Language and Linguistics Questions and Answers

Answer: A

Both statements are true, so option A is right. Assertion (I) is correct: the pair langue and parole was introduced by Ferdinand de Saussure (the stem spells the name de Sanssure). Langue is the shared system of a language and parole is an individual act of speaking.

Assertion (II) is also correct: Chomsky's later distinction between competence (the speaker's internalised knowledge) and performance (actual use) is generally regarded as analogous to Saussure's pair, although Chomsky locates competence in the individual mind rather than in a social system. Because each statement holds, options B, C and D, which each declare at least one of them false, are wrong.

Answer: B

The keyed answer is Substantive Universal. The stem is garbled in the printed paper, so the answer rests on the key. The relevant background is that in Aspects of the Theory of Syntax (1965) Chomsky distinguishes substantive universals, the fixed set of categories and features out of which grammars are built, from formal universals, which concern the form of rules and of the grammar.

Formal universal (option A) is the other half of this pair, so it is the closest distractor. Universal Grammar (option C) names the whole body of innate principles rather than one kind of universal, and Universal Quantifier (option D) is a term from logic that has no place in this question. Learn the pair as substantive versus formal.

Answer: C

The correct order is Phonology, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics, option C. This follows the usual progression of linguistic levels from the smallest units, sounds, to words and their parts, to the arrangement of words in sentences, and finally to meaning.

Options A, B and D all place Semantics or Syntax out of the standard sequence: option A begins with Semantics, option B puts Semantics before Syntax, and option D starts with Morphology and ends with Phonology. Only option C runs from the sound level up through word structure and sentence structure to meaning.

Answer: C

The correct matching is English Syntax with Andrew Radford, An Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics with John Lyons, Exploring Semantic Structures with Nida, and Aspects of the Theory of Syntax with Noam Chomsky. In code form that is a-ii, b-iv, c-iii, d-i, option C.

Option A assigns Aspects to Lyons and English Syntax to Chomsky, which is wrong because Aspects (1965) is Chomsky's. Option B pairs Lyons with Aspects and Chomsky with nothing correct in the list. Option D wrongly gives Exploring Semantic Structures to Lyons and English Syntax to Chomsky. Anchoring on Aspects as Chomsky's book resolves it quickly.

Answer: C

A written symbol that represents a sound or a sequence of sounds is a phonogram, option C. In phonographic writing, such as an alphabet or a syllabary, the signs stand for sounds rather than for meanings.

A logogram (option A) represents a whole word or morpheme, as many Chinese characters do. Transcription (option B) is the process of writing down speech, not a single symbol. Phonic medium (option D) refers to the sound channel of language, not to a written sign.

Answer: C

The correct chronological order is Jacob Grimm, Ferdinand de Saussure, William Labov, William S.-Y. Wang, option C. Grimm formulated his law of sound change in the early nineteenth century. Saussure's Course in General Linguistics appeared in 1916. Labov's early work on social variation, including his Martha's Vineyard study, dates from the 1960s, and Wang's paper on lexical diffusion came at the end of that decade.

Options A, B and D place Grimm after at least one twentieth century linguist, which is impossible, so they are wrong. Only option C starts with Grimm, puts Saussure second, and ends with the two sociolinguistic and historical studies of the 1960s.

Answer: C

Assertion I is true and Assertion II is false, so option (C) is right. Advertisers use sound patterning, such as rhyme and alliteration, to make a slogan memorable, in the same way that poetry uses sound patterning for effect, which is Assertion I. Assertion II claims that there will be sound patterning that does not help the hearer to remember the advertisement; this contradicts the purpose of such patterning in advertising, and the key treats it as false. Options (A) and (D) accept II, and (B) rejects I.

Answer: A

The matching is a-iv, b-iii, c-i, d-ii. The items are Jakobson's pairs of opposites. Contiguity is paired with similarity, the two principles of arrangement. Combination is paired with selection, the two operations in forming a message. Encoding is paired with decoding, the speaker's and the hearer's sides. Concurrence is paired with sequence, simultaneous and successive arrangement. Option (B) pairs contiguity with decoding. Option (C) pairs contiguity with selection. Option (D) pairs contiguity with sequence and combination with decoding, which are not opposites.

Answer: C

An ideal speaker is one who can produce all the grammatical sentences of a language. In Chomsky's theory the ideal speaker-listener is a person in a homogeneous speech community who knows the language perfectly, and that knowledge is the ability to generate all and only the grammatical sentences, however long and new.

Speaking more than one language, speaking clearly, or using many idioms are matters of skill or style that have nothing to do with competence in the grammar of a language.

Answer: D

According to the key, the types of language universals named here are formal, substantive and absolute (I, II and III). Substantive universals are the categories every language has, such as noun and verb, and formal universals are the shape that grammars or rules must have. Absolute universals hold for all languages without exception.

The partial type in IV is not counted by the key as a separate kind in this classification, so the options that include it are rejected. A reviewer may wish to note that implicational or statistical universals are usually opposed to the absolute type.