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 situation in which a sentence is uttered






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






3. Provides information about the group to which individuals belong






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






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






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






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






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






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






10. Aspects of meaning evoked by cultural or literary codes






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






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






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






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






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






16. Deals with how the sounds are organized






17. The meaning of a sign






18. The branch of pragmatics that studies deictic words






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






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






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






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






23. Deals with the sounds of a language






24. Aspects of meaning evoked by cultural or literary codes






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






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






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






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






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






30. Affix after the root






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






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






33. The word that connects the meaning and the referent






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






35. A sentence in which no transformation has been applied






36. A sentence in which no transformation has been applied






37. Affix after the root






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






46. The principle of cooperation that requires relevance






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






48. Associations that an individual/small group may develop through everyday experiences (inside joke)






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






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