LaGuardia CC - Edu. & Lang. Acquisition Dept.

Introduction to Linguistics: Final exam practice questions

Tomonori Nagano <[email protected]>
http://faculty.lagcc.cuny.edu/tnagano/
Spring 

 P
() Review the homework and the in-class exercises.
() Why do we need IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) to study speech sounds? What is the problem of English orthog-
raphy? Explain it with the following words: pneumonia and ghoti. Use the phrase ”one-to-one correspondence between
sounds and symbols” in your description. e IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a phonetic alphabet that maintains
one-to-one correspondence between sound and symbols. ere is no such a correspondence in English (and many other
languages’) orthography. For example, [p] in pneumonia is not pronounced and there are two pronunciations for ghoti
(either [gotɪ] or [fɪʃ ])
() Consonants can be defined in terms of the three articulatory factors. What are they? Define [p], [n], [ð], [ŋ], and [k]. [p]
= voiceless bilabial stop, [n] = (voiced) alveolar nasal, [ŋ] = voiced velar nasal, [k] = voiceless velar stop
() Write the phonetic symbol representing each of the following sound (don’t forget to use square brackets). An answer to
the question is given as an example.
a) Example: voiced palatal glide: [j]
b) voiceless palatal affricate = [ʧ ]
c) voiced velar nasal = [ŋ]
d) voiceless glottal fricative = [h]
e) voiced labiodental fricative = [v]
f) voiceless labiodental fricative = [f ]
g) voiced interdental fricative = [ð]
h) voiced palatal fricative = [ʒ]
i) voiced alveolar lateral liquid = [l]
() Write the phonetic symbol (IPA) for the first sound in each of the following words according to the way you pronounce it.

Examples: ooze [u] psycho [s]

judge [ʤ] thought [θ]
omas [t ] contact [k]
though [ð ] phone [f ]
easy [i ] civic [s]
pneumonia [n ] usual [j ]
() Write the phonetic symbol (IPA) for the last sound in each of the following words.

Examples: boy [ɔj]

fleece [s ] cow [o ]
neigh [eɪ] rough [f ]
long [ŋ ] cheese [z]
health [θ ] bleached [t ]
watch [ʧ ] rags [z]
() e following are all English words written in phonemic transcription. Write the words using normal English orthography.
a) /hit/ = heat
b) /stroυk/ = stroke
c) /feɪz/ = phase
d) /ton/ = tone
e) /boni/ = bony
f) /skrim/ = stream
g) /frut/ = fruit
h) /priʧər/ = preacher

Tomonori Nagano Introduction to Linguistics: Final exam practice questions  of ??

 LaGuardia CC - Edu. & Lang. Acquisition Dept.

i) /krak/ = crock
() Write the symbol that corresponds to each of the following phonetic descriptions, then give an English word that contains
this sound.
a) Example: voiced alveolar stop – [d] dough, door, hugged
b) voiceless bilabial (unaspirated) stop = [p]
c) lateral liquid = [l]
d) voiced velar stop = [g]
e) voiceless alveolar fricative = [s]
f) voiced bilabial stop = [b]
g) voiced labiodental fricative = [v]
h) retroflex liquid = [r]
i) (voiced) velar nasal = [ŋ]
j) voiced (inter)dental fricative = [ð]
k) voiceless (palatal) affricate = [ʧ ]
l) palatal glide = [j]
m) mid lax front vowel = [ɛ]
n) high back tense vowel = [u]
o) voiceless aspirated alveolar stop = [th ]
() In each of the following pairs of words, the bold italicized sounds differ by one or more phonetic properties (features).
Give the symbol for each italicized sound, state their differences.
a) Example: silence – ship [s] and [ʃ ], the different place of articulation ([s] is alveolar and [ʃ ] is palatal)
b) bath – bathe = [θ]/[ð]
c) reduce – reduction = [s]/[k]
d) cool – cold = [u]/[oυ]
e) wif e – wives = [f ]/[v]
f) cats – dogs = [s]/[z]
g) impolite – indecent = [m]/[n]
() For each group of sounds listed, state the phonetic feature(s) they all share.

