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






2. Affixes - need to attach to another morpheme






3. The branch of pragmatics that studies deictic words






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






5. The vocabulary of a speaker/language






6. The word that connects the meaning and the referent






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






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






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






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






11. The principle of cooperation that requires relevance






12. The rise and fall of sentences






13. One who knows many languages






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






22. Aspects of meaning evoked by cultural or literary codes






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






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






25. The science that studies language






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






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






28. Actually saying a word - what you can do






29. A sentence in which no transformation has been applied






30. One who knows many languages






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






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






33. The principle of cooperation that requires relevance






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






35. Actually saying a word - what you can do






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






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






38. A sentence in context






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






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






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






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






43. The connection between shape and meaning is arbitrary






44. Affix in the middle of a word






45. A word that has died out






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






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






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






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






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