INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

QUIZ 1
INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS
Date: ___________________
Duration: 60 minutes
Student name: ________________________________________________________ Student ID: ____________________________

Section 1: Decide whether the following statements are True (T) or False (F). Correct the false
statements. (30 pts)
1. The yo-he-ho theory suggests that language derived from natural sound sources. F
2. Humans possess some special physical features that support speech production. T
3. The Innateness Theory says that without hearing any languages, human infants would begin using
God-given language. F
4. According to the pooh-pooh theory, language developed on the basis of human cooperative efforts.
F
5. Onomatopoeia cannot be used to name silent subjects. T
6. The vowels in pin and pan are allophones. F
7. The fact that morpheme {-ed} has different allomorphs depending on its phonological environment.
T
8. Etymology is the study of the origin and history of the word. T
9. An affix can be either a bound or a free morpheme. F
10. Generative grammar is a set of grammatical rules based on what we say. F

Section 2: Language analysis. Answer the following questions. (40 pts)

1. List all the morphemes in the following sentences and classify the types of morphemes (10 pts).
“These paintings are marvelous examples of her work.”
Functional morphemes: these, are, of, her
Lexical morphemes: paint, marvel, example, work
Derivational morphemes: -ing, -ous
Inflectional morphemes: -s

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2. Identify the word-formation processes involved in producing the underlined words (5 pts).
a. I have two assistants who help with the admin. clipping
b. She normally only spoke English or Spanglish, never full Spanish. blending
3. Draw a diagram to analyze the syllable structure of the word "heat" (5 pts) onset:

4. Describe the natural classes (shared distinctive features) of the following sets of sounds. Simple
answers like “consonants” or “vowels” are not accepted (5 pts).
a. [m, w, b, p] bilabial
b. [θ, t, k, tʃ] voiceless
5. Draw a tree diagram of the sentence: "My mother works in a big hospital." (10 pts).

6. Use syntactic analysis to explain the structural ambiguity in the following sentence (5 pts).
“The burglar threatened the student with the knife.”

NP VP

The burglar V NP

threatened the student with the knife

NP VP
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 The burglar V NP PP

threatened the student with the knife

Section 3: Study the following excerpt from the perspectives of theories about language origins,
phonology, phonetics, morphology, and syntax (30 pts)
Task:
- Provide analyses of three (03) linguistic concepts/features/phenomena to illustrate your
understanding of the learned theories with examples found in the excerpt.
- In your paragraph (around 150-word), you should (i) define the target
concepts/features/phenomena in your own words, and (ii) include a detailed analysis of the
examples found in the excerpt.

Write a short paragraph that includes include any THREE of, but not limited to, the following:

- Compounding: Compounding is a word formation process where two or more words are
combined to create a new word with a distinct meaning. The resulting word often combines
the characteristics or concepts of the original words. Here are some examples of compound
words found in the given excerpt. (1) gender equality formed by combining the words gender and
equality (2) man-hating formed by combining the words man and hating. (3) gender-based formed
by combining the words gender and based

- Allomorphs of the inflectional morpheme {-ed} are exemplified in the excerpt. Allomorphs
are different physical realizations of the same morpheme. The first is pronounced /-d/. Some
examples found in the given text are realized, involved, confused. The second involves a change
in pronunciation to /-ɪd/ as in appointed, started, wanted, decided. The third allomorph is
pronounced /-t/ but it is not found in the excerpt.

- Derivation: Derivation is a word formation process in which new words are created by adding
affixes (prefixes or suffixes) to existing words. These affixes modify the meaning or
grammatical function of the base word. Through the process of derivation, new words are
formed by altering the meaning, grammatical category, or both of the base word by attaching
affixes. Here are some examples of derivation found in the excerpt. (1) in-equal-ity (2)
feminine-ism (3) define-tion.

- Ellison: Ellison is the omission of sounds, syllables or words in speech. Possible examples of
ellison in the excerpt is (1) the ellison of /t/ in the phrases “out to” and “want to” (2) the
ellison of /d/ in the phrase “realized that”.

Excerpt:
Speech by UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson at a special event for the HeForShe
campaign, United Nations Headquarters, New York, 20 September 2014
Today we are launching a campaign called “HeForShe.”
I am reaching out to you because I need your help. We want to end gender inequality—and to do that
we need everyone to be involved.

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This is the first campaign of its kind at the UN: we want to try and galvanize as many men and boys as
possible to be advocates for gender equality. And we don’t just want to talk about it, but make sure it
is tangible.
I was appointed six months ago and the more I have spoken about feminism the more I have realized
that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. If there is one
thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.
For the record, feminism by definition is: “The belief that men and women should have equal rights
and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes.”
I started questioning gender-based assumptions when at eight I was confused at being called “bossy,”
because I wanted to direct the plays we would put on for our parents—but the boys were not.
When at 14 I started being sexualized by certain elements of the press.
When at 15 my girlfriends started dropping out of their sports teams because they didn’t want to
appear “muscly.”
When at 18 my male friends were unable to express their feelings.
I decided I was a feminist and this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown
me that feminism has become an unpopular word.
Apparently I am among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive,
isolating, anti-men and, unattractive.
Why is the word such an uncomfortable one?

This is the end of the test.