Linguistics Trivia

1. "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." In the spirit of cooperation, people often do things for EACH OTHER and ONE ANOTHER. To which class do these two PRONOUNS belong?

From Quiz Determined to Know the Difference

Answer: Reciprocal

Germans use one word ("einander") to say "each other." The Germans are famous for combining words! English reflexive pronouns, however, demonstrate this tendency too: myself, yourself, ourselves, yourselves, etc. This is indicative of the close connection that the two languages still share.

From Quiz Son of Language Family Values

Answer: Indo-European

Albanian (or "Shqip," to a native speaker) occupies a branch of its own in the Indo-European family, although its position in the family tree is still uncertain. The name "Albanian" was taken from "Albenoi," the name of an Illyrian tribe, as explained by Hellenic astronomer Claudius Ptolemy. The endonym "Shqiptarë" comes from the root "shqip," an adverb meaning "clearly" or "intelligibly" (Lloshi, 2010).

From Quiz Dictating Linguistic Terms

Answer: Kaiser Wilhat II

The words 'hat' and 'helm' are synonyms. Thus Kaiser Wilhelm II yields Kaiser Wilhat II. Arthur Flegenheimer was the real name of American gangster "Dutch Schultz" and was not a dictator in the sense of this quiz. Adolf Hitler became Adolf Pitler. Tsar Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia, became Tsar Nicholad, "lass" and "lad" being antonyms.

From Quiz Basic linguistics

Answer: semantics

Semiotics deals with the study of signs, syntax with sentences and logic with the correct rules of deduction.

From Quiz Communication Continuum 2

Answer: Yes

A person who uses real objects (the actual object which they want) to communicate would be considered to be in the Intentional level of the Communication Continuum. This is because they are using the object to communicate that they want that object, not as a symbol. An example of someone in the Intentional level of the Communication Continuum would be a child who reached for a piece of apple when offered a piece of apple and a piece of orange. In this level individuals are able to make choices if they have the objects in front of them. However they are not able to request new objects as they are not in their field of vision (or whatever other sense the individual has.)

From Quiz Communication Continuum

Answer: 3

There are three levels to the communication continuum. These are: Un-intentional or Pre-intentional communication, which is when someone is doing something but it does not seem to have a definite communicative goal in mind. This is where the partner must assign a meaning to the communication. This is the stage which most young babies are at. An example of this is a child cries the parent thinks it is crying because it is hungry and so gives it a bottle; it can also include looking at something you want but not looking at someone else to get it or do something about it. For instance you want music you know the music comes from the radio so you look at the radio but you do not look at a carer, etc. to do something to get the music. Intentional communication which is where someone will look at, point to or otherwise indicate they want something but it has to be in front of them and it has to be a concrete item. A person at this level will look or indicate to another person that they want something or want something done. With this level the partner must still assign a meaning but has some clues from what the person is doing. An example of this is a child looks at a toy and then looks at you. You then get the toy and give it to the child. Another example of this is looking at the heater (you are cold and know that heat comes from it) and then looking at a carer - possible meanings for this are you want the heater turned on or you want to be moved closer. Intentional-symbolic is where you use symbols to get a message across. The partner then just has to decode the message. This is where most people are. Types of symbols used could be object symbols, photographs, pictographs (line drawings), signs (hand/finger signs) or the written word.

From Quiz Turkey In A China Shop

Answer: Sweden

Suede is the material in question. The French "gants de Suède" meaning "Swedish gloves" was generalized over time to name the leather or fabric with this peculiar texture.

From Quiz This Quiz Made Possible by the Letter "R"

Answer: Rhotics

This category of speech sounds is rather odd, because these sounds are produced in completely different ways, as you shall soon see! They are classed together because people think they sound similar, and people learning a second language will tend to replace a foreign-sounding rhotic with the rhotic from their native language.

