Brief – 2012

a. What are the major levels of linguistics?

Ans: Five major levels of linguistics.

• phonetics or phonology

• morphology
• syntax
• semantics and
• pragmatics.

b. What is syntax?

Ans: Syntax is the arrangement of words in sentences of a language.

c. What are the branches of phonetics?

Ans: Three branches.

• articulatory phonetics
• acoustic phonetics and
• auditory phonetics.

d. What is zero allomorph?

Ans: Zero allomorph is an inflection on nouns or verbs presumed to be present although invisible.

e. Define voicing.

Ans: In phonetics, the speech sounds which are produced with the vibration of the vocal cords are
known as voicing.

f. What is elision?

Ans: In linguistics, elision or deletion refers to the omission of one or more sounds in a word or
phrase.

g. What is Psycholinguistics?

Ans: Psycholinguistics is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that allow
humans to acquire, use, comprehend and produce language.

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h. What is phoneme?

Ans: The smallest unit of speech or language.

i. Define LAD?

Ans: LAD stands for Language Acquisition Device. It is the capacity to acquire one’s first
language.

j. What is IPA?

Ans: IPA is a system of transcribing the sounds of languages which consist of some Latin and
Greek letters and a variety of additional symbols and diacritics.

k. How many vowel sounds are there in English?

Ans: There are twenty (20) vowel sounds in English.

l. What is acronym?

Ans: An acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of a name or by combining initial letters
of a series of words.

Brief-2013
a. What is phonetics?

Ans: Phonetics is the branch of linguistics which is concerned with the production, transmission,
reception and perception of speech sounds.

b. What is assimilation?

Ans: Assimilation refers to a phonological process by which one sound becomes more like a nearby
sound.

c. What is a face-threatening act?

Ans: Face-threatening acts are acts that infringe on the hearer’s need to maintain his/her self-esteem
and be respected.

d. What are alveolar consonants?

Ans: Alveolar consonants are produced when the blade of the tongue articulates with the alveolar
ridge.

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e. What is a dialect?

Ans: A dialect is the regional variety of a language which is used by a particular speech
community.

f. What is SLA?

Ans: SLA stands for Second Language Acquisition. It is the process by which people learn a
second language

g. What is meant by ‘duality”?

Ans: Duality means that language is organized on two levels-

• Physical level- when we can produce individual sounds e.g. n. b, i and

• Meaning level – when we produce sounds in combination e.g. nib, bin.

h. What is ‘register?

Ans: A register is a speech variety used by a particular group of people, usually sharing the same
occupation.

i. What is a minimal pair?

Ans: Pair of two words in a language which differ from each other by only one distinctive sound.

J. Name the passive articulators?

Ans: The passive articulators are upper lip, upper teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate and soft palate.

k. Define presupposition?

Ans: Presupposition is the assumption the speaker makes about what the hearer is going to accept
without challenge.

l. How many monophthongs are there in English?

Ans: 12/ Twelve.

Brief- 2014
a. What is diphthong?

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Ans: A diphthong is a sound which is usually considered as one distinctive vowel of a particular
language but it involves two pure vowels where one vowel glides into the other.

b. What is the smallest phonological unit?

Ans: Phoneme.

c. What is parole?

Ans: A term, deriving from Ferdinand de Saussure, refers to language as it is spoken, contrast this
with langue.

d. What is IC?

Ans: IC stands for Immediate Constituent. It is one of the largest grammatical units that constitute a
construction.

e. What is tonic stress?

Ans: Extra strong stress on words to show special focus.

f. What is phone?

Ans: Sound or voice.

g. What is Bound Stem?

Ans: A bound stem is a stem which cannot occur as a separate word apart from any other
morpheme.

h. What is syntax?

Ans: Syntax is the study of sentence structure.

i. What is schema?

Ans: Stored body of knowledge.

j. What is isogloss?

Ans: Isogloss is a boundary line between places or regions that differ in a particular linguistic
feature such as the pronunciation of a vowel.
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k. What is tone?

Ans: A tone is a syllable which initiates a contrast in pitch level or direction.

l. Who is Saussure?

