DEMO EXAM: INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH LINGUISTICS (30 points)

Multiple choice on Yule, The Study of Language ch. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (pp. 85 – 91). Written answers to
questions on ch. 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20. (Correctly answered multiple choice questions give
one point each)

1. Which of the sets below constitutes a minimal set?

a) /fi:l/ /pi:l/ /hi:l/ /di:l/

b) /ki:p/ /kip/ /kil/ /hi:l/
c) /hʊd/ /wʊd/ /krʊk/ /mu:d/
d) /sit/ /sæt/ /siŋ/ /hæŋ/

2. Which of the following statements of the words speak, spat, peak and pat is
correct?

a) In the words speak and peak /p/ constitutes different phonemes

b) In the words speak and peak /p/ are allophones
c) All four words contain 4 phonemes each
d) In all four words, the vowel phonemes are allophones.

3. Which statement is true about the following list of words: piano, tycoon, liaise,
babysit?

a) the two first words are instances of conversion and the two last of compounding
b) the two first words are instances of blending and the two last of conversion
c) the two first words are instances of borrowing and the two last of
backformation
d) the two first words are instances of borrowing and the two last of acronyms

4. Which statement is true about the following list of words: phone, flu, CD, radar

a) the two first words are instances of conversion and the two last are acronyms
b) the two first words are instances of clipping and the two last are acronyms
c) the two first words are acronyms and the two last are instances of
compounding
d) the two first words are instances of backformation and the two last are
acronyms
 5. Which of the following statements is true about an inflectional morpheme in
English?

a) it can stand by itself as a single word

b) it is always a prefix
c) it is always a suffix
d) if used as a suffix it causes a change in word class

6. How many different functional morphemes does the sentence below contain?

The money on the table belongs to my brother.

a) six
b) five
c) four
d) three

7. Which of the following statements is true about the prescriptive approach to

grammar?

a) it deals only with structural ambiguity

b) it has rules for the ‘proper’ use of language
c) it is based on the structures actually used in language
d) it uses structural analysis to describe language

8. Which of the following expressions would be generated by this phrase structure

rule:

NP  {(Art) (Adj) N, PN}

a) The woman across the street b) She

c) Elephants d) Elephants are big animals

9. The rules that generate a sentence of the type John said that Mary knew that the
man had said that the shop was closed would have to include

a) a PP
b) a Pro
c) a*
d) a CP
 10. The rules that would be used to turn a statement into a question are called

a) recursion rules
b) lexical rules
c) movement rules
d) polysemy

11. Assign semantic roles to the noun phrases of the sentences below. (2)

a) We picked the flowers in the garden.

b) John is sad.

12. Give one example each of the following terms (2)

A hyponym of flower ……………………………

A homonym of bank ………………………..

An antonym of rich …………………………………

A co-hyponym of banana ………………………….

13. Define and exemplify three of the following terms: anaphora, deixis, reference,
inference, presupposition. (3)

14. Which one of Grice’s maxims does this speaker seem anxious not to break? (1)

- I’m not quite sure about this, but I don’t think she will be back before three o’clock.

15. Give some examples of what signifies caregiver speech. (3)

16. Define the two terms overgeneralization and overextension in first language
acquisition. (2)

17. Define and exemplify the terms accent and dialect. (2)

18. Define the terms register and jargon and show how the terms have been applied in
the short extract below. (3)

Simmer the onion for 15 minutes in a pan with the stock. Add the cucumber
(saving a little for garnish) and mint; cover and simmer for about 20 minutes or
until the cucumber is cooked. Sieve the soup or purée it in an electric blender,
return it to the pan and re-heat.

19. What is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis? Do you agree with this hypothesis (2)
KEY
1. a
2. b
3. c
4. b
5. c
6. c
7. b
8. c
9. d
10. c

11. a) We picked the flowers in the garden. Agent, theme, location

b) John is sad. Experiencer

12. Give one example each of the following terms

A hyponym of flower …………………………… any kind of flower

A homonym of bank ……………………….. bank

An antonym of rich ………………………………… poor

A co-hyponym of banana …………………………. Any kind of fruit

13. These terms can be found in Yule chapter 10, Pragmatics, or in the Glossary.

14. The quality maxim (Yule p. 147).

15. Yule p. 172.

16. Yule p. 177 + 180.

17. Yule p. 240

18. Register and jargon Yule p. 259. Here, the register is recipe/cooking. Instances of jargon
would be eg. simmer, pan, stock, onion, cucumber, garnish.

19. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, Yule p. 269.