a) Example: [p] [b] [m] – they are all bilabial sounds & k) [ʧ ] [ʤ] (affricate)
they are all stop sounds l) [m] [n] [ŋ] (nasal)
b) [g] [p] [t] [d] [k] [b] (all sounds are stop sounds) m) [ʃ ] [ʒ] [ʧ ] [ʤ] (palatal)
c) [u] [υ] [o] [ɔ] [a] (back vowels) n) [ʃ ] [s] [k] [p] (voiceless)
d) [i] [ɪ] [e] [ɛ] [æ] (front vowels) o) [n] [v] [m] [ŋ] [g] (voiced)
e) [t] [s] [ʃ ] [p] [k] [ʧ ] [f ] [h] (voiceless) p) [k] [g] [ŋ] (velar)
f) [v] [z] [ʒ] [ʤ] [n] [g] [d] [b] [l] [r] [w] [j] (voiced) q) [θ] [ð] (interdental)
g) [p] [t] [k] [s] [f ] (voiceless stop or fricative sounds) r) [f ] [v] (labiodental)
h) [b] [d] [g] [z] [v] (voiced stop or fricative sounds) s) [l] [r] (liquid)
i) [p] [b] [m] (bilabial) t) [t] [l] [s] [r] (alveolar)
j) [f ] [v] [s] [z] [ʃ ] [ʒ] (fricative)

() Write the following sentences in regular English spelling.

a) [ɪntrnl nʌθɪŋnɛs ɪz oυkeɪ æz lɔŋ æz jr drɛst fr ɪt] ”Internal nothingness is okay as long as you’re dressed for it”
b) [ɪf ju ɑr sɪkstin ɔr ʌndr trɑɪ nɑt tə goυ bɑld] ”If you are sixteen or under try not to go bald”
c) [mʌni ɪz nɑt ɛvriθɪŋ bʌt ɪt ɪz bɛɾr ðæn hævɪŋ wʌnz hɛlθ] ”Money is not everything but it is better than having one’s
health”
d) [nom ʧamski ɪz e lɪngwɪst hu tiʧəz æt ɛm aɪ ti] ”Noam Chomsky is a linguist who teaches at MIT”
e) [fonɛtɪks ɪz ðə stʌdi əv spiʧ sawndz]
”Phonetics is the study of speech sounds”
f) [ɔl spokən læŋgwɪʤəz juz sawndz prədust baɪ ðə apər rɛspərətɔri sɪstəm ] ”All spoken languages use sounds produced
by upper respiratory system”
g) [ɪn wʌn daɪəlɛkt əv ɪnglɪʃ kat ðə nawn æand kɔt ðə vərb ar pronawnst ðə sem] ”In one dialect of English, cot the noun
and caught the verb are pronounced the same.”

Tomonori Nagano Introduction to Linguistics: Final exam practice questions  of ??

 LaGuardia CC - Edu. & Lang. Acquisition Dept.

h) [sʌm pipəl θɪŋk fonətɪks ɪz vɛri ɪntərɛstɪŋ] ”Some people thing phonetics is very interesting”
() Identify each of the following works of fiction.
a) [mɪdnaɪt ɪn ðəgardən əv gυd ænd ivəl] ”Midnight in garden of good and evil”
b) [ə tel əv tu sɪtiz] ”A tale of two cities”
c) [ðə bluəst aɪ] ”e bluest eye”
d) [ðə ʤen ɔstən bυk klʌb] ”e Jane Austen book club”
e) [ɪntərprɛtər əv mælədiz] ”Interpreter of maladies”
f) [wʌðərɪŋ haɪts] ”Wuthering Heights”
g) [ə kənfɛdərasi əv dʌnsəs] ”A Confederacy of Dunces”
h) [ðə kʌlər pərpəl] ”e color purple”
i) [ðə dəvɪntʃi kod] ”e Da Vinci code”
j) [θɪŋz fal apart] ”ings fall apart”
k) [laɪf əv paɪ] ”Life of Pi”