From Quiz Into the origins of Western language alphabets

Answer: Sumerian

Sumerian ("native tongue") of Sumer was spoken in Southern Mesopotamia (today's southeastern Iraq) from 4000 BC and their first use of a writing system was registered in the city of Uruk and Jamdat Nasr (3300 BC). The Sumerian writing system is classified as logophonetic, meaning that its signs represent both meaningful words (morphemes) and sounds. Wet clay tablets were the medium used to register commercial transactions and later laws. Five millennia later, the Hebrew word Ha'kak means both to engrave and to legislate. The spoken Sumerian language virtually died by the 18th century BC, but its writing system was in use until 100 CE. Thus, Sumerian died at the age of 4000.

From Quiz Languages of Asia and the Americas

Answer: 3500

Those found date to the mid- to late-Shang Dynasty (i.e., 1500-1000 BC), and consist of carvings of characters on turtle shells and animal bones, which are assumed to have been used for divination in the royal court.

From Quiz Language - Viewed by a Linguist

Answer: It accounts for all the correct sentences in a language and only correct sentences

In linguistics, grammar describes the language. In principle, it can be organized as a rule-system that can create (or 'generate') all the correct potential sentences in a language - and only correct sentences. Constructing such a grammar is an extremely complex undertaking and nothing even approaching a complete grammar of any natural language has yet been produced.

From Quiz Homeric Questions

Answer: Dactylic hexameter

Dactylic hexameter consists of six feet, each of which can be either a dactyl, long-short-short, or a spondee, long-long. For a sample of what this really sounds like, there are several recordings up on the web of Stanley Lombardo reading the "Iliad" in Greek.

From Quiz Linguistic Anthropology

Answer: Phonology

Phonology is split into two subordinate units: phonetics (precise identification and description of speech sounds), and phonemics (identification of the system of the sets of sounds of any language).

From Quiz Matve's Linguistics Challenge

Answer: Lexicalist hypothesis

According to this hypothesis, words are to be treated as minimal units from the point of view of the syntax. I'm afraid the other answers are fictional. According to generative semantics, submorphemic semantic constituents are organised by syntactic operations.

From Quiz Linguistics 2

Answer: standard

The standard is usually associated with the upper and middle classes and is generally the one used for print.

From Quiz Basic Linguistic Terms

Answer: Apocope

Elision is more general as a term and refers to any leaving out of sounds especially in rapid speech: plice for police, nex day for next day, mash potatoes for mashed potatoes; gonna for going to and wanna for want to. Liaison is the introduction of a sound between words or syllables to help them run together more smoothly as e.g. in IndiaRandPakistan; mediaRinterest. Clipping: means that you use only a part of the word for the whole word. That can be the first syllable (ad for advertisment), the last syllable (phone for telephone) or a middle syllable (flu for influenza). Apocope is typical as a difference between Chaucerian English and modern English: Husband(e)s fiv(e) had(de) at church(e) door(e) becomes She had five husbands at the door of the church (Wife of Bath). In other words she had officially married five husbands (one after the other). The "opposite" of apocope is aphaeresis: the omission of a syllable, sound or letter at the beginning of a word. Syncope is the omission of etc. from the middle of a word. The pronunciation cats (a)n(d) dogs has aphaeresis AND apocope. The pronunciation of Worcester as "wooste" might be called "syncope". Sounds getting crushed out is a very typical phenomenon of English because of the stress-timed rhythm of the language. Famous example: "Emma Chissit?" for "How much is it?"

From Quiz Linguistics

Answer: Ferdinand de Saussure

From Quiz Determined to Know the Difference

Answer: its

When confronting a hungry bear, it's best not to mess with its honey. If you know the bear is female and want to express her ownership of the honey, you would not add an apostrophe (her's honey), nor would you add an 's.'

From Quiz Verbing the Noun

Answer: Regift

What do you do with an unwanted gift from someone? In this classic situation you simply put it back in the box and use it as a gift for someone that person doesn't know, presuming the original gifter doesn't visit you often or have the opportunity to notice that you don't seem to have it around. Seinfeld created some handy new words like 'spongeworthy', an adjective for someone who is worth using personal sexual protection for. I know, I know, a preposition is a word you do not end a sentence with. Unless you do.

