What are linguists interested in? ✅Linguists are interested in the grammatical aspects of a language,
not the social ones.
x Linguists are interested in both the grammatical and the social aspects of a language.
Linguists are interested in the social aspects of a language, not the grammatical ones.
Linguists are interested in neither the grammatical or the social aspects of a language.
Languages are _____ because there is no natural connection between an object and the word that is
used to name that object. ✅x arbitrary
inaccessible
creative
universal
Which one is NOT a property of languages? ✅All languages constantly change over time.
All languages of the world have a grammar.
All languages share the same basic principles.
x All languages are conscious knowledge.
,Which of the following statement is FALSE about languages? ✅Languages are able to communicate
about any topic we can think of.
x Writing systems developed as naturally as spoken or signed languages.
From a linguistics perspective, all the languages of the world are equal.
The language faculty exists in humans only and in no other species.
What component of a grammar tells us that we can get the word "teacher" by adding the agentive
marker "-er" to the stem "teach"? ✅x Morphology
Phonology
Semantics
Syntax
What component of a grammar tells us that [ski] is a possible combination of sounds in English but that
*[sgi] is not? ✅Morphology
x Phonology
Semantics
Syntax
What component of a grammar tells us that English is an SVO language? ✅Morphology
Phonology
,Semantics
x Syntax
Which of the following notions help us define a language?
A. Representation and expression of ideas
B. Organized system of linguistic units
C. Identification to a linguistic community ✅Only A and B
Only A and C
Only B and C
x A, B and C
Which one is an example of regularization? ✅x "I was there, you was there, we was there..."
"Do not use nouns like impact as verbs."
"I go, I went, I have gone."
"Do not end a sentence in a preposition."
Linguistics is _____, because it seeks to understand the linguistic forms that people use _____.
✅descriptivist - that are considered correct in their language.
prescriptivist - that are considered correct in their language.
, prescriptivist - no matter if they are considered incorrect.
x descriptivist - no matter if they are considered incorrect.
How can we define the Great Vowel Shift? ✅A regular accommodation of vowels
x A generalized raising of long vowels
A systematic fronting of back vowels
A controlled aspiration of all vowels
What is a lingua franca? ✅It's a set of universal symbols that have the same meaning in different
languages.
It's a mixture of different symbols understood by people who need to communicate.
It's a language with words and grammatical rules that are easy to learn and understand.
x It's a language regularly used by many nations for which it is not their first language.
The Norman conquest happened in ______ and served as the beginning of the ______ English period.
✅the 400s - Old
the 700s - Old
x the 1000s - Middle
the 1400s - Middle