roots in this language type serve a double or even triple purpose Words end up being very long in this type of language This type of language involves a lot of morphophonological alternations
Many roots in this language type serve a double or even triple purpose
What do you call words that were historically made up of two morphemes, but in modern English, the original meaning has been lost? Phonetic morpheme Monomorphemic Bimorphemic Morphophonologic
Monomorphemic
What is the name for the study of the interaction between phonology and morphology? Monomorphemics Morphophonology Phonetic morphology Phonetics
Morphophonology
Which will require fewer features to define? Individual phonemes Natural classes Vowels Consonants
Natural classes
Which of the following word orders is least common? Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) Variable word order Object-Subject-Verb (OSV)
Object-Subject-Verb (OSV)
How do we define competence in the context of syntax? Our language use in different situations Our performance in language learning The study of how phrases are put together Our knowledge of language
Our knowledge of language
In terms of language, what does the term competence refer to? How we use language Our level of oral comprehension of language Our unconscious knowledge of language The ability to learn multiple languages
Our unconscious knowledge of language
What is entailed in the process of reduplication? A morpheme is completely replaced by a different one One segment within the word is substituted for another segment The morpheme is made up of two parts, one a suffix and one a prefix Part of a word or the entire word is repeated
Part of a word or the entire word is repeated
Which of the following properties allows us to determine whether a sound is a phoneme in a particular language? Phonemes are sounds that distinguish between words that have different meanings Phonemes classify sounds according to their articulatory function Phonemes allow us to describe the acoustic properties of sounds Phonemes serve to indicate the development of a language over time
Phonemes are sounds that distinguish between words that have different meanings
Which of the following may operate at the level of the syllable? Complementary distribution Syntax Redundancy Phonological rules
Phonological rules
Which of the following best describes the process of the Directionality Approach? Reconstructing ancestral forms by considering which sound changes are common in language, and which ones are rare or unknown Identifying the biological historical relationships among languages Words and structures are compared across related languages in order to reconstruct their shared ancestors A majority-based approach to reconstruction
Reconstructing ancestral forms by considering which sound changes are common in language, and which ones are rare or unknown
Which of the following is an example of a performative speech act? Telling someone "I will leave if you don't do stop yelling" Telling a reader "Vote for Lana Del Rey in this poll" Saying the words "Just sayin'" Saying the words "We apologize"
Saying the words "We apologize"
Which of the following best describes a fusional language? Several grammatical meanings can be expressed by a single morpheme Words typically consist of multiple morphemes, which are attached to the root Grammatical meanings such as number or tense are expressed not by affixes attached to nouns or verbs, but by separate words Words typically consist of one or two morphemes
Several grammatical meanings can be expressed by a single morpheme
What makes a sentence ungrammatical? It is well formed according to the intuitions of speakers of that language. Tradition tells speakers that a certain sentence is probable in the language. Speakers of the language feel the sentence is impossible in the language. One can pause at any point in an utterance in a language.
Speakers of the language feel the sentence is impossible in the language.
Which of the following goals can implicature achieve most successfully? Clarifying an utterance Making a situation awkward Suggesting something without explicitly stating it Reinforcing a statement
Suggesting something without explicitly stating it
The past tense of the English verb go is Which process does this illustrate? Reduplication Internal change Derivation Suppletion
Suppletion
Which of the following is true about building wh-questions? QPs never move to the beginning of the structure. Inversion applies at it does in yes/no questions The QP my only be represented by one word There are no exceptions to T-to-C movement
The QP my only be represented by one word
Which of the following best describes corpus planning for a minority language to flourish? The creation of resources and documentation in the language Efforts to create positive connotations for the language The appearance of movements such as protests and strikes Strategies to weaken the power of the dominant language in the region
The creation of resources and documentation in the language
Which of the following best describes an I-language? The ancestral language of the Indo-European language family The knowledge of language or mental grammar of an individual Sociopolitical concepts that characterize the linguistic of different speech communities A language that is an isolate and cannot be grouped with other languages
The knowledge of language or mental grammar of an individual
Which of the following aspects of communication does the field of a text affect? The type of textbook in which the information appears The implicatures of discourse The lexical items most likely to appear The choices of forms of address
The lexical items most likely to appear
Which of the following is demonstrated through ambiguous phrases? The impossibility of knowing what the structure of a sentence is That every sentence will be interpreted the same way by a fluent speaker in the language The link between a phrase's interpretation and the way the constituents relate to each other. The connection between phrases in languages with the same historic root.
The link between a phrase's interpretation and the way the constituents relate to each other.
In the following sentence: There were dark clouds in the sky today. However, it rained, what is the problem? The verb tense should be subjunctive to offer better coherence Our human experience links the entities of dark clouds and rain The Turn-Constructional Units should be reversed The link is made with the wrong discourse marker
The link is made with the wrong discourse marker
Which of the following best defines cohesion? The linking of entities The linking of propositions The linking of a speaker's output to a receiver's input The linking of similar concepts
The linking of entities
Which of the following best describes hyponymy? Words or phrases expressing opposite senses It has more than one sense or meaning Words or expressions that have the same or partially the same sense The meaning of one word is a subset or included in the meaning of the other
The meaning of one word is a subset or included in the meaning of the other
Which two elements constitute the rhyme of a syllable?