Ans: Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) is the originator of the 20 century reappearance of

structuralism.

Brief-2015
a. What is Idiolect?

Ans: Idiolect is the speech pattern of an individual at a particular period of time.

b. What is LAD?

Ans: LAD is a Language Acquisition Device. It is the capacity to acquire one’s first language.

c. What is Recursion?

Ans: Rules can be applied more than once in generating sentences.

d. What is zero morph?

Ans: Zero morph is a morph where no morpheme is added but still semantically it makes sense that
there is a plural form.

e. What is sociolect?

Ans: Sociolect is a variety of a language which is typical of a certain class.

f. What is allophone?

Ans: Allophone is the positional variant of the same phoneme.

g. What is stress?

Ans: Stress is the acoustic prominence of a syllable in a word.

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h. What are bilabial sounds?

Ans: The sounds made by the two lips are called bilabial sounds.

i. What is SLA?

Ans: Second Language Acquisition.

j. What is minimal unit?

Ans: Pair of two words in a language which differ from each other by only one distinctive sound.

k. What is phonetics?

Ans: Phonetics is the branch of linguistics which is concerned with the production, transmission,
reception and perception of speech sounds.

l. What is competence?

Ans: Competence is the ability to correctly use the sounds, syntax, and grammar of a written
language.

Brief-2016
a. What are the major levels of linguistics?

Ans: Five major levels of linguistics.

phonetics or phonology

morphology

syntax

semantics and

pragmatics.

b. What is parole?

Ans: A term, deriving from Ferdinand de Saussure, refers to language as it is spoken, contrast this
with langue.

c. Define voicing?

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Ans: In phonetics, the speech sounds which are produced with the vibration of the vocal cords are
known as voicing.

d. What is assimilation?

Ans: Assimilation is a phonological process by which one sound becomes more like a nearby
sound.

e. What is IC?

Ans: IC stands for Immediate Constituent. It is one of the largest grammatical units that constitute a
construction.

f. What is schema?

Ans: Stored body of knowledge.

g. What is psycholinguistics?

Ans: Psycholinguistics is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that allow
humans to acquire, use, comprehend and produce language.

h. Name the passive articulators.

Ans: The passive articulators are upper lip, upper teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate and soft palate.

i. What is diphthong?

Ans: A diphthong is a sound which is usually considered as one distinctive vowel of a particular
language but it involves two pure vowels where one vowel glides into the other.

j. What is syntax?

Ans: Syntax is the arrangement of words in sentences of a language.

k. What is IPA?

Ans: IPA is a system of transcribing the sounds of languages which consist of some Latin and
Greek letters and a variety of additional symbols and diacritics.

l. What is acronym?

Ans: An acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of a name or by combining initial letters
of a series of words.

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 Brief-2017
a. What is linguistics?

Ans: Scientific study of language.

b. Who is Saussure?

Ans: Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) is the originator of the 20 century reappearance of

structuralism.

c. What is Langue?

Ans: Langue is a French word meaning “language”.

d. What is a monophthong?

Ans: A monophthong is a pure vowel sound which is pronounced without any obstacle in the vocal
tract.

e. What is Pitch?

Ans: Pitch is the degree of highness or lowness of a tone.

f. What is bound morpheme?

Ans: A bound morpheme is a morpheme which cannot stand alone as an independent word but
must be attached to another morpheme.

g. What is LAD?

Ans: LAD stands for Language Acquisition Device. It is the capacity to acquire one’s first
language.

h. What is Sociolinguistics?

Ans: Sociolinguistics is the study of the use of language in society.

i. What is IPA?

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Ans: IPA is a system of transcribing the sounds of languages which consist of some Latin and
Greek letters and a variety of additional symbols and diacritics.

j. What is register?

Ans: A register is a speech variety used by a particular group of people, usually sharing the same
occupation.

k. What is Accommodation Theory in SLA?

Ans: Accommodation Theory is similar to Acculturation Theory in that both attempt to explain
how group relations impact SLA.

I. What is intonation?

Ans: Intonation is a pattern of changing pitch during utterance to convey linguistic information.

