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






2. A word that has died out






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






4. Aspects of meaning evoked by cultural or literary codes






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






6. Provides information about the group to which individuals belong






7. An utterance produced by a speaker






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






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






10. Having more than one meaning (polysemy)






11. The overall meaning of a text






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






13. The vocabulary of a speaker/language






14. Words that depend on the context of a sentence for meaning (I - here - now)






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






16. Deals with how sentences are formed






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






18. Using a word from another language to create a new word (cafe - deja-vu)






19. Parts of a word are translated from other languages to create a new word (Fernsprecher)






20. Deals with the sounds of a language






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






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






23. Aspects of meaning having to do with feelings or attitudes of speakers (liberal - terrorist)






24. Affix in the middle of a word






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






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






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






28. Having more than one meaning (polysemy)






29. One who knows many languages






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






31. Mental representation of a word






32. Using a word from another language to create a new word (cafe - deja-vu)






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






34. Provides information about the group to which individuals belong






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






36. An utterance produced by a speaker






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






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






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






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






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






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






43. Meaning components






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






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






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






47. Morphemes that can appear alone (cat)






48. A sentence in which no transformation has been applied






49. The meaning derived from flouting






50. Deals with how the sounds are organized