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






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






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






4. A sentence in context






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






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






7. The situation in which a sentence is uttered






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






9. Deals with how sentences are formed






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






11. The meaning derived from flouting






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






13. Mental representation of a word






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






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






16. Affixes - need to attach to another morpheme






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






18. A sentence in which no transformation has been applied






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






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






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






22. The rise and fall of sentences






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






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






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






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






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






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






29. The rise and fall of sentences






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






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






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






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






34. Having more than one meaning (polysemy)






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






36. Morphemes that can appear alone (cat)






37. The overall meaning of a text






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






39. The branch of pragmatics that studies deictic words






40. The situation in which a sentence is uttered






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






42. The word that connects the meaning and the referent






43. The science that studies language






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






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






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






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






48. A word that has died out






49. Affix in the middle of a word






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