 P
() Review the homework and the in-class exercises.
() What are phone, phoneme, and allophone? Define them with the following sound pairs:
a) [p] and [ph ] (English and Hindi) In English [p] and [ph ] are allophone, but they are phonemes in Hindi
b) [p] and [b] (English and Arabic) In English [p] and [b] are phonemes, but they are allophones in Arabic
() What is aspiration? Explain the phenomenon with reference to the following experiment.
If you hold a piece of tissue loosely in front of your mouth and say the word pie, the tissue flutters at the begin-
ning of the word (when you say [p].) However, the fluttering of the tissue does not happen with [p] in spy or
[b] in buy.
e voiceless stop at the beginning of a syllable (oen at the beginning of the word) is accompanied with a stronger release
of the air.
() Define minimal pair with a few examples in English.
() there is a meaning difference between two words and () one (and only one) sound difference between two words. For
example, buy-pie, shy-pie, pit-bit etc.
() What is deletion? Define it with the following sentence:
a) He handed her his hat
Deletion is omission of sound segments. In the example above, some [h] sounds are omitted in a natural speech.
() What is insertion (epenthesis)? Explain it with the following example:
a) strength /strɛŋθ/ → [strɛŋkθ]
Insertion (or epenthesis) is addition of sound segments. In the example above, some [k] sound is inserted (among some
speakers of English).
() What is assimilation? Explain it with the following sentences:
a) I can see. [aɪ kæn si]
b) I can play. [aɪ kæm pleɪ]
c) I can come. [aɪ kæŋ kʌm]
Assimilation is a process in which neighboring sounds changes so as to share the same feature of the sounds (e.g., place,
manner, voicing etc.) In the example above, [n] in [kæn] becomes a bilabial nasal [m] when it is followed by a bilabial
consonant [p] and becomes a velar sound [ŋ] when it’s followed by a velar consonant [k]
() Name the phonological process responsible for the change from standard Spanish to the dialectal variant in each item
below.
a) [poβɾe] → [pɾoβe] ”poor” (in US southeastern Spanish) methathesis
b) [gatito] → [gatiko] ”kitty” (Costa Rican Spanish) dissimilation
c) [pesos] → [peso̥s] ”pesos” (Mexican Spanish) assimilation
d) [estomaɤo] → [estoɤamao] ”stomach” (US southwestern Spanish) methathesis
e) [alβɾisjas] → [aβɾisjas] ”gi” (US southwestern Spanish) deletion

Tomonori Nagano Introduction to Linguistics: Final exam practice questions  of ??

 LaGuardia CC - Edu. & Lang. Acquisition Dept.

 M
() Review the homework and the in-class exercises.
() Define morpheme.
e minimal meaning-bearing unit in language
() Define free morpheme and bound morpheme. Use the following examples: atypical, a man, and apple

() Define inflectional morpheme and derivational morpheme. Use the following words as examples: citizens, enlarge, assign-
ments, winner, and tighter.
Inflectional morphemes usually indicate a different aspect of one word (i.e., there is no significant change in the meaning)
while derivational morphemes occur with a significant change of the word (typically with a change in the part-of-speech of
the word) citizen-s -s is an inflectional morpheme; en-large en- is a derivational morpheme; assign-ment-s ment is a deriva-
tional morpheme, -s is an inflectional morpheme; win-ner (n)er is a derivational morpheme; tight-er -er is an inflectional
morpheme
() e following words are made up of either one or two morphemes. Isolate the morphemes and decide for each if it is
free or bound, what kind of affix is involved (if any), and (where applicable) if the affix is inflectional or derivational.:
rejoin, hateful, greedy, spacious, comfortable, senseless, unspeakably, unidirectional, magnetic, temperature, selective, bilin-
gual, trilingual, monolingual
re-join (derivational-free), hate-ful (free-derivational), greed-y (free-derivational), spac-ious (free-derivational), comfort-
able (free-derivational), sense-less (free-derivational), un-speak-able-ly (derivational-free-derivational-derivational), uni-
direct-ion-al (derivational-free-derivational-derivational), magnet-ic (free-derivational), temperature (free), select-ive (free-
derivational), bi-ling-ual (derivational-free-derivational), tri-ling-ual (derivational-free-derivational), mono-ling-ual (derivational-
free-derivational)
() e television show e Simpsons coined many new words by using morphology in novel ways. Two examples are em-
biggens, as in ”A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man,” and introubleating, as in ”One Springfield man is treating his wife
to an extra special Valentine’s Day this year, and introubleating the rest of us.” Note that although these are novel words,
they are similar to other words of English: embiggens is similar to emboldens, and introubleating is similar to infuriating.
For each of these two words, perform the following task:
a) Break it up into its component morphemes.
em-bold-en / em-big(g)-en & in-fur(y)-iat-ing / in-troble-ate-ing

