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Linguistics Basics

Subject : humanities
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Occurs when words have been disambigued and a sentence has a clear meaning






2. Multiword units - the meaning of which is not the sum of its parts






3. Required by syntax - mark grammatical categories (plurality - tense - comparative - etc) suffixes only






4. Parts of a word are translated from other languages to create a new word (Fernsprecher)






5. Having more than one meaning (polysemy)






6. Meaning components






7. Describes how language words today or at any given moment in time - not concerned with origin/history






8. Deals with the sounds of a language






9. Purposefully violating one of the principles/maxims of cooperation






10. Affix in the middle of a word






11. Deals with how sentences are formed






12. 1. Vowels (no obstruction) 2. Stops (complete obstruction) 3. Fricatives (Partial occlusion)






13. What can be deduced from the sentence's literal meaning






14. Moving parts of a sentence into different positions for emphatic purposes






15. Invent new words from scratch (Xerox - Kleenex)






16. Morphemes that can appear alone (cat)






17. Blending two existing words (motel - brunch)






18. The property of the surface structure of the text to 'hold together'






19. The sequence of sounds that make up a word






20. The set of sentences that must be true for the sentence to be true






21. Change the meaning of a word - or part of speech (ex. child -> childhood)






22. A transformation in which you divide the phrasal verb (Mary stood up John --> Mary stoop John up)






23. Aspects of meaning evoked by cultural or literary codes






24. The fact that saying something commits you to it (vow - promise - swearing) (speech act)






25. A new word






26. The set of sentences that must be true for the sentence to be true






27. Aspects of meaning having to do with feelings or attitudes of speakers (liberal - terrorist)






28. How sentences and texts are used in the world(context)






29. Using a word from another language to create a new word (cafe - deja-vu)






30. Aspects of meaning having to do with the linguistic environment in which the expression occurs (cease and desist)






31. A transformation in which you divide the phrasal verb (Mary stood up John --> Mary stoop John up)






32. Moving parts of a sentence into different positions for emphatic purposes






33. Putting two old words together to make a new word (railway)






34. All aspects of meaning that go beyond the sense of the word - or the literal meaning






35. Mental representation of a word






36. Change the meaning of a word - or part of speech (ex. child -> childhood)






37. Aspects of meaning having to do with feelings or attitudes of speakers (liberal - terrorist)






38. A syntactic phenomenon where a given constituent is in a constituent of the same kind






39. The meaning derived from flouting






40. The object which you can see - touch - hear - or smell






41. Meaning components






42. Combined phonemes - the smallest unit of language with a distinct meaning






43. When a public body decides which language will be taught in schools - what languages public employees must know - etc






44. Used by linguists to represent sounds in the languages of the world






45. The branch of pragmatics that studies deictic words






46. The meaning derived from flouting






47. What we say in a literal sense (speech act)






48. The principle of cooperation that requires you be as informative as required but not more than that






49. A transformation in which you shift the object of a sentence (Mary gave a book to John --> Mary gave John a book)






50. Noam Chomsky's idea that the principles that govern grammar are genetically programmed in human beings