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 situation in which a sentence is uttered






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






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






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






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






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






7. 1. Airstream 2. Phonation 3. Nasalization 4. Articulation






8. An utterance produced by a speaker






9. Provides information about the group to which individuals belong






10. A transformation in which you change the voice of the sentence (Mary stoop up John --> John was stood up by Mary)






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






12. Affix before the root






13. The overall meaning of a text






14. Affix after the root






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






16. Blending two existing words (motel - brunch)






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






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






19. The ability to produce language - what you know






20. Deals with the sounds of a language






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






22. The branch of pragmatics that studies deictic words






23. A new word






24. Actually saying a word - what you can do






25. Meaning components






26. 1. Airstream 2. Phonation 3. Nasalization 4. Articulation






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






28. Morphemes that can appear alone (cat)






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






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






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






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






33. Affixes - need to attach to another morpheme






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






35. The principle of cooperation that requires relevance






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






37. Blending two existing words (motel - brunch)






38. Affix after the root






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






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






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






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






43. A sentence in context






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






45. The connection between shape and meaning is arbitrary






46. A new word






47. Mental representation of a word






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






49. A sentence in which no transformation has been applied






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