Practice Quiz for
Analysis of Language

No. of Questions= 10

INSTRUCTIONS: To answer a question, click the button in front of your choice. A response will appear in the window below the question to let you know if you are correct. Be sure to read the feedback. It is designed to help you learn the material. You can also learn by reading the feedback for incorrect answers.


1.  Phonology is:
a) the study of sounds used in language
b) the rules for how sounds are combined to make sense in a language
c) another word for syntax
2.  The smallest unit of sound that can be altered to change the meaning of a word is called a:
a) morpheme
b) bound morpheme
c) phoneme
3.  The initial sounds in the English words pill, sill, and till are different:
a) phonemes
b) morphemes
c) neither of the above
4.  A major difference between European languages and the San languages of southwest Africa is that the San languages contain:
a) only consonants
b) click sounds
c) no phonemes
5.  Which of the following statements is true about languages?
a) All languages use essentially the same number of sounds.
b) All native speakers of a language learn the basic rules of grammar in school.
c) While different languages may use different phonemes, they all essentially share the same syntax.
d) none of the above
6.  The English word "fig" is a:
a) morpheme
b) bound morpheme
c) phoneme
d) none of the above
7.  The meaning of words and phrases in the Mandarin Chinese language is mostly altered by changing:
a) word order
b) tones of sounds
c) prefixes and suffixes of words
8.  Grammar consists of:
a) morphology
b) syntax
c) phonology
d) A and B
e) A and C
9.  Which of the following statements is true of language?
a) Native speakers do not have to memorize all possible sentences that can be created.
b) All languages have logical rules.
c) If your language does not have some of the sounds of another language, it is usually difficult for you to hear the differences and to pronounce them correctly.
d) all of the above
10.  Which of the following statements is correct concerning the way different languages alter meaning?
a) In Latin derived languages, the word order is not usually as important as some other factors in altering meaning.
b) In English, word order is particularly critical to changing meaning.
c) both of the above
d) neither of the above

 


 

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