language and linguistics MCQs – Page 3

Practise focused language and linguistics questions with marked answers for exam preparation and subject revision.

language and linguistics Mcqs
101. The /p/ in top__most is a ______________?
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A. Incomplete plosion.

B. Nasal plosion

C. Alveolar plosion

D. Bilabial plosion

102. The initial sounds in the words ship, church and judge; are examples for__________?
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A. Bilabial

B. Velar

C. Palatal

D. Palato__alveolar
103. Longinus asserts that nothing contributes more to loftiness of tone in writing than _________?
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A. Impassioned Utterance

B. Grandeur Thought

C. Genuine Emotion

D. Splendour Style

104. ______________are words which differ only in one phoneme ?
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A. Minimal pairs

B. Triphthongs

C. Diphthongs

D. Semi__vowels

105. __________ is term introduced by CHOMSKY to describe the actual use of language in concrete situations
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A. N. O. T

B. Performance

C. Parole

D. Paradigmatic

106. The type of study which focus on the analysis of the systematic interrelation of the elements of a single language at a particular time is called________________?
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A. Onomatopoeic

B. Semiotic

C. Diachronic

D. Synchronic
107. The final /m/ in the word Prism is an instance of ____________?
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A. Sibilants

B. Suffixes

C. Syllabic consonants

D. None of the above

108. __________________________is the study of how the mentally represented grammar of language is employed in the production and comprehension of speech?
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A. Socio__linguistics

B. Neuron__linguistics

C. Physio linguistics

D. Psycho__linguistics
109. The classification of vowels into tense vowels and lax vowels is based on ________________?
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A. The part of the tongue that is raised

B. The position of the lips

C. The state of the tension of the tongue

D. The height to which the tongue is raised

110. The pronunciation of English practised by the educated people at the public schools came to be called____________?
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A. Received Pronunciation

B. Standard pronunciation

C. Standard English

D. Recognized pronunciation

111. The term________________refers to omissions of certain sounds, syllables or even words in continuous speech?
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A. Alliteration

B. None of the above

C. Elision

D. Assonance

112. Which among the following are bilabial plosive sounds in English?
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A. /p/ & /b/

B. /t/ &/d/

C. /m/ & /v/

D. /k/ & /g/

113. The final sounds /t/, /d/, and /id/ in the words packed, bagged and patted are instances of__________?
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A. Allomorphs

B. Allophones

C. Minimal pairs

D. None of the above

114. The ish in the word childish is ______________?
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A. Plural morpheme

B. An adjective forming morpheme

C. Past morpheme

D. Possessive morpheme

115. _______ is a term denotes historical perspective for studying language ?
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A. Synchrony

B. Diachrony

C. Both a and b

D. None of these

116. The final consonants /s/, /z/ and /iz/ in the words cats, dogs and boxes are instances of ______________?
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A. Allomorphs

B. None of the above

C. Allophones

D. Minimal pairs

117. The classification of vowels into half__close vowels and half__open vowels is based on ________________?
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A. The part of the tongue that is raised

B. All the abovE.

C. The position of the lips

D. The height to which the tongue is raised
118. Who introduced in linguistics the concept similar to Saussures Langue and Parole ?
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A. Edward Sapir

B. Charles Sanders Pierce

C. Leonard bloom FileD.

D. Noam Chomsky
119. The IPA came into existence in the year__________?
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A. 1889

B. 1989

C. 1888

D. 1998
120. The word examination is a ____________word?
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A. Monosyllabic

B. Try syllabic

C. Polysyllabic

D. Disyllabic

121. The consonant /s/ is called ________ ?
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A. Nasal

B. Semi__vowel

C. Sibilant

D. Lateral

122. The study of meaning is called________?
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A. Morphology

B. Syntax

C. Semantics

D. Phonology

123. ____________is the process by which new words are coined by combining the segments of two different words ?
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A. Portmanteau

B. Clipping

C. Metanalysis

D. Onomatopoeia

124. Which among the following terms denotes the formal agreement between various constituent elements of a language ?
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A. Gerund

B. None of the above

C. Concord

D. Phrase structure

125. Transformational-generative grammar is a broad theory used to model, encode, and deduce a native speakers linguistic capabilities, was developed by_________?
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A. Leon Battista Alberti

