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Linguistics Trivia Quiz

I present to you some rather challenging queries on the world of linguistics...good luck!

A multiple-choice quiz by thejazzkickazz. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
thejazzkickazz

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
41,994

Updated
Apr 18 23

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
6 / 10

Plays
3748

Awards
Top 35% Quiz

Last 3 plays: Guest 2 (6/10), Guest 175 (5/10), Guest 223 (6/10).

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. Who was considered the 'Father of Linguistics', a Swiss guy, who authored the seminal book entitled 'Course in General Linguistics'? Hint

William James

Ferdinand de Saussure

Leonard Bloomfield

Noam Chomsky

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Question 2 of 10

2. What is the name of the linguistic school which attempted to uncover 'Discovery Procedures' that are internally imbedded, and compose the underlying units of language? Hint

phenomenologist

deconstructionists

transfomationalists

structuralists

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Question 3 of 10

3. Since language is arbitrary, but contains 'Permitted Moves', what term best describes this view of communicational systems? Hint

random

deviant

structured

games

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Question 4 of 10

4. What three components, generally, make up a system of a typical language? Hint

semiosis syntax frames

sign sign signs

frames semantics utterances

phonology syntax semantics

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Question 5 of 10

5. What is the smallest segment of sound, that comprises the basic building blocks of a language? Hint

morpheme

terameme

metameme

phoneme

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Question 6 of 10

6. What is the term for unchanging, gliding vowels which combine two distinct vowel sounds into a single one? Hint

variations

complementary pairs

morpheme pairs

diphthongs

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Question 7 of 10

7. The morpheme is the smallest syntactical unit. How many morphemes would the word 'antidisestablishmentarianism' have? Hint

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Question 8 of 10

8. Which of the following is not a kind of morpheme that is found in most languages? Hint

derivational

strange

free

inflectional

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Question 9 of 10

9. What are the two main structures found when deconstructing a sentence into a tree-diagram? Hint

subordinate prepositions

noun phrase and verb phrase

verb clause and prepositionals

determiners and deictics

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Question 10 of 10

10. After, we analyze the syntactical order and construction, and find it worthy of our 'Permitted moves', does it mean that it will convey an idea cogently to us?

Yes

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Most Recent Scores

Nov 19 2024 : Guest 2: 6/10
Nov 11 2024 : Guest 175: 5/10
Nov 02 2024 : Guest 223: 6/10
Nov 01 2024 : Guest 158: 7/10
Nov 01 2024 : Guest 39: 5/10
Oct 29 2024 : Guest 64: 4/10
Oct 29 2024 : Guest 154: 1/10
Oct 23 2024 : Guest 77: 1/10
Oct 22 2024 : Guest 154: 7/10

Score Distribution

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Who was considered the 'Father of Linguistics', a Swiss guy, who authored the seminal book entitled 'Course in General Linguistics'?

Answer: Ferdinand de Saussure

2. What is the name of the linguistic school which attempted to uncover 'Discovery Procedures' that are internally imbedded, and compose the underlying units of language?

Answer: structuralists

Leonard Bloomfield's 'Language' laid down the science of language between 1933 to 1950, until Chomsky universalized the idea of language. The areas of phonological utterances were strictly analyzed, rather than the deep intentional structure...this is where they went wrong, since we know that utterances in general can be arbitrary.

3. Since language is arbitrary, but contains 'Permitted Moves', what term best describes this view of communicational systems?

Answer: games

4. What three components, generally, make up a system of a typical language?

Answer: phonology syntax semantics

5. What is the smallest segment of sound, that comprises the basic building blocks of a language?

Answer: phoneme

Phonemes on the average are 35 per language, English has 44 phonemes such as b, p, i, e, etc. The languages of the Caucasus may have the most with 89.

6. What is the term for unchanging, gliding vowels which combine two distinct vowel sounds into a single one?

Answer: diphthongs

7. The morpheme is the smallest syntactical unit. How many morphemes would the word 'antidisestablishmentarianism' have?

Answer: 6

They are anti- , dis, establish, ment, arian, and ism.

8. Which of the following is not a kind of morpheme that is found in most languages?

Answer: strange

9. What are the two main structures found when deconstructing a sentence into a tree-diagram?

Answer: noun phrase and verb phrase

Noun phrase and verb phrases also can be decomposed into smaller bundles....NP= D and N, etc.

10. After, we analyze the syntactical order and construction, and find it worthy of our 'Permitted moves', does it mean that it will convey an idea cogently to us?

Answer: No

Source: Author thejazzkickazz

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