b) Provide the meaning of each morpheme and state whether it is free or bound.
em- means to change into a state (e.g., em-bold means to change into a state of boldness) and -en means to cause some-
thing to change (e.g., wid(e)-en means to make something wide). e same analysis can be done with introubleating.

() Define allomorpheme. Use the following words as examples: dogs, Charlie’s, Queens, and sheep.
Allomopheme refers to a set of morphemes that serve for the same function or meaning. For example, -s in dogs and ϕ
in sheep (plural) are the allomorphemes because they both indicate ”plural” (in spite of their superficial differences). -’s in
Charlie’s and -s in Queens are not allomorphes because they convey different functions in spite of their superficial similarity.

() Consider the following data from Bontoc. ese data show an example of derivational morphology in which an adjectival
root is turned into a verb. What type of affix is used to form the verb? Describe its placement in the word.

[fikas] ’strong’ [fumikas] ’he is becoming strong’

[kilad] ’red’ [kumilad] ’he is becoming red’
[bato] ’stone’ [bumiato] ’he is becoming stone’
[fusul] ’enemy’ [fumiusul] ’he is becoming an enemy’

In Bontoc, adjectives are converted into verbs by an infix -umi-

() In Hebrew, the following pattern is found in the derivation of color terms. Which morphological process is this an example
of? How do you know?

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 LaGuardia CC - Edu. & Lang. Acquisition Dept.

[lavan] ’white’ [lvanvan] ’whitish’

[kaxol] ’blue’ [kxalxal] ’bluish’
[jaƔok] ’green’ [jƔakƔak] ’greenish’
[tahov] ’yellow’ [thavhav] ’yellowish’
[vaƔod] ’pink’ [vƔadƔad] ’pinkish’
[ʃaxor] ’black’ [ʃxarxar] ’blakish’
In Hebrew, color nouns are converted into color adjectives by the process of reduplication (repeating the last syllable of the
word).
() From the examples given for each of the following suffix, determine (i) the part of speech of the word whose stem the suffix
combines with, and (ii) the part of speech of the words resulting from the addition of the suffix.
a) -ify: solidify, intensify, purify, clarify, rarefy adjective → verb
b) -ity: rigidity, stupidity, hostility, intensity, responsibility adjective → noun
c) -ize: unionize, terrorize, hospitalize, crystalize, magnetize noun → verb
d) -ive: repressive, active, disruptive, abusive, explosive verb → adjective
e) -ion: invention, injection, narration, expression, pollution verb → noun
f) -less: nameless, penniless, useless, heartless, mindless noun → adjective

 S
() Review the homework and the in-class exercises.
() Define noun in terms of its morphological behavior and distributional properties.
() Define verb in terms of its morphological behavior and distributional properties.
() Define adjective in terms of its morphological behavior and distributional properties.
() Define adverb in terms of its morphological behavior and distributional properties.
() What is the difference between lexical class and functional class?
() What are the difference between prescriptive grammar and descriptive grammar? Compare and contrast two different
perspectives using the following sentence pairs.
a) If I were you, I would study hard for the final exam. descriptively and prescriptively grammatical
b) If I was you, I would study hard for the final exam. descriptively grammatical
c) If I am you, I would study hard for the final exam. ungrammatical
a) Me and my family went to Europe last summer. descriptively grammatical
b) My family and I went to Europe last summer. descriptively and prescriptively grammatical
a) Who did you speak to? descriptively grammatical
b) To whom did you speak? descriptively and prescriptively grammatical
() Identify the lexical category (part-of-speech) of the underlined words in the following sentences. (also review the home-
work and in-class exercises).
a) e zoo owns some very funny lions. N
b) e lion cubs are fierce for their age. A
c) ey broke the gate to their cage from its hinges. P
d) e cage was empty. A
e) Can you guess where the lions went? N
f) ey le the zoo and went into Central Park. Conj
g) e lions eagerly chased the pigeons. Adv
h) e pigeons flew into the trees. P
i) An angry lion never chases a pigeon. V
j) e happy lions love to chase pigeons. V
k) eir love of pigeons is greater than my love of peanut butter. N
l) e zookeepers should fix the lions’ cage. Aux
m) Oil companies will have to pass on all of the benefits of tax reform to the consumer. N/Aux/V/P/N/P/D/N/P
n) Attached to the plastic frame is a mesh covering that will prevent a child from rolling off of the bed onto the floor.
P/A/N/Aux/D/Aux/N/P/P/D

