Question 1

After incurring brain damage,some patients develop language problems.Such patients often cannot tell that the sentence "Tom hit Sally" expresses the same idea as the sentence "Sally was hit by Tom." Apparently,these patients lack an understanding of some of the rules about how words combine with each other in sentences.This shows that these patients have ____.
A) no grammar
B) impaired syntax
C) impaired phoneme comprehension
D) an impaired language acquisition device

Accepted Answer

The patients' inability to understand the relationship between the words in different sentence structures indicates impaired syntax, which refers to the grammatical rules for combining words in sentences. The other options are not directly related to the patients' language problem (A), focused on individual sounds instead of grammar (C), or not relevant to the patients' brain damage (D).

Question 2

The word unhappy contains ____.
A) two phonemes
B) two morphemes
C) five phonemes
D) seven morphemes

Accepted Answer

The word "unhappy" contains two morphemes: "un-" (a prefix meaning not) and "happy". Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a language.

Question 3

The rules of semantics are most like ____,and the rules of syntax are most like ____.
A) surface structure; deep structure
B) deep structure; surface structure
C) phonemes; morphemes
D) morphemes; phonemes

Accepted Answer

The rules of semantics deal with meaning and the relationships between words and their meanings, which can be considered the deep structure of language. The rules of syntax, on the other hand, deal with the arrangement of words and the rules for forming sentences, which is more like the surface structure of language.

Question 4

The meaning of the word "pot" can be altered simply by changing the vowel to an "a",forming the word "pat".In this example,"a" is a(n)____.
A) phoneme
B) morpheme
C) open vowel
D) pivot vowel

Accepted Answer

In this example, the vowel change from "o" to "a" changes the meaning of the word, indicating that "a" is a phoneme, which is the smallest unit of sound that can change the meaning of a word. Morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a language, while open vowel and pivot vowel are not applicable in this context.

Question 5

One day at the elementary school playground,Chuckie,the fifth-grade class clown,was making all the kids laugh by repeatedly saying,"Loud leaves linger on Lulu." Mr.Lavender,Chuckie's teacher,overheard Chuckie's nonsense sentence and pointed out that the sentence violated ____.
A) syntax rules
B) syntax and semantics rules
C) semantics rules
D) phonetic punctuation

Accepted Answer

The sentence "Loud leaves linger on Lulu" makes grammatical sense (adhering to syntax rules), but it may not make logical sense in terms of meaning (violating semantics rules), as it's unclear how leaves can be loud or why they would linger on a person named Lulu.

Question 6

The sentence "The musician knowed a great tune to play" violates the rules of ____.
A) semantics
B) syntax
C) morphemes
D) deep structure

Accepted Answer

The verb "knowed" is not grammatically correct in standard English, where the past tense of "know" is "knew." This violates the rules of syntax, which govern the correct arrangement of words in a sentence.

Question 7

The two basic elements of a language are ____ and ____.
A) deep structure; surface structure
B) phonemes; morphemes
C) symbols; grammar
D) syntax; semantics

Accepted Answer

The answer of The two basic elements of a language...

Question 8

The sentence "The water drank the man" has ____ syntax and ____ semantics.
A) proper; proper
B) improper; improper
C) proper; improper
D) improper; proper

Accepted Answer

The syntax is proper because the sentence structure follows the rules of English grammar, but the semantics are improper because the meaning is nonsensical; water cannot drink a man.

Question 9

The word tools has ____ phonemes and ____ morpheme(s).
A) four; two
B) four; one
C) five; two
D) five; one

Accepted Answer

Tools has four phonemes (/t/, /u/, /l/, /s/) and two morphemes (tool + s).

Question 10

Kaley is an advocate of her choir's decision to reprimand Padraic,one of the members.Even she is a little surprised,however,with the final decision to kick Padraic out.It seems extreme to her.The phenomenon that produced this decision is the process of ____.
A) group polarization
B) groupthink
C) group socialization
D) group orientation

Accepted Answer

Group polarization refers to the tendency of a group to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclination of its members. In this case, the group's decision to kick Padraic out, which was more extreme than Kaley initially expected, is an example of group polarization.

Question 11

The /a/ sound in the word cake is a ____.
A) phoneme
B) syntactic convention
C) semantic symbol
D) morpheme

Accepted Answer

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a language that can change the meaning of a word. In the word cake, the /a/ sound is a phoneme because it differentiates it from words like kike or coke. Syntactic conventions are rules that govern the structure of sentences, semantic symbols are units of meaning, and morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in a word.

Question 12

Dwight is writing a letter to his friend Jim.He wants his writing to sound impressive,so he uses the thesaurus function on his computer to change some of the words.He changes the sentence "My character on the soap opera was killed" to "My moral fiber on the soap opera was defeated." Dwight has changed ____ of the sentence.
A) only the surface structure
B) only the deep structure
C) both the surface structure and the deep structure
D) neither the surface structure nor the deep structure

Accepted Answer

Dwight has changed both the surface structure (the specific words used) and the deep structure (the underlying meaning) of the sentence. "Character" and "moral fiber" have different connotations, and "was killed" versus "was defeated" changes the meaning significantly.

Question 13

Tolkien is creating a new language called Elvish for a race of characters in his upcoming book.After a long writing session,he smiles and says,"There.I finally have the rules for combining symbols in Elvish." In other words,Tolkien has created the ____ of the language.
A) grammar
B) semantics
C) phonemes
D) surface structure

Accepted Answer

The rules for combining symbols in a language are governed by grammar. In this scenario, Tolkien is creating the grammar for his new language Elvish.