The nucleus and the coda
Which of the following is determined by the head of a phrase? The properties and types of the phrase The role that the phrase represents in the sentence The type of sentence it will be part of Whether it should precede or follow obligatory constituents
The properties and types of the phrase ??
How can metonymy be described? An expression of "internal temporal constituency" The replacement of the name of an object with the name of something else with which it is closely associated The creation of abstraction that live in the speaker's mind/brain An expression applied to an object, person, or event to which it is not really applicable
The replacement of the name of an object with the name of something else with which it is closely associated
When there are complex onsets or codas, what does the Sonority Scale require? Sonorants must only appear adjacent to the nucleus of a syllable Sonorants are not considered part of the binary branch The segments with the highest degree of sonority should be closest to the nucleus All of the elements within a coda or onset with 2 or more elements must be sonorants
The segments with the highest degree of sonority should be closest to the nucleus
Which of the following best describes phonetics?
The study of human speech sounds
Which of the following best describes historical linguistics? The study of past language stages and language change over time The systematic study of the meaning of linguistic expressions The study of the patterns of sounds in a particular language or dialect The study of our knowledge of how sentences are put together
The study of past language stages and language change over time
What is morphology? The study of how sounds are produced and perceived The study of words, how they are formed, and how they relate to other words The study of the patterns of sounds in a particular language or dialect The study of how a specific language selects segments and organizes the sound system
The study of words, how they are formed, and how they relate to other words
Which of the following describes semantics The systematic study of the meaning of linguistic expressions The study of how words are structured to form phrases The study of words, how they are formed and acquired The study of how we conduct conversations
The systematic study of the meaning of linguistic expressions
Which of the following isa potential consequence of a syllable being unstressed? The unstressed vowel may be reduced or dropped The stressed syllables in the word may eventually become unstressed The word that the syllable is in might be replaced in use by a synonym The word may change syntactic categories
The unstressed vowel may be reduced or dropped
In which of the following scenarios do voiced sounds occur?
The vocal folds are held tightly together, they vibrate very rapidly when air passes between them
Which of the following is true about a coherent text? The way entities and propositions are linked together, giving texture to the text Coherence infers a deeper comprehension by the receiver Coherence is relevant to oral communication and cohesion to written texts Coherence and cohesion cannot coexist within a text
The way entities and propositions are linked together, giving texture to the text
What is the problem with codas that include three or more segments? They limit options for pronunciation They are not binary branching They lead to allophonic variation They do not have enough elements in the onset
They are not binary branching
What is one way in which you can tell if two sounds are in complementary distribution? They cannot occur in the same phonetic environment The sounds can be used interchangeably in a language system They create meaning in a sound system when used together There is a language system in which only one of them exists
They cannot occur in the same phonetic environment
Which of the following is true about verbs They determine the number and type of arguments necessary to complete their meaning They do not contribute to the meaning of the sentence They are unrelated to the amount of arguments needed in the sentence They do not carry any grammatical information
They determine the number and type of arguments necessary to complete their meaning ??
What is the problem with codas that include three or more segments? They are not binary branching They lead to allophonic variation They limit options for pronunciation They do not have enough elements in the onset
They do not have enough elements in the onset?
Which of the following is true about speech acts? They must be clearly stated They may be indirect They always succeed at achieving a goal They are limited to oral communication
They may be indirect
Which of the following is true about syntactic features? They express the way that Romance languages are syntactically structured They represent an abstract grammatical property They are not applicable in most languages They contain lexical meaning
They represent an abstract grammatical property
Besides describing language, what is the main purpose of linguistics? To create guidelines for eliminating common grammatical errors To explain why language is as it is To standardize dialects of languages All of the above
To explain why language is as it is
What combination of elements constitute a compound? Two bound morphemes Two free morphemes A morpheme with more than one affix One bound and one free morpheme
Two free morphemes
When does metathesis occur?
When the order of sounds in a word are reversed
How is a dental fricative produced?
When the tongue tip is flat and pressed against the back of the teeth
Which question are most modern linguists not interested in answering? How is language acquired? How did language evolve? How is language represented in the brain? Which language forms are more correct than others?
Which language forms are more correct than others?
Which of the following is a reason that a language may shift from being an agglutinative language? This type of language involves a lot of morphophonological alternations Multiple morphemes in this language type can have the same meaning Many roots in this language type serve a double or even triple purpose Words end up being very long in this type of language
Words end up being very long in this type of language
Which of the following is true about the way that a sentence is structured? A sentence can be broken up in any way Phrases relate to each other in a structural hierarchy Words in sentences follow each other in a linear fashion Words are really just jumbled together
Words in sentences follow each other in a linear fashion
Which of the following best describes an agglutinative language? Words typically consist of one or two morphemes Several grammatical meanings can be expressed by a single morpheme Words typically consist of multiple morphemes, which are attached to the root Grammatical meanings such as number or tense are expressed not by affixes attached to nouns or verbs, but by separate words
Words typically consist of multiple morphemes, which are attached to the root
Which of the following is true about lax vowels?
Words with one syllable cannot end in lax vowels