B. Ferdenand De Sassure

C. Noam Chomsky

D. Enoch Powell

126. The clear /l/ and the dark /l/ may be considered to be the ______________________of the same phoneme /l/?
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A. Morpheme variants

B. Allophones

C. Allomorphs

D. Minimal pairs

127. According to the height to which the tongue is raised, vowels can be classified into __________?
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A. Front vowels & back vowels

B. High vowels & low vowels

C. Round vowels & unrounded vowels

D. Tense vowels &lax vowels

128. The Syntactic Structures is a book written by Noam Choamsky in__________?
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A. 1960

B. 1958

C. 1957

D. 1959

129. The classification of vowels into high vowels and low vowels is based on ____________?
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A. The height to which the tongue is raised

B. The part of the tongue that is raised

C. All the abovE.

D. The position of the lips

130. Who argues that language is a unique evolutionary development of the human species and distinguished from modes of communication used by any other animal species ?
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A. Albert Chomsky

B. Noah Webster

C. Ferdenand de Sassure

D. Noam Chomsky
131. A term which refers to the sequential characteristics of language. When we construct WORDS and SENTENCES we follow a certain order in arranging the individual items.
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A. N. O. T

B. Synergy

C. Performance

D. Syntagmatic
132. The study of signs is termed as_________?
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A. Semantics

B. Semiotics

C. Parole

D. Paradigmatic

133. Father of modern linguistics is ________?
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A. Noam Chomsky

B. Ferdenand De Sassure

C. None of these

D. Both A and B

134. Words such as edit and house__keep are instances of ____________?
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A. Compounding

B. Portmanteau

C. Derivation

D. Backformation
135. Which among the following are the main properties of grammar ?
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A. To predict all and the only possible grammatical sentences of a language

B. To account by its rules for the infinite sentences of a language

C. All the above.

D. To be explicit about the grammaticality of sentences

136. Phonemes which effect meaning change in the same linguistic environment are said to be in ____________?
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A. None of the abovE.

B. Complementary distribution

C. Contrastive distribution

D. Non__contrastive distribution

137. ____________refers to the phenomenon of pauses in speech?
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A. Stress

B. Intonation

C. JuncturE.

D. Pitch

138. The ing in sleeping is an example of ____________?
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A. None of these

B. Bound morpheme

C. A free morpheme

D. Free variation

139. The substitution of the aspirated /k/ for the un__aspirated /k/ in the word sky does not alter the meaning of the worD. It is an instance of ______________ ?
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A. Complementary distribution

B. Non__complementary distribution

C. Contrastive distribution

D. None of the above

140. A term introduced by the linguist SAUSSURE which refers to the state of a language as it exists at any given time
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A. N. O. T

B. Paradigmatic

C. Synchrony

D. Diachrony

141. Which of the following patterns of intonation is used in commands_____________?
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A. The falling

B. The fall__rise

C. The rising

D. None of the above

142. ______________________is used to designate words pronounced differently though identically?
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A. Homophones

B. Allophones

C. Homonyms

D. Homographs

143. The or in actor is_________________?
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A. An adjective forming morpheme

B. Possessive morpheme

C. Noun forming morpheme

D. Plural morpheme

144. The preceding sound influencing the following sound is an instance of __________assimilation?
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A. Regressive

B. None of the above

C. Reciprocal

D. Progressive
145. ______________________is a processes of word formation wherein two or more existing words are simply combined ?
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A. Derivation

B. Portmanteau

C. Backformation.

D. Compounding
146. Which among the following implies the underlying rules governing the combination and organization of the elements of language ?
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A. Language

B. Parole

C. Competence

D. Both langue and Competence
147. Which among the following is an example for onomatopoeia ?
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A. Buzz

B. edit

C. Smog

D. UNESCO

148. Which among the following is an example for portmanteau__________________?
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A. Smog

B. Buzz

C. UNESCO

D. Edit

149. The term semiotics was introduced by______________?
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A. Charles Sanders Pierce

B. Ferdinand de sauddure

C. Noam Chomsky

D. Edward Sapir

150. The study of language and mind, which has greatly advanced our understanding of the way in which we acquire language is_________?
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A. None of these

B. Psycholinguisctics

C. Biolinguistics

D. Sociolinguistics