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. Having more than one meaning (polysemy)






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






3. The connection between shape and meaning is arbitrary






4. Breaking a word down by the way it looks and adding morphemes (workaholic - veggieburger)






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






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






7. The branch of pragmatics that studies deictic words






8. The word that connects the meaning and the referent






9. A sentence in which no transformation has been applied






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






11. The vocabulary of a speaker/language






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






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






14. Aspects of meaning evoked by cultural or literary codes






15. The situation in which a sentence is uttered






16. The word that connects the meaning and the referent






17. A transformation in which you add a negation word to the sentence






18. An utterance produced by a speaker






19. Shift in meaning (drink a glass of water)






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






21. The connection between shape and meaning is arbitrary






22. The ability to produce language - what you know






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






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






25. Meaning components






26. One who knows many languages






27. Two linked turns by different speakers which make sense only taken together (How are you? Fine. How about you?)






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






29. Affix after the root






30. Breaking a word down by the way it looks and adding morphemes (workaholic - veggieburger)






31. Shortening a longer word (phone - auto) to create new words






32. Affix in the middle of a word






33. Having more than one meaning (polysemy)






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






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






36. Occurs when words have been disambigued and a sentence has a clear meaning






37. A new word






38. The sequence of sounds that make up a word






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






40. Aspects of meaning having to do with different levels of formality






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






42. The branch of pragmatics that studies deictic words






43. The principle of cooperation that states to avoid obscurity and ambiguity - be brief and orderly






44. The principle of cooperation that states to avoid obscurity and ambiguity - be brief and orderly






45. Provides information about the group to which individuals belong






46. The science that studies language






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






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






49. Figurative use of meaning (Bob is a pig)






50. Historical - shows how language has changed through time - traces the etymology of words