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






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






3. An utterance produced by a speaker






4. Affix before the root






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






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






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






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






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






10. The science that studies language






11. The vocabulary of a speaker/language






12. A new word






13. The connection between shape and meaning is arbitrary






14. The connection between shape and meaning is arbitrary






15. The sequence of sounds that make up a word






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






17. Affixes - need to attach to another morpheme






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






19. The rise and fall of sentences






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






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






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






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






24. Affix in the middle of a word






25. Aspects of meaning having to do with different levels of formality






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






27. Aspects of meaning concerning other meanings of an expression that may be activated when irrelevant (cock)






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






36. The word that connects the meaning and the referent






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






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






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






40. A word that has died out






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






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






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






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






45. Morphemes that can appear alone (cat)






46. The situation in which a sentence is uttered






47. Aspects of meaning evoked by cultural or literary codes






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






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






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