Question 14

After being trampled by platform shoes at an Iggy concert,Buffy awakes in the hospital and says to a nurse,"Watches playfully wrote pumpkins in the sky." This doesn't make sense because Buffy's speech violates the rules of ____.
A) syntax
B) phonemes
C) morphemes
D) semantics

Accepted Answer

Buffy's speech violates the rules of semantics because the sentence structure (syntax) is correct, but the meaning (semantics) of the words put together does not make logical sense.

Question 15

-ing is to ____ as -th- is to ____.
A) phoneme; syntax
B) morpheme; phoneme
C) phoneme; morpheme
D) semantics; morpheme

Accepted Answer

"-ing" is a morpheme that indicates the progressive aspect of a verb, while "-th-" is a phoneme, a basic unit of sound in a language that distinguishes one word from another.

Question 16

At a meeting of your swimming club,a vote will be taken as to whether you are all going to swim across a body of water.Last year,the club swam across Crystal Lake,a small lake.The majority votes to do the swim.If group polarization occurs,you would expect the group to decide to swim across ____.
A) the local creek
B) the local public pool
C) Crystal Lake
D) the Mississippi River

Accepted Answer

Group polarization refers to the tendency of a group to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclination of its members. Given that the club previously swam across a small lake, choosing a significantly larger and more challenging body of water like the Mississippi River reflects an extreme or more polarized decision compared to their past activity.

Question 17

Marta is lecturing on the first day of her Introduction to Linguistics course.She starts by explaining that if you have words and a set of rules for using those words,you have everything you need for ____.
A) semantics
B) syntax
C) a learning acquisition device
D) a language

Accepted Answer

Having words and a set of rules for using those words constitutes a language.

Question 18

Which of the following is a morpheme in the sentence "Catch you later,dudes!"?
A) ch
B) la
C) ud
D) s

Accepted Answer

A morpheme is the smallest grammatical unit in a language. In the sentence "Catch you later, dudes!", the "s" at the end of "dudes" is a morpheme because it carries meaning (plural form of "dude"). The other options do not represent meaningful units by themselves in this context.

Question 19

Serdar really gets annoyed with Umit when Umit says "you pig out" to him because he does not know that "pigging out" means "eating a lot." Rather,Serdar thinks that Umit is cursing at him.This miscommunication between Serdar and Umit is a result of the ____.
A) deep structure not being communicated well
B) surface structure not being communicated well
C) incorrect use of morphemes
D) incorrect use of syntax

Accepted Answer

The deep structure refers to the underlying meaning of a sentence. Serdar misunderstood the intended meaning of "pigging out" due to not understanding the idiomatic expression, which is related to the deep structure.

Question 20

When a group is making a decision,the option that is typically chosen is the one that is ____.
A) the best possible outcome for each member in the group
B) strongly supported by half of the group members and strongly opposed by the other half
C) presented first during the discussion
D) not strongly opposed by any of the group members

Accepted Answer

The option that is typically chosen in group decision-making is the one that is not strongly opposed by any of the group members. This is because strong opposition can lead to conflict and delay the decision-making process, while choosing an option that everyone at least somewhat agrees on allows the group to move forward efficiently.

Quiz 7: Thought and Language

The word unhappy contains ____.

The rules of semantics are most like ,and the rules of syntax are most like .

The meaning of the word "pot" can be altered simply by changing the vowel to an "a",forming the word "pat".In this example,"a" is a(n) ____.

One day at the elementary school playground,Chuckie,the fifth-grade class clown,was making all the kids laugh by repeatedly saying,"Loud leaves linger on Lulu." Mr.Lavender,Chuckie's teacher,overheard Chuckie's nonsense sentence and pointed out that the sentence violated ____.

The sentence "The musician knowed a great tune to play" violates the rules of ____.

The two basic elements of a language are and .

The sentence "The water drank the man" has syntax and semantics.

The word tools has phonemes and morpheme(s) .

Kaley is an advocate of her choir's decision to reprimand Padraic,one of the members.Even she is a little surprised,however,with the final decision to kick Padraic out.It seems extreme to her.The phenomenon that produced this decision is the process of ____.

The /a/ sound in the word cake is a ____.

Tolkien is creating a new language called Elvish for a race of characters in his upcoming book.After a long writing session,he smiles and says,"There.I finally have the rules for combining symbols in Elvish." In other words,Tolkien has created the ____ of the language.

After being trampled by platform shoes at an Iggy concert,Buffy awakes in the hospital and says to a nurse,"Watches playfully wrote pumpkins in the sky." This doesn't make sense because Buffy's speech violates the rules of ____.

-ing is to as -th- is to .

At a meeting of your swimming club,a vote will be taken as to whether you are all going to swim across a body of water.Last year,the club swam across Crystal Lake,a small lake.The majority votes to do the swim.If group polarization occurs,you would expect the group to decide to swim across ____.

Marta is lecturing on the first day of her Introduction to Linguistics course.She starts by explaining that if you have words and a set of rules for using those words,you have everything you need for ____.

Which of the following is a morpheme in the sentence "Catch you later,dudes!"?

Serdar really gets annoyed with Umit when Umit says "you pig out" to him because he does not know that "pigging out" means "eating a lot." Rather,Serdar thinks that Umit is cursing at him.This miscommunication between Serdar and Umit is a result of the ____.

When a group is making a decision,the option that is typically chosen is the one that is ____.