Tomonori Nagano Introduction to Linguistics: Final exam practice questions  of ??

 LaGuardia CC - Edu. & Lang. Acquisition Dept.

o) at young child in the corner probably will fall off his bed onto the cold, hard floor early in the morning.
A/N/Adv/Aux/D/P/A/A/N/D/N
() Write trees for the following sentences.
a) Pat loves Robin.
S

NP VP

N V NP

Pat loves N

Robin
b) Pat pushed the stubborn horse into the barn.
S

NP VP

Pat VP PP

P NP
V NP
into D NP
pushed
D NP
the N
the AP NP
barn
A N

stubborn horse
c) Robin talked to the manager over the phone.
S

NP VP

Robin VP PP

V PP P NP

talked P NP over D NP

to D NP the N

the N phone

manager
d) Robin yelled at the manager from Ohio.

Tomonori Nagano Introduction to Linguistics: Final exam practice questions  of ??

LaGuardia CC - Edu. & Lang. Acquisition Dept.

NP VP

N
V PP
Robin
yelled
P NP

at
N PP

manager P NP

from N

Ohio
e) Lee bought a nice picture of the unicorn from Robin.
S

NP VP

Lee

VP PP

P NP
V NP
from N
bought
D NP
Robin
a
AP NP

A N PP
nice picture P NP

of D NP

the N

unicorn
f) Marilyn likes flavored coffee.
S

NP VP

N
V NP
Marilyn
likes AP NP

A N

flavored coffee
g) Josh and Sarah went to the club in Manhattan.

Tomonori Nagano Introduction to Linguistics: Final exam practice questions  of ??

 LaGuardia CC - Edu. & Lang. Acquisition Dept.

NP VP

NP Conj NP V PP

N and N went P NP

Josh Sarah to D NP

the N PP

club P NP

in N

Manhattan
h) Kay sent a letter to her mother.
S

NP VP

N
VP PP
Kay
V NP P NP

sent D NP to D NP

a N her N

letter mother
i) Joshua gave a note to his friend.
S

NP VP

N
VP PP
Joshua
V NP P NP

gave D NP to D NP

a N his N

note friend
() What is the difference between argument and adjunct? Explain the distinction using the following sentence pairs.
a) My dog devoured his meal.
b) My dog ate his meal in the bowl.
c) My little brother eats with his spoon.
Argument is required by the lexical head (e.g., verb or noun) whereas adjunct is extra-information to the meaning of the
predicate (not required by the lexical head. In the examples above, his meal is an argument, but in the bowl and with his
spoon are adjuncts.
() What is structural ambiguity? What is the relationship between the ambiguity (multiple interpretations) and the syntactic
structure? Explain it with the following sentences (the tree structures for the first example are provided for your help).

Tomonori Nagano Introduction to Linguistics: Final exam practice questions  of ??

 LaGuardia CC - Edu. & Lang. Acquisition Dept.

a) Annie whacked a man with an umbrella.

b) Marsha ate ice cream with a friend.
c) Marsha ate ice cream with a cherry.
d) Marsha ate ice cream with a spoon.
e) Marsha ate ice cream with pleasure.
f) sleepy men and boys (note: this is a noun phrase)
g) the old women’s shoes (note: this is a noun phrase)
h) You can enjoy a gourmet meal in your sweat pants.
Syntactic ambiguity is based on the idea that one syntactic tree corresponds to one (and only one) interpretation. Some
sentences allow more than one legal phrase structures (i.e., trees). In such a case, there must be more than two interpreta-
tions associated with the sentence.
S S

