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 overall meaning of a text






2. Provides information about the group to which individuals belong






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






11. Deals with how sentences are formed






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






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






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






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






16. The science that studies language






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






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






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






20. Affix before the root






21. One who knows many languages






22. The word that connects the meaning and the referent






23. A word that has died out






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






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






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






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






28. The overall meaning of a text






29. Describing the facts - Tries to determine why people use language the way they do - seeks to find the rules that govern spoken language






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






31. Blending two existing words (motel - brunch)






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






33. An utterance produced by a speaker






34. A transformation in which you add an auxiliary verb and switching to question format






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






36. Deals with the sounds of a language






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






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






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






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






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






42. Meaning components






43. Deals with the sounds of a language






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






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






46. Having more than one meaning (polysemy)






47. Affix before the root






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






49. A sentence in which no transformation has been applied






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