LING Practice Exam: Linguistics, Phonetics and Phonology

A speaker’s knowledge of his/her language is:

‘I’m not doing nothing today’ is:

‘Syntax’ is the module of the grammar responsible for:

Linguists examine various linguistic systems and develop

A ‘linguist’ is someone who:

Select the words below which belong in this sentence: ‘The English language is __________ linguistic research.’

‘Phonology’ is:

An individual’s linguistic competence refers to:

[θ] is a

A voiceless alveolar fricative is transcribed in the IPA with the symbol

[u] is a:

Examine the following dialogue between children and answer the question. [Note: This and the following excerpts were transcribed from an actual conversation between young children. They are mildly incoherent and have many performance errors thus they are quite similar to adult speech ...] A: aj æ fɔr sɪstrz̩. B: ju dən hæv fɔr sɪstrz̩.jə oni hæv θri.
 A: suzi kæθi mi n̩ bani.
 B: ʔɪts na kawntɪŋ ju. jr̩ naɾə sɪstr.̩ jr̩ naʔ jr̩ sɪstr.̩ How many sisters does Miss A have?

Examine the following child’s monologue and answer the question. A: aj hæv ðiz awʔ ɔrɛɾi ɪn ðɪs wən kem awt. læs najt maj mawθ əz ɔl bliɾɪŋ. no, naʔ frəm ðæt, maj hol gəm ərawn æn maj hol tiθ. ɪt ɔmos ɪʔ drɪpt awɾə maj mawθ. maj brəðr̩ hæʔ wɛl hi hæd e tiθ awʔ. hɪz mawθ wəz ɔl bliɾi ən i hæʔ hi kʊnnivən stæn frəm ɪt. ɪʔ ɪɾɔlmos drɪpdawn tu ɪz to. Tu ɪs fit. æn maj mam hæɾən apre̩ʃɪn. ʔapre̩ʃɪn ɔnrs̩təmɪk. How far did the blood from A’s brother’s mouth almost drip down to?

Examine the following children’s conversation and answer the question. A:pɛprz̩ ə ʤrm̩ɪn ʃɛprd̩. B: jə no wət. ʔə boj sɛd ðɛt hi ðɛt pɛpr̩ hɛd ʔəm rebiz. bət mi n̩ hɪm wən ovr̩ tə pɛɾɪt. ɛn ɪ dɪdn̩ ivn̩ æv rebiz. hi wəz rɔŋ. A: pɛpr̩dɪd. B: aj pɛɾəd hɪm. hi dɪdn̩ ivn̩ hæv rebiz. f i hæd rebiz hi wʊɾə bɪʔ mi. bɪʔn̩ mi ʔn̩ ʔəm dajd. əhə. C: maj dɔgz hævɪŋ bebiz n̩ hi dɪdn̩ bajt. B: hævrebiz. C: bebiz. B: bebiz. wɛl ðe donʔ bajʔ wən ðe hæv rebiz. bebiz. bət. wən ðe ʔæv ʔm̩ rebiz jæ ðe du bajt. Which of the following statements is true?

Examine the following child dialogue and answer the question. A: wəns wəns hi kip ʤəmp ʤəmpɪŋ ʤəmpɪŋ æn ðɛn ðɪs θɪŋ slajs awn ðɛn hi fɛl ovr̩ tu ðəʔ əðə bɛd æn i star krajɪn ɛn aj kʊʔən gɛ tə bɛd so aj aj hæftə wek əp pəʔəm bæk ɪm maj krɪb. B: ʔɪn jr̩ krɪb. A: no naʔ ɪm maj krɪb. aj don hæv ə krɪb. B: ju sɛ pəʔɪm bæk ɪn jr̩ krɪb. A: aj min ɪn hɪz krɪb. aj don hæv ə krɪb. Does Miss A have a crib?

Examine the following first-grader monologue and answer the question. A:bɪfɔr aj juz tə hæv əbrd̩. ɪʔ dajd. Aj juztə hæv ə ræbɪt. ðæʔ dajd. Wi gaɾə dɔg ðæʔ dajd. ən wən wi gaɾə kæt wi sold ɪt əwe. so wi gat dɪsajdəd tə gɛɾənəðr ̩ dɔg. Given A’s past experience with pets, what are the prospects for his new dog?

Examine the following first-grader conversation and answer the question. A:æn aj hæv ə θawzɛnz ɔmos θawzənz əv ænəmlz̩ ɪm maj bɛəd. aj oni ga wən trd̩l.̩ B: aj ləv ræbɪs.
 C: aj gaʔʔəbawʔ tɛn fajv ræbiʔs. fajv ræbɪʔs.
 A: aj hæv ə dɔg. hɪz nem ɪz dæjəndi. B: aj əv əpɛwokiʔ bəɾI dəzən tɔk jɛt.
 A: æn hiz ə æn izə winr̩ dɔk. hi wɪglz̩ ɪz teəl ɛvri tajm.
 B: du ju kɔlɪm ɛnitajm ə winr.̩ ɛnitajm.
 A: hiʤəmʔsɔnəʧerz̩ ənɛvriθɪŋ.majfaðr̩wapsɪmwən. B: aj gaɾə slo ænɪml.̩ ən gɛs hu hi ɪz. ðə tɔrdɪs. What is B’s slow animal?

One of the four strings below is likely to be accurate — the others have serious errors which make it very unlikely that you or we would ever say them that way. Circle the one which has the good transliteration in it.

Mokilese (an Oceanic language spoken on Mokil). Examine the following data, noting the distribution of voiceless (with a ring under the vowel) and voiced vowels. a)[pis̥an]‘full of leaves’
 b) [uduk]‘flesh’
 c) [kaskas]‘to throw’
 d) [poki]‘to strike something’ e) [tu̥pu̥kta]‘bought’ f) [pu̥ko]‘basket’ g)[kis̥a]‘wetwo’ h) [pil]‘water’ i) [apid]‘out rigger support’ j) [luʤuk]‘to tackle’ k) [su̥pw o] ‘firewood’ l) [kamwɔkit̥i]‘to move’ m)[isik̥]‘to shake’ n) [tun]‘to drip’ a. Which rule accounts for the voiceless vowel allophones in the data above? (a) Vowels become voiceless before voiceless stops.
 (b) High vowels become voiceless between voiceless consonants. (c)High vowels become voiceless after voiceless consonants.
 (d) Vowels become voiceless between voiceless consonants. b. What should the phonetic realization of Mokilese /pisa/ ‘fish body part (from the start of the tail to just below the gills)’ be? (a) [pisḁ] (b) [pisa] (c) [pis̥a] (d) [pis̥ḁ] (part c is in another question) c. The phonemic representation of Mokilese ‘bought’ is: (a) /tu̥pu̥ktḁ/ (b) /tupuktḁ/ (c) /tu̥pu̥kta/ (d) /tupukta/