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. Having more than one meaning (polysemy)






2. The situation in which a sentence is uttered






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






4. Affix before the root






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






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






7. A sentence in which no transformation has been applied






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






15. Provides information about the group to which individuals belong






16. Mental representation of a word






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






34. Core meaning - corresponds to a sign's sense or intension - the literal meaning of a word






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






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






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






38. Affix in the middle of a word






39. The meaning derived from flouting






40. The ability to produce language - what you know






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






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






43. A sentence in which no transformation has been applied






44. The rise and fall of sentences






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






46. The science that studies language






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






48. Deals with how sentences are formed






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






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