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TEXAS ESL CERTIFICATION EXAM
ACTUAL EXAM 300 QUESTIONS AND
CORRECT DETAILED ANSWERS
Phonetics - (ANSWER)The articulation and perception of speech sounds as
physical objects, the study of how speech sounds are made and perceived.
Phonology - (ANSWER)The study of how a language organizes speech sounds into
a meaningful system
Phonemes - (ANSWER)smallest unit of sound. Occur at point of articulation and
the manner of articulation. There are at least 44 phonemes (sounds) and 26
graphemes (letters).
Allophones - (ANSWER)Sounds that occur in a phonetic environment; word-initial
position, word-final position, word-middle position, etc.
Voicing - (ANSWER)Occurs when our vocal cords vibrate or not because of the
pronunciation of the sounds.
Voiceless - (ANSWER)Produced without vocal cord vibration
Voiced - (ANSWER)Produced with vocal cord vibration
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Suprasegmentals - (ANSWER)Organization of sounds into larger units: length,
tone, intonation, and stress.
Length - (ANSWER)Duration of sound; vowel/consonant
Tone - (ANSWER)The use of pitch (low or high) to convey meaning at the word
level. Tone may be lexical; it might change the meaning of the word.
Intonation - (ANSWER)Distinguishes different kinds of sentences or phrases,
and/or different words. Refers to the rise and fall of pitch over entire sentences.
Stress - (ANSWER)A prosodic element used to give intensity or emphasis to
certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or a sentence. It can
change the meaning of a word.
Morphology - (ANSWER)The system of how words are built or word formation.
Morpheme - (ANSWER)The smallest units of language that carry information
about meaning or function. Cannot be divided into smaller parts.
Free Morpheme - (ANSWER)Can be a word by itself
Bound Morpheme - (ANSWER)Must be attached to another element
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Syntax - (ANSWER)The system of how phrases and sentences are built from the
words they contain, and how phrases are combined into larger phrases and
sentences.
Semantics - (ANSWER)The study of meaning of words or the interpretation of
words and sentences.
Denotation - (ANSWER)The dictionary definition of a word
Connotation - (ANSWER)The implied meaning of a word
Synonym - (ANSWER)Words or expressions that have the same meaning in some
or all contexts
Antonyms - (ANSWER)words that have opposite meanings
Polysemy - (ANSWER)A word that has two or more related meanings
Homophony - (ANSWER)A word in a single form that has two or more entirely
distinct meanings but sound the same.
Idiom - (ANSWER)A set of words or an expression whose meaning is not
predictable from the usual meaning of the words.
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Pragmatics - (ANSWER)The system of the use of language in social contexts;
sociolinguistic awareness.
Discourse - (ANSWER)The connected series of utterances produced during a
conversation, story, or lecture.
Lexicon - (ANSWER)The vocabulary of a language. Also refers to the total
inventory of morphemes.
Allomorphs - (ANSWER)The morphemes used to express indefiniteness in English.
Registers - (ANSWER)Functions and use of social and academic language.
Language Borrowing - (ANSWER)Words that we borrow from another language
Language interference - (ANSWER)Interference from the first language (negative
transfer)
Phonological differences - (ANSWER)Different pronunciations (accent)
Code-Switching - (ANSWER)When a speaker alternates two or more languages in
the same sentences or between sentences
TEXAS ESL CERTIFICATION EXAM
ACTUAL EXAM 300 QUESTIONS AND
CORRECT DETAILED ANSWERS
Phonetics - (ANSWER)The articulation and perception of speech sounds as
physical objects, the study of how speech sounds are made and perceived.
Phonology - (ANSWER)The study of how a language organizes speech sounds into
a meaningful system
Phonemes - (ANSWER)smallest unit of sound. Occur at point of articulation and
the manner of articulation. There are at least 44 phonemes (sounds) and 26
graphemes (letters).
Allophones - (ANSWER)Sounds that occur in a phonetic environment; word-initial
position, word-final position, word-middle position, etc.
Voicing - (ANSWER)Occurs when our vocal cords vibrate or not because of the
pronunciation of the sounds.
Voiceless - (ANSWER)Produced without vocal cord vibration
Voiced - (ANSWER)Produced with vocal cord vibration
, 2
Suprasegmentals - (ANSWER)Organization of sounds into larger units: length,
tone, intonation, and stress.
Length - (ANSWER)Duration of sound; vowel/consonant
Tone - (ANSWER)The use of pitch (low or high) to convey meaning at the word
level. Tone may be lexical; it might change the meaning of the word.
Intonation - (ANSWER)Distinguishes different kinds of sentences or phrases,
and/or different words. Refers to the rise and fall of pitch over entire sentences.
Stress - (ANSWER)A prosodic element used to give intensity or emphasis to
certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or a sentence. It can
change the meaning of a word.
Morphology - (ANSWER)The system of how words are built or word formation.
Morpheme - (ANSWER)The smallest units of language that carry information
about meaning or function. Cannot be divided into smaller parts.
Free Morpheme - (ANSWER)Can be a word by itself
Bound Morpheme - (ANSWER)Must be attached to another element
, 3
Syntax - (ANSWER)The system of how phrases and sentences are built from the
words they contain, and how phrases are combined into larger phrases and
sentences.
Semantics - (ANSWER)The study of meaning of words or the interpretation of
words and sentences.
Denotation - (ANSWER)The dictionary definition of a word
Connotation - (ANSWER)The implied meaning of a word
Synonym - (ANSWER)Words or expressions that have the same meaning in some
or all contexts
Antonyms - (ANSWER)words that have opposite meanings
Polysemy - (ANSWER)A word that has two or more related meanings
Homophony - (ANSWER)A word in a single form that has two or more entirely
distinct meanings but sound the same.
Idiom - (ANSWER)A set of words or an expression whose meaning is not
predictable from the usual meaning of the words.
, 4
Pragmatics - (ANSWER)The system of the use of language in social contexts;
sociolinguistic awareness.
Discourse - (ANSWER)The connected series of utterances produced during a
conversation, story, or lecture.
Lexicon - (ANSWER)The vocabulary of a language. Also refers to the total
inventory of morphemes.
Allomorphs - (ANSWER)The morphemes used to express indefiniteness in English.
Registers - (ANSWER)Functions and use of social and academic language.
Language Borrowing - (ANSWER)Words that we borrow from another language
Language interference - (ANSWER)Interference from the first language (negative
transfer)
Phonological differences - (ANSWER)Different pronunciations (accent)
Code-Switching - (ANSWER)When a speaker alternates two or more languages in
the same sentences or between sentences
