Introduction to Language 2021 –Ms.

Truc
MIDTERM TEST-KEY
Class: 4C
Subject: An Introduction to Linguistics

THEORY
A. How many letters are there in the English alphabet? How many consonants? How many
vowels?
- There are 26 letters in the English alphabet.
- There are 21 consonants.
- There are 5 vowels.

B. How many vowels sounds and consonants sounds are there?

- There are 20 vowels and 24 consonants.

C. Are /p, t, k/ voiceless consonants?

- Yes, they are.

D. Fill in each blank ONE correct word.

1. According to voicing, consonants can be voiced or voiceless.
2. The lungs provide the most usual source of energy.
3. The bilabial consist of /b, p, m, w/.
4. An affricate is a combination of a stop and a fricative.

E. Are these sentences True (T) or False (F)?

__F___ 1. Voicing, the point of articulation, and the manner of articulation are the criteria of
describing a vowel.
__ F __ 2. A letter presents only one sound.
__ F __ 3. Sonorants consist of 7 sounds, including /h/.

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F. Fill in each blank ONE correct word.
1. The class of labial sounds in English consists of four bilabials and two labio-dentals.
2. The lungs provide the most usual source of energy.
3. The tougue and lower lip are considered as main articulators.
4. There is not a one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds.

G. Match the terms (1-4) with their definitions (A-D).

1. Morpheme- C
2. Presupposition -B
3. Ambiguity -D
4. Semantic features-A

A. The minimal components of meaning of a word.

B. What a speaker or writer assumes that the receiver of the message already knows.
C. The smallest meaningful unit of a language.
D. A phrase or a sentence has more than one meaning.

H. What are allomorphs? Give one example.

Allomorphs are variant phonological representations of the same morpheme.
Example:
- In the words incorrect, illegal, irregular, impossible, in-, il-, ir-, im- are the allomorphs of the
negation morpheme {in-}.

I. Are these statements TRUE (T) or FALSE (F)?

__F__ 1. A morpheme does not carry meaning.
__T__ 2. People study Syntax in order to know thoroughly about sentence formation.
__T__ 3. Free morphemes can stand alone as independent words in a sentence.
__T__ 4. “Buyers” is made up of three morphemes.

J. What do determiners consist of? Give examples for each case.

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The determiners consist of:
- Articles: A, an
- Demonstrative adjectives: this, that
- Indefinite pronouns: many, much
- Possessive adjectives: my, your
K. Write a set of phrase structure rules that generate all of the following sentences. (2ms)
Example: The wind blows S => NP + VP NP => Det +N VP => V
1. Robin drove his car into a tree.
S => NP + VP;
NP=> Prop,
VP => V + NP + PP;
NP => Det + N;
PP => P + NP;
NP =>det +N
2. The rose smells sweet.
S => NP + VP;
NP => Det +N;
VP => V + AP,
AP => A
3. The children play noisily.
S => NP + VP;
NP => Det +N;
VP => V + Adv.P,
Adv.P =>Adv
4. Mary sang a famous song
S => NP + VP;
NP => PROP;
VP => V + NP;
NP => Det + N’;
N’ => AP + N,
AP=> A
L. How many groups are word classes divided? What are they? Give one example for each group.

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=> English has 2 major word classes: lexical and non-lexical classes
Example
- Lexical: Noun: station
- Non-lexical: Conjunction: and

PRACTICE
A. Write the English words of the following phonemic transcriptions.
1 /ɡɒn/ gone 11 /bɜːn/ burn
2 /leɪk/ lake 12 /θruː/ through
3 /bɪə(r)/ beer 13 /niːz/ knees
4 /θrəʊ/ throw 14 / ɡeɪt/ gate
5 /pætʃ/ patch 15 /meɪk/ make
6 /ˈstɔːri/ story 16 /fɔːlt/ fault
7 /baɪ/ by, buy, bye 17 /ɡeɪv/ gave
8 /bɔɪ/ boy 18 /niːs/ niece
9 /ruːf/ roof 19 /bɔːn/ born
10 /lʊk/ look 20 /læk/ lack

B. Give two examples for each of the following diphthongs.

1. /uə/: poor, tour
2. /eə/: there, where
3. / eɪ /: make, lake

C. Give the vowel-consonant (V-C) sound patterns for the following words.
Example: bet /bet/ => CVC
1. snake /sneɪk/ => CCVC
2. teaching /ˈtiː.tʃɪŋ/ => CV CVC
3. try /traɪ/ => CCV
4. lazy / ˈleɪzi / => CV CV

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D. Which group do these words go in: -S, -Z, -IZ.
1. clothes -Z
2. carrots -S
3. jobs -z
4. beaches -IZ

E. Write the English words of the following phonetic transcription.

However, even in families with both parents present, many mothers are giving up the role of
homemaker and pursuing their own careers. Some go on maternity leave after the children are born
and then take up part-time work when the child is old enough to go to school. Others feel that their
careers come first and wait until they have fully established the career before having children.