From Quiz Dictating Linguistic Terms

Answer: Napoleon Malaparte

'Bon' and 'mal' are opposites, making Napoleon Bonaparte become Napoleon Malaparte. Paul Reubens is not a dictator but rather the real name of Pee Wee Herman. Nikita Kruschev has had a portion substituted with a homophone. Oliver Cromwell/"good" has been given the synonym treatment.

From Quiz A Linguistic Trip Through Europe

Answer: It is very, very old

"Neolithic" means "from the stone age". Basque is said to have been relatively unaffected by other languages since that time.

From Quiz Basic linguistics

Answer: 4

The four morphemes are: im- perfect - ion - s Let's have a look at how it works. Starting out from the adjective 'perfect', by adding the suffix '-ion' to it, we get the noun 'perfection'. Now, if we add the prefix 'im-', we'll still have a noun: 'imperfection', but meaning exactly the opposite of 'perfection'. Finally, by adding '-s', the mark of the plural, we'll get 'imperfections' meaning 'more than one thing that is not perfect'.

From Quiz Communication Continuum 3

Answer: Pre-Intentional

A new born is on the Pre, or Un-Intentional stage of the communication continuum. A typically developing child will not usually reach the Intentional stage of the continuum until they are roughly 8-10 months of age.

From Quiz Turkey In A China Shop

Answer: Congo and Djibouti

A "congo" is the electric hammer drill used by road workers, and "djibouti sandals" is common speak for flip-flop sandals. It seems to me these are unique to Hebrew, but please correct me if I am wrong. The exact reasons for this particular usage are disputed. Thanks to ledostef for providing the information that a popular brand of electric hammer drills is Kango, which may be where "congo" comes from. Workmen in the UK often say "Where's the Kango?" rather than "Where's the drill?" while on the job.

From Quiz This Quiz Made Possible by the Letter "R"

Answer: Trilling the tongue against the bony ridge behind the front teeth.

This kind of R is called an "alveolar trill." It's produced by trilling the tip of your tongue against the "alveolar ridge," that ridge of bone behind your front teeth. This is the most common rhotic in the world's languages. Spanish has another rhotic, the "alveolar tap." It is produced by striking the tip of the tongue very rapidly against the alveolar ridge. Interestingly, in Standard American, the alveolar tap is an allophone of /t/. For fun, contrast your pronunciation of the "T" in "Ted" with the "tt" in "Betty." The first is a normal "T," while the second is an alveolar tap in some dialects of English.

From Quiz Into the origins of Western language alphabets

Answer: Akkadian

Akkadian language developed from Sumeric and was named after the city of Akkad (close to today's Baghdad) with the rise of the Akkadian dynasty. It was also spoken by Assyrians and Babylonians. Since the Sumerian and Akkadian spoken languages are very different, the Sumerian signs were adopted for their sound rather than meaning and became more syllabic (usually consonant + vowel). At this point in time, our writing system have "only" 800 signs.

From Quiz Indo-European Languages

Answer: Frisian

Frisian, spoken in the Frisian Islands (between the UK and the Netherlands), parts of the Netherlands and Germany, is the closest linguistic relative to English. If you want to test whether or not it is mutually intelligible with English, do a web search for Frisian radio... as of this writing it is available on the web and is worth a listen if you are curious about what our closest linguistic relative sounds like. (Those linguists who consider Scots to be a separate language rather than a dialect of English would consider Scots to be the closest linguistic relative of modern English.)

From Quiz Homeric Questions

Answer: Length

Syllables can be either long or short, depending on how long it takes to pronounce them. A long syllable takes about twice as long to pronounce as a short syllable. Whether a syllable is long depends on the consonants that precede and follow the vowel and whether the vowel is long.

From Quiz Matve's Linguistics Challenge

Answer: ECM verbs

ECM stands for 'Exceptional Case Marking'. