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






2. Blending two existing words (motel - brunch)






3. Affixes - need to attach to another morpheme






4. Mental representation of a word






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






6. A new word






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






8. Provides information about the group to which individuals belong






9. A sentence in which no transformation has been applied






10. Deals with the sounds of a language






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






12. Aspects of meaning evoked by cultural or literary codes






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






14. The word that connects the meaning and the referent






15. The branch of pragmatics that studies deictic words






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






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






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






19. The principle of cooperation that requires relevance






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






27. How sentences and texts are used in the world(context)






28. The sequence of sounds that make up a word






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






30. The branch of pragmatics that studies deictic words






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






32. Affix in the middle of a word






33. Morphemes that can appear alone (cat)






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






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






36. One who knows many languages






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






38. A sentence in context






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






49. Affix in the middle of a word






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