F. Give two examples for each of the following sounds.

1. /u /: put, pull
2. /e /: sell, pencil
3. /ɪ /: milk, important
4. /a: /: half, Star
5. / i: /: meal, eel
G. Write the English words of the following phonemic transcription.
1. /əbˈdʌkt/ abduct
2. /ədˈmɪt/ admit
3. /kəmˈbaɪn/ combine
4. /kənˈdɪʃn/ condition

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5. /əˈlæbərət/ elaborate
6. /bæθ/ bath
7. /ˈsɪdi/ CD
8. /jʌŋ/ young
9. /ɡɒt/ got
10. /ðəm/ them
11. /tiː/ tea
12. /dɪd/ did
13. /kæt/ cat
14. /ɡɒt/ got
15. /tʃeɪn/ chain
16. /dʒæm/ jam
17. /fɔːl/ fall
18. /væn/ van
19. /θɪn/ thin
20. /ðɪs/ this

H. Give two examples for each of the following sounds.

1. / ʃ /: shop, ship
2. / ʊ / : put, foot
3. /i:/ : sheep, believe
4. / t/ : tea, table

I. Give the vowel-consonant (V-C) sound patterns for the following words.
Example: bet /bet/ => CVC
1. homework => /ˈhəʊmwɜːk/ => CVC CVC
2. lazy => /ˈleɪzi/ => CV CV
3. selection => /sɪˈlekʃən/ => CV CVC CVC
4. negotiation => /nɪˌɡəʊʃiˈeɪʃən/ => CV CV CV V CVC

J. Rewrite the sentences basing on their phonemic transcriptions.

1. / if juː wi∫ tə ri:t∫ ðə haiist, bigin ət ðə ləʊist /

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=> If you wish to reach the highest, begin at the lowest.
2. / ðə ˈmeʒə(r) əv laif iz nɒt its djuˈreɪʃn, bət its dəʊˈneɪʃn/
=> The measure of life is not its duration, but its donation.
3. / wen laif tʃeɪndʒiz tə bi ha:dз(r) tʃeɪndʒ jɔːˈself tə bi ˈstrɒŋɡə(r)/
=> When life changes to be harder, change yourself to be stronger.
4. / ðə hæpinəs əv jə(r) laif di’pendz ɒn ðə ˈkwɒləti əv jə(r) θɔːts /
=> The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.

K. Give each sound ONE example.

1. / tʃ/: church
2. /əʊ/ : shoulder
3. /ɔː/ : horse
4. / ð/ : they

L. Give the vowel-consonant (V-C) sound patterns for the following words.
1. snake /sneɪk/ : CCVC
2. organize /ˈɔːɡənaɪz/ : V CV CVC
3. create / kriˈeɪt/ : CCV VC
4. quality /ˈkwɒləti/ : CCV CV CV

M. Paraphrase the following sentence in at least two ways to show you understand the
ambiguity involved – “The chicken is ready to eat.”
1. The chicken (animal) is ready to eat something (grains of rice).
2. The chicken (food) is ready to be served.

N. Write the base forms for these words.

1. reality => REAL
2. infamous => FAME
3. wisdom => WISE
4. photographer => PHOTO
O. Build new words by using suffixes.
1. honest  honesty

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2. music  musical
3. accommodate  accommodation
4. fish  fishing

P. Find the specifiers for the following phrases.

1. extremely happily  extremely
2. could harm  could
3. quite peaceful  quite
4. our ship  our
5. so witty  so
6. the zoo  the
7. would go  would
8. very well  very

Q. Combine the following sounds to make at least 20 words.

Example: => PUT

1 toe /təʊ/ 11 bay /beɪ/

2 bit /bɪt/ 12 bed /bed/
3 teddy / tedɪ/ 13 tow / təʊ/
4 pet /pet/ 14 boat /bəʊt/
5 did /dɪd/ 15 tear /teə(r) /
6 bet / bet / 16 bare /beə(r)/
7 day /deɪ / 17 bear /beə(r)/
8 date /deɪt / 18 pare /peə(r)/
9 pay / peɪ/ 19 pair /peə(r)/

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10 paid /peɪd / 20 dare /deə(r)/

R. Write the English words of the following phonetic transcription.

The study aims at indicating the effectiveness of employing Skype in the classroom to
promote chances for EFL learners to expose to multiculturalism. Action research was carried out via
a one-year case study on a teacher-participant. The data was collected by observation during Skype
connections, the participants reflections before and after the connections, and interview of teacher-
participant for his reflections for enhancing his learners’ chances for acquiring multiculturalism. The
findings of the study showed that Skype benefited the teacher-participant in facilitating
multiculturalism in EFL learning contexts, how Skype could be useful for multicultural connections,
and the development of learners’ common curiosity about other cultures through the exposure to
multiculturalism.

THE END!