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 effect an utterance has on its audience (speech act)






2. Aspects of meaning evoked by cultural or literary codes






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






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






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






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






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






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






9. Affix in the middle of a word






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






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






12. The vocabulary of a speaker/language






13. The rise and fall of sentences






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






15. A sentence in which no transformation has been applied






16. Deals with how sentences are formed






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






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






19. Affix in the middle of a word






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






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






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






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






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






25. The sequence of sounds that make up a word






26. Aspects of meaning evoked by cultural or literary codes






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






28. Mental representation of a word






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






30. A sentence in which no transformation has been applied






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






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






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






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






35. Meaning components






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






37. Having more than one meaning (polysemy)






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






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






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






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






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






43. Deals with how sentences are formed






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






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






46. Meaning components






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






48. The Principle of cooperation that states that one does not say what is false or what you lack evidence for






49. Affix before the root






50. A new word