Test your basic knowledge |

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. The meaning derived from flouting






2. Meanings of the same word that are unrelated (bank)






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






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






5. The science that studies language






6. Deals with the meaning of words - sentences - and texts






7. The ability to produce language - what you know






8. Two words of different meanings that differ in only one phoneme (bit and pit - dog and dock)






9. Associations that an individual/small group may develop through everyday experiences (inside joke)






10. Actually saying a word - what you can do






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






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






13. A sentence in which no transformation has been applied






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






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






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






17. Affixes - need to attach to another morpheme






18. Deals with how the sounds are organized






19. The sequence of sounds that make up a word






20. The rise and fall of sentences






21. The vocabulary of a speaker/language






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






23. A black and white - right and wrong approach to language - traditional - seeks to impose outside arbitrary rules






24. Two words of different meanings that differ in only one phoneme (bit and pit - dog and dock)






25. A single sound. K - d - t - e






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






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






28. Morphemes that can appear alone (cat)






29. Words that depend on the context of a sentence for meaning (I - here - now)






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






31. 1. Quality or timbre 2. Volume 3. Length 4. Pitch or tone






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






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






34. The situation in which a sentence is uttered






35. The rise and fall of sentences






36. Words that depend on the context of a sentence for meaning (I - here - now)






37. The connection between shape and meaning is arbitrary






38. Aspects of meaning concerning other meanings of an expression that may be activated when irrelevant (cock)






39. Having more than one meaning (polysemy)






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






41. The Principle of cooperation that states that one does not say what is false or what you lack evidence for






42. Using the initial letters of a set of words (NFL - NASA)






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






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






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






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






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






48. Aspects of meaning evoked by cultural or literary codes






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






50. A sentence in context