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






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






3. Actually saying a word - what you can do






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






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






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






7. Adding derivational morphemes to create new words (to fax)






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






9. Affix after the root






10. The science that studies language






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






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






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






14. Aspects of meaning evoked by cultural or literary codes






15. The meaning of a sign






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






17. The vocabulary of a speaker/language






18. Provides information about the group to which individuals belong






19. A sentence in context






20. The word that connects the meaning and the referent






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






22. Mental representation of a word






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






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






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






26. One who knows many languages






27. The principle of cooperation that requires relevance






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






29. Deals with how sounds are put together to form words






30. The branch of pragmatics that studies deictic words






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






32. The rise and fall of sentences






33. Adding derivational morphemes to create new words (to fax)






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






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






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






37. The situation in which a sentence is uttered






38. Deals with the sounds of a language






39. Blending two existing words (motel - brunch)






40. Deals with how the sounds are organized






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






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






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






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






45. The word that connects the meaning and the referent






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






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






48. One who knows many languages






49. Affix after the root






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