Exam 1

Question 1

Define Linguistics.

Answer 1

it is the scientific study of language and its structure

Question 2

What is a Writing System?

Answer 2

the symbolic representation of language through the use of graphic signs

Question 3

List some of the first (original) writing systems.

Answer 3

• Chinese
• Mayan
• hieroglyphics
• Sumerian Cuneiform

Question 4

Define grammar.

Answer 4

grammar is the process of describing the structure of phrases and sentences in such a way that we account for all grammatical sequences in a language and rule out all the ungrammatical sequences

Question 5

What is a logogram writing system and give an example of a language that uses this.

Answer 5

this type of language uses written symbols representing an entire spoken word w/o expressing its pronunciation (an example of this is Chinese)

Question 6

Explain what type of language uses a syllabary writing system and give an example of a language that uses this.

Answer 6

this type of language uses a set of written symbols, each of represents a SYLLABLE, used to write a given language (an example of this is Hawaiian)

Question 7

What is rebus writing?

Answer 7

it is a way of using existing symbols to represent the sounds of language; in this process, the symbol for one entity is taken over as the symbol for the sound of the spoken word used to refer to the entity

Question 8

Define phonology.

Answer 8

it is the study of the parts and order of sounds in a language

Question 9

Define morphology.

Answer 9

(the term itself means the study of forms) basically investigates or studies the basic forms of language

Question 10

What is a syllable?

Answer 10

the beat/rhythm in a word

Question 11

What is a phoneme?

Answer 11

a mental representation of a sound (where one sound starts and stops)

Question 12

What is the difference between a fricative and a stop?

Answer 12

a fricative only partially blocks the air flow and a stop completely blocks it

Question 13

Phonetics looks at..

Answer 13

how sounds are made

Question 14

What does IPA stand for and what is this chart used for?

Answer 14

the International Phonetic Alphabet and we use it for a description of the sounds of all languages

Question 15

What is an agglutinating language and give an example of one.

Answer 15

it is a language in which words are made up of a linear sequence of distinct morphemes and each component of meaning is represented by its own morpheme (example of this is Turkish)

Question 16

What is a minimal pair?

Answer 16

the two words such as BAT and PAT are identical in form except for a contrast in one phoneme occurring in the same position and this makes them a minimal pair

Question 17

What is an isolating language and give an example of one.

Answer 17

it is a language with a low morpheme to word ratio (an example of this is Chinese)

Question 18

What is a free morpheme?

Answer 18

it is a single morpheme that can stand by itself as a single word. An example is Running. “Run” can stand by itself as a word but “ning” cannot. Run is the free morpheme.

Question 19

What is a bound morpheme?

Answer 19

these are forms that cannot normally stand alone and are usually attached to another form such as a free morpheme. This would be forms like “re”, “ist” and “ing”

Question 20

What is a pitch accent?

Answer 20

this is a feature used in certain languages where variations in pitch are used to differentiate words

Question 21

What is vowel height?

Answer 21

it is the vertical position of the tongue relative to either the roof of the mouth or the aperture of the jaw. low and high vowels just mean that the tongue is low or high

Question 22

List some places of articulation…

Answer 22

• bilabials
• alveolars
• labiodentals

Question 23

List some manners of articulation..

Answer 23

• fricatives
• stops
• nasals

Question 24

What is an allomorph?

Answer 24

it is a variant form of a morpheme such as the different versions of morphemes like the plural and singular forms