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. 1. Representations 2. Directives 3. Expressives 4. Commissives 5. Declaratives






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






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






4. The word that connects the meaning and the referent






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






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






7. Morphemes that can appear alone (cat)






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






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






10. Deals with how sentences are formed






11. A new word






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






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






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






15. The effect an utterance has on its audience (speech act)






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






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






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






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






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






21. The science that studies language






22. Deals with how the sounds are organized






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






24. Affixes - need to attach to another morpheme






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






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






27. Deals with how the sounds are organized






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






29. Blending two existing words (motel - brunch)






30. Affix in the middle of a word






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






40. The meaning of a sign






41. Mental representation of a word






42. The ability to produce language - what you know






43. Provides information about the group to which individuals belong






44. The connection between shape and meaning is arbitrary






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






46. Affix after the root






47. Affix before the root






48. The word that connects the meaning and the referent






49. A sentence in context






50. The situation in which a sentence is uttered