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. Meaning components






2. A sentence in which no transformation has been applied






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






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






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






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






7. Having more than one meaning (polysemy)






8. The rise and fall of sentences






9. The overall meaning of a text






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






11. Affix before the root






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






13. Affix before the root






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






15. Deals with how the sounds are organized






16. The overall meaning of a text






17. The meaning of a sign






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






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






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






21. The vocabulary of a speaker/language






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






23. Deals with the sounds of a language






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






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






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






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






28. The vocabulary of a speaker/language






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






30. Putting two old words together to make a new word (railway)






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






32. The sequence of sounds that make up a word






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






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






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






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






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






38. Mental representation of a word






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






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






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






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






43. A new word






44. Affix in the middle of a word






45. The situation in which a sentence is uttered






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






47. Deals with how the sounds are organized






48. The branch of pragmatics that studies deictic words






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






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