Linguistics practice exam questions
with verified answers
Linguistic Knowledge - correct answer ✔✔ enables you to combine sounds to form words,
words to form phrases, and phrases to form sentences; unconscious knowledge
Arbitrary - correct answer ✔✔ Describes the property of language, including sign language,
whereby there is no natural or intrinsic relationship between the way a word is pronounced (or
signed) and its meaning.
syntax - correct answer ✔✔ The rules of sentence formation; component of the mental
grammar that represents speakers' knowledge of the structure of phrases and sentences
Onomatopoeia - correct answer ✔✔ A word that imitates the sound it represents.
phonology - correct answer ✔✔ A language's sound system. The rule system within a language
by which phonemes are sequenced, patterned, and uttered to represent meaning
linguistic competence - correct answer ✔✔ The knowledge of a language represented by the
mental grammar that accounts for speakers' linguistic ability and creativity. For the most part,
linguistic competence is unconscious knowledge.
linguistic performance - correct answer ✔✔ The use of linguistic competence, in the production
and comprehension of language; behaviour as distinguished from linguistic knowledge
morphology - correct answer ✔✔ The study of the structure of words; the component of the
grammar that includes the rules of word formation
, semantics - correct answer ✔✔ The study of the linguistics meaning of morphemes, words,
phrases and sentences
descriptive grammar - correct answer ✔✔ A linguist's description or model of the mental
grammar, including the units, structures and rules. An explicit statement of what speakers know
about their language
teaching grammar - correct answer ✔✔ A set of language rules written to help speakers learn a
foreign language or a different dialect of their language
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis - correct answer ✔✔ A theory that points to connections among
culture, language, and thought. The idea that language can affect thought. In its strong form,
this theory is known as linguistic determinism, and in its weak form, it is known as linguistic
relativity.
mental grammar - correct answer ✔✔ The internalised grammar that a descriptive grammar
attempts to model
linguistic determinism - correct answer ✔✔ The idea that your language affects, even
determines, your ability to perceive and think about things, as well as to talk about them.
(Strong form)
prescriptive grammar - correct answer ✔✔ Rules of grammar brought about by grammarians'
attempts to legislate what speakers' grammatical rules should be, rather than what they are.
linguistic relativism - correct answer ✔✔ (Weaker form of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis): different
languages encode different categories and that speakers of different languages therefore think
about the world in different ways
neurolinguistics - correct answer ✔✔ The branch of linguistics concerned with the brain
mechanisms that underlie the acquisition and use of human language
with verified answers
Linguistic Knowledge - correct answer ✔✔ enables you to combine sounds to form words,
words to form phrases, and phrases to form sentences; unconscious knowledge
Arbitrary - correct answer ✔✔ Describes the property of language, including sign language,
whereby there is no natural or intrinsic relationship between the way a word is pronounced (or
signed) and its meaning.
syntax - correct answer ✔✔ The rules of sentence formation; component of the mental
grammar that represents speakers' knowledge of the structure of phrases and sentences
Onomatopoeia - correct answer ✔✔ A word that imitates the sound it represents.
phonology - correct answer ✔✔ A language's sound system. The rule system within a language
by which phonemes are sequenced, patterned, and uttered to represent meaning
linguistic competence - correct answer ✔✔ The knowledge of a language represented by the
mental grammar that accounts for speakers' linguistic ability and creativity. For the most part,
linguistic competence is unconscious knowledge.
linguistic performance - correct answer ✔✔ The use of linguistic competence, in the production
and comprehension of language; behaviour as distinguished from linguistic knowledge
morphology - correct answer ✔✔ The study of the structure of words; the component of the
grammar that includes the rules of word formation
, semantics - correct answer ✔✔ The study of the linguistics meaning of morphemes, words,
phrases and sentences
descriptive grammar - correct answer ✔✔ A linguist's description or model of the mental
grammar, including the units, structures and rules. An explicit statement of what speakers know
about their language
teaching grammar - correct answer ✔✔ A set of language rules written to help speakers learn a
foreign language or a different dialect of their language
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis - correct answer ✔✔ A theory that points to connections among
culture, language, and thought. The idea that language can affect thought. In its strong form,
this theory is known as linguistic determinism, and in its weak form, it is known as linguistic
relativity.
mental grammar - correct answer ✔✔ The internalised grammar that a descriptive grammar
attempts to model
linguistic determinism - correct answer ✔✔ The idea that your language affects, even
determines, your ability to perceive and think about things, as well as to talk about them.
(Strong form)
prescriptive grammar - correct answer ✔✔ Rules of grammar brought about by grammarians'
attempts to legislate what speakers' grammatical rules should be, rather than what they are.
linguistic relativism - correct answer ✔✔ (Weaker form of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis): different
languages encode different categories and that speakers of different languages therefore think
about the world in different ways
neurolinguistics - correct answer ✔✔ The branch of linguistics concerned with the brain
mechanisms that underlie the acquisition and use of human language