NP VP
NP VP
N
N
Annie V NP
Annie VP PP
whacked
NP PP
V NP P NP
D NP
whacked D NP with D NP P NP
a N
a N an N with D NP
man
man umbrella an N

umbrella

() What is recursion? What is the relationship between the recursive sentence and the phrase structure rules? Explain it with
the following sentences.
a) e gun was on the table.
b) e gun was on the table near the window.
c) e gun was on the table near the window in the bed room.
() What is deep structure and surface structure? What is transformation? Explain it with the following sentences.
a) A dog bit a boy.
b) A boy was bitten by a dog.

a) Susan opened the door.

b) e door was opened by Susan.
c) e door opened.

 S
() Review the homework and the in-class exercises.
() Identify each of the following statements as being either mostly about lexical semantics or mostly about compositional
semantics.
a) e phrase purple books describes a group of objects (books) that have a certain property (being purple.) compositional
b) e words couch and sofa mean roughly the same thing. lexical
c) Water under the bridge means something different than bridge under the water.
d) e sentence John ate a bagel for breakfast is true just in case an individual by the name of John consumed a rounded
bread product with a hole in the middle for his morning meal. compositional
e) e opposite of open is shut. lexical
f) Paris is a word that refers to a particular city in France. compositional/lexical
g) If the sentence Harold likes checkers and backgammon is true, then the sentence Harold likes backgammon must be
true as well. compositional

Tomonori Nagano Introduction to Linguistics: Final exam practice questions  of ??

 LaGuardia CC - Edu. & Lang. Acquisition Dept.

h) Bird means something like ’warm-blooded, egg-laying animal with feathers, wings, two legs, and a beak. lexical
i) When most people hear the word bird out of the blue, they are more likely to think of a songbird than a penguin,
flamingo, duck, or vulture; however, penguins, flamingos, ducks, and vultures are also kinds of bird. lexical
j) Jelly beans that are lemon flavored has the same meaning as lemon-flavored jelly beans. compositional
() Which sentence paris are in the entailment relationship? Also, which sentence pairs do mutually entail (i.e., entail each
other)?
a) Mike danced on the stage.
b) Mike danced with his girlfriend.
no entailment
a) Mike can sing.
b) Mike sang a song with his friends.
b entails a
a) Mike danced.
b) Mike can dance.
a entails b
a) Mike sings a song.
b) Mike sings a song with his friends.
b entails a
a) e door was opened by Mike.
b) Mike opened the door.
c) e door opened.
a and b mutually entail each other. a and b entail c
() What is the distinction between inclusive or and exclusive or? Explain it using the following examples.
a) He must be a surgeon or a gynecologist.
b) Kathy will come to see me or call me today.
c) Dead or alive.
d) You must have gone crazy or you are suicidal.
() Define the lexical decomposition. What features do the following words share? mare, stallion, hen, and rooster. Lexical
decomposition argues that words can be decomposed into a small set of meaning elements (meaning primitives). For
example, mare is  + , stallion is  + , hen is  + , and rooster is  + .
() Define and give examples of synonymy. What is the synonym of happy? same meaning. elated
() Define and give examples of antonymy. What is the antonym of happy and married. opposite meaning. sad and unhappy
() What is the difference among complimentary antonyms, gradable antonym, reverse, converse, and scalar antonym? Explain
it with the following words: male, female, boy, girl, pack, unpack, lend, borrow, hot, cold see the lecture slides
() Identify the lexical relationship of the following word pairs. If it’s an antonym, indicate whether it is complementary or grad-
able: good - bad, expensive - cheap, parent - off-spring, beautiful - ugly, false - true, lessor - lessee, pass - fail, hot - cold, legal - il-
legal, larger - smaller, poor - rich, fast - slow, asleep - awake, husband - wife, rude - polite AG/AG/R/AG/AC/AC/SC/AC/AC/AG/AG/AC/R/A
() What is hyponym? Also, what is hypernym? Explain them with hammer, T-shirt, pink, fish (hypernym) and appliance,
musical instrument, furniture, fish (hyponym). e hypernym (superset) of hammer is tools, T-shirt - clothe, pink - color,
and fish - living thing. e hyponym (subset) of appliance is refrigerator, musical instrument - guitar, furniture - desk, and
fish - cat fish.
() What is ontology? Explain it with some examples. the most general hypernyms in language
() What is homohpone and homonyms? Explain it with witch and plant
() What is collocation? Explain it with some examples.
() What is prototype? Explain it with furniture, bird, animal, building, fish, sport, car, tree.
() Pick out all of the verbs in the following list whose subject is an .: hit, buy, lose, see, trip, receive, hallucinate, rain,
explode, destroy hit, buy, lose, and destroy
() Pick out all of the verbs in the following list which occur with  () NP.: hit, buy, see, receive, destroy, discuss,
paint, erase, enter, remember hit, buy, see, and remember

