Introduction to Linguistics

1. Sapir-Whorf hypothesis states—

a) Language shapes thought based on culture
b) Everyone thinks the same
c) Grammar is universal
d) Language has no influence on thought

2. The study of word structure is—

a) Syntax
b) Phonetics
c) Morphology
d) Pragmatics

3. Which of the following is an example of register?

a) Legal language
b) Rural speech
c) Baby talk
d) Dialect

4. The property of language that allows us to talk about past, present, and future is—

a) Arbitrariness
b) Displacement
c) Productivity
d) Duality

5. The smallest unit of sound is—

a) Phoneme
b) Morpheme
c) Word
d) Syllable

6. Which is a voiceless sound?

a) /b/
b) /g/
c) /p/
d) /d/

7. Different forms of the same morpheme are called—

a) Allomorphs
b) Phonemes
c) Words
d) Stems

8. Brunch is formed by—

a) Clipping
b) Blending
c) Inflection
d) Derivation

9. P-marker shows—

a) Word meaning
b) Phrase structure of a sentence
c) Sentence meaning
d) Morphs

10. Pragmatics studies—

a) Grammar rules
b) Word meanings
c) Language in context
d) Spelling

11. Who is known as the father of modern linguistics?

a) Ferdinand de Saussure
b) Noam Chomsky
c) Bloomfield
d) Sapir

12. Which linguist proposed Universal Grammar?

a) Saussure
b) Chomsky
c) Halliday
d) Bloomfield

13. Which field studies language and the mind?

a) Sociolinguistics
b) Psycholinguistics
c) Historical linguistics
d) Applied linguistics

14. ‘Discourse analysis’ studies—

a) Words
b) Sentences in isolation
c) Language beyond sentences
d) Sounds

15. Which model is associated with language acquisition as habit formation?

a) Nativist
b) Cognitive
c) Behaviorist
d) Functional

16. Which linguist proposed the concept of ‘Communicative Competence’?

a) Chomsky
b) Saussure
c) Dell Hymes
d) Bloomfield

17. Which one is an example of a minimal pair?

a) Cat / Dog
b) Bat / Mat
c) Run / Running
d) Good / Better

18. ‘Creole’ develops when—

a) A pidgin becomes native language
b) Two dialects mix
c) Language dies
d) Grammar disappears

19. Which process forms ‘edit’ from ‘editor’?

a) Blending
b) Clipping
c) Back-formation
d) Borrowing

20. Which of the following is an example of assimilation?

a) Cats → Cat
b) Input → Imput
c) Go → Went
d) Book → Books

21. Which of the following is NOT a property of human language?

a) Displacement
b) Productivity
c) Cultural transmission
d) Genetic fixation

22. Which is an example of ‘overgeneralization’ in language acquisition?

a) Saying “went” correctly
b) Saying “goed” instead of “went”
c) Using complex sentences
d) Mixing languages

23. Which is an example of ‘blending’?

a) Smog (smoke + fog)
b) Editor → Edit
c) Exam → Exam
d) Books

24. Which linguist criticized behaviorism and proposed innate language ability?

a) Skinner
b) Chomsky
c) Bloomfield
d) Saussure

25. Which of the following is an example of ‘deletion’?

a) Friend → Frien’
b) Ask → Aks
c) Input → Imput
d) Smog

26. Which is an example of ‘code-switching’?

a) Mixing grammar rules
b) Switching languages between sentences
c) Mispronunciation
d) Word formation

27. Which process forms ‘ad’ from ‘advertisement’?

a) Blending
b) Clipping
c) Back-formation
d) Borrowing

28. Which is an example of ‘intonation’?

a) Word stress
b) Pitch variation in sentence
c) Sound change
d) Word formation

29. Which of the following is a bilabial sound?

a) /t/
b) /k/
c) /p/
d) /s/

30. Which is a fricative sound?

a) /p/
b) /b/
c) /f/
d) /k/