Brief-2018
a.What is IPA?

Ans: IPA is a system of transcribing the sounds of languages which consist of some Latin and
Greek letters and a variety of additional symbols and diacritics.

b. What is diphthong?

Ans: A diphthong is a sound which is usually considered as one distinctive vowel of a particular
language but it involves two pure vowels where one vowel glides into the other.

c. What is schema?

Ans: Stored body of knowledge.

d. What is IC?

Ans: IC stands for Immediate Constituent. It is one of the largest grammatical units that constitute a
construction.

e. What is parole?

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Ans: A term, deriving from Ferdinand de Saussure, refers to language as it is spoken, contrast this
with langue.

f. What is Idiolect?

Ans: Idiolect is the speech pattern of an individual at a particular period of time.

g. What is a minimal pair?

Ans: Pair of two words in a language which differ from each other by only one distinctive sound.

h. Who is Noam Chomsky?

Ans: Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian,
social critic.

i. What is phonetics?

Ans: Phonetics is the branch of linguistics which is concerned with the production, transmission,
reception and perception of speech sounds.

j. What is Psycholinguistics?

Ans: Psycholinguistics is the study of the psychological and neurobiological factors that allow
humans to acquire, use, comprehend and produce language.

k. What is a dialect?

Ans: A dialect is the regional variety of a language which is used by a particular speech
community.

l. What is syntax?

Ans: Syntax is the arrangement of words in sentences of a language.

Brief-2019
a. What is stress?

Ans: Stress is the acoustic prominence of a syllable in a word.

b. What is phonology?

Ans: Phonology of a language is concerned with the systematic organization and functions of
sounds in that language.

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c. Define pidgin

Ans: A pidgin is a new language which develops when speakers of different languages need to
communicate but don’t share a common language. So, they form a new language combining the
two.

d. What is LAD?

Ans: LAD is Language Acquisition Device.

e. What does ‘morpheme’ mean?

Ans: A morpheme is the smallest component of word that has semantic meaning.

f. What is semantics?

Ans: Semantics is the study of meaning which is used for understanding human expression through
language.

g. What is coherence?

Ans: Coherence is the relationship that links the meaning of utterances and sentences.

h. What is SLA

Ans: SLA stands for Second Language Acquisition. It is the process by which people learn a
second language.

i. What is bilingualism?

Ans: The practice of alternative two languages is called bilingualism.

j. What is elision?

Ans: In linguistics, elision or deletion refers to the omission of one or more sounds in a word or
phrase.

k. What is sociolect?

Ans: Language may vary depending on the speaker’s social class. That is called sociolect

l. What is pragmatics?

Ans: Pragmatics is the study of meaning in context.

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 Brief-2020
a. What is linguistics?

Ans: Scientific study of Language.

b. Define syllable.

Ans: A syllable stands for a unit of pronunciation usually larger than a single sound and smaller
than a word.

c. What is acronym?

Ans: An acronym is a word formed from the initial letters of a name or by combining initial letters
of a series of words.

d. What is acquisition

Ans: The act or process of achieving mastery of a language or a linguistic rule or element.

e. What do you understand by Jargon?

Ans: Jargon is the term for specialized or technical language that is only understand by those who
are members of a group or who perform a specific trade

f. How many plosive consonants are there in English?

Ans: Six.

g. What is TG Grammar?

Ans: A Transformational Generative grammar or TG grammar is a theory of grammar to shoe the

rules which the native speaker of a language uses in forming all grammatical sentences and
rejecting ungrammatical one.

h. What is homophone?

Ans: Homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning

i. What is register?

Ans: A register is a speech variety used by a particular group of people, usually sharing the same
occupation.

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j. What are the long English vowel sounds?

Ans: The long English vowel sounds are /ei/, /i//ai/, /o/, /yu/.

k. What do you understand by ‘caregiver speech”?

Ans: Body talk refers to the simple language forms used by young children or the modified form of
speech after used by adults with young children are known as caregiver speech.

l. What are the main branches of phonetics?

Ans: Three branches.

• Articulatory phonetics
• Acoustic phonetics and
• Auditory phonetics.

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