Tomonori Nagano Introduction to Linguistics: Final exam practice questions  of ??

 LaGuardia CC - Edu. & Lang. Acquisition Dept.

() What is semantic ambiguity? Explain it with the following sentences

a) ree boys danced with two girls.
b) Everyone loves someone.
Semantic ambiguity is ambiguity caused by () either polysemous words (words that have two meanings) or () scope of
(numerical) quantifiers. In the examples above, sentence a. could mean there are two girls or six girls. Sentence b. can be
interpreted such that all people are paired each other or all people love one specific person.

 F  S L A

() Review the homework and the in-class exercises.
() What is neurolinguistics? How is it related to language acquisition? Neurolinguistics is a study of relationships between
brain and language. e research suggests that plasticity of the brain functions contribute to the acquisition of language
process.
() What is aphasia? Aphasia is a partial dysfunction of the brain that results in the loss of some aspects of language ability.
() What is Broca’s area? What is its function? Broca’s area is located in the cortex of the dominant frontal lobe (i.e., in front
of the le ear) and is believed to be responsible for the speech production (or broadly syntax).
() What is Wernicke’s area? What is its function? Wernicke’s area is located in the cortex of the dominant temporal lobe (i.e.,
in back of the le ear) and is believed to be responsible for the speech comprehension (or broadly semantics).
() Which type of aphasia is characterized by speech like this: ... two times ... read ... wr ... ripe, er, rike, er, write ....? Broca’s
aphasia
() How do the researchers know the connection between the brain and the language functions? What are the typical tech-
niques used in the neurolinguistic research? Various methods are employed to probe into the brain functions (e.g., PET
scanning, the dichotic listening test (the right-ear advantage), MRI and fMRI etc.; see the handout for more details of those
methods), but all of they are indirect methods and no evidence for a direct relationship between the specific location of
the brain and the language functions has been found yet.
() What is the Critical Period Hypothesis? Critical Period Hypothesis is a clam by Lenneberg () who argued that the lan-
guage acquisition must take place before children lose plasticity of the brain (i.e., before their brain functions are localized
into different parts of the brain). e localization of the brain functions is called lateralization and is believed to happen
before puberty
() What is the difference between first language acquisition and second language acquisition? What is the difference between
language acquisition and language learning? First Language Acquisition (FLA) is used for language acquisition process
by children (thus, bilingual children might have two first languages) and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is used for
adults who learn a language (usually in a classroom setting). e term acquire usually indicates FLA whereas learn is used
for SLA.
() Some stages of first language acquisition are highly predictable. What are the milestones of children’s lexical development
(development of vocabulary, especially up to age -)? Discuss the following stages in the lexical acquisition:
a) babbling stage
b) one-word stage
c) two-word stage
d) telegraphic stage
see the handout
() Some stages of first language acquisition are highly predictable. What are the milestones of children’s syntactic development
(development of grammar, especially up to age -)? Discuss them in terms of question forming and negative forming by
young children.
see the handout
() Which of the following statement do you agree with? What reasons would you give to support your opinions?
a) People with high IQs are good (first) language learner.
b) Most mistakes in the second language are due to the interference from the first language.
c) e second language learners should not be allowed to hear mistakes or they will learn the erroneous sentences.
d) Teachers should teach simple grammar before complex one.
e) Teacher should teach only one grammar rule in the second language at a time and practice it throughly before intro-
ducing the next rule.

Tomonori Nagano Introduction to Linguistics: Final exam practice questions  of ??

 LaGuardia CC - Edu. & Lang. Acquisition Dept.

e answers vary. Make sure that you can rationalize your choice (e.g., why do you think IQ matters or does not matter?).

 P
() What is pragmatics? e study of language in actuarial conversation or in context.
() What are the two different types of contexts? Linguistic context is actual utterances that precede a particular utterance in
a discourse and physical/social/situational context is a (non-linguistic) situation in which a sentence is uttered (e.g., social
distance between the speaker and the listener).
() What is Grice’s Principle? Grice’s Cooperative Principle is a set of assumptions that speakers undertake without any specific
context.
() What are the four types of Grice’s Cooperative Maxim? e maxims of quality, relevance, quantity, and manner
() What is the maxim of quality? Any example? () do not say what you believe to be false, and () do not say that for which
you lack adequate evidence.
() What is the maxim of relevance? Any example? () be relevant.
() What is the maxim of quantity? Any example? () make your contribution as informative as is required, and () do not
make your contribution more informative than is required.
() What is the maxim of manner? Any example? () avoid obscurity of expression, () avoid ambiguity, () be brief, and ()
be orderly.
() What is deixis? Deixs is a word that cannot be interpreted without context. For example, here, there, this, that, now, then,
yesterday, you, me, she, he etc.
() What is the difference between anaphora and antecedent? Anaphora is a deictic expression that is employed as a subse-
quence reference to any already introduced entity and antecedent is the referent of the anaphora.
() What is the speech act? What are the speech acts of the following sentences?
a) A little more salt will make this salad yummy. (declarative) e speech act is 
b) Could you pass me the salt? (interrogative) e speech act is 
c) Give me the salt! (imperative) e speech act is 

 S
() What is sociolinguistics? e study of the relation between language and society.
() List a few major dialects of the US English.
Eastern New England, New York, Middle Atlantic, West Pennsylvania, Appalachian, Southern, North Central, Central
Midland, Northwest, Southwest
() Give some examples of sociolinguistic influence on the lexicon (vocabulary). soda vs. pop, paper bag vs. paper sack, pail
vs. bucket etc.
() What is Isogloss? Isogloss represents a boundary between different uses of one particular linguistic item.
() What are the two major factors that influence the usage of language in society? Geographical factor and socioeconomic
factor
() Provide one example of the regional influence on language use (e.g., different vowel pronunciations between Northeastern
(New York) English and Inland (Pennsylvania) English, difference in vocabulary soda vs pop etc.)
() Provide one example of the socio-economic influence on language use. For example, how age, economic status, or gender
influences the use of language?
() What are the controversies surrounding the debate about Standard English or English as an official language? What is
English-only movement? What is Lau v. Nichols? e standard language is a language most commonly used in a specific
society (e.g., English in the U.S.). e official language is a language determined by the legislation.
() What is Pidgin? How is it different from Creole? Pidgin is a dialect developed for practical purposes among people who
have a lot of contact but do not share the same language. Creole develops among the children of Pidgin speakers and is
equipped with much more sophisticated grammar and vocabulary than Pidgin.
() What is AAVE? ere is a large amount of research conducted on this language – how is it related to sociolinguistics?
AAVE is an African American Vernacular English.

Tomonori Nagano Introduction to Linguistics: Final exam practice questions  of ??

 LaGuardia CC - Edu. & Lang. Acquisition Dept.

 C 
() What is Turning test? Why is it important in computational linguistics?
() Briefly discuss Noam Chomsky’s refutation against the data-driven, statistical approach to language? Use these two sen-
tences as an example: Colorless green ideas sleep furiously. vs. Furiously sleep ideas green colorless.
() What do we mean by the rationalist or rule-based approach to computational linguistics?
() One of the challenges in computational linguistics is speed of speech. Discuss this problem.
() One of the challenges in computational linguistics is creativity of speech. Discuss this problem.
() One of the challenges in computational linguistics is flexibility of speech. Discuss this problem.
() One of the challenges in computational linguistics is rationality of speech. Discuss this problem.

Tomonori Nagano Introduction to Linguistics: Final exam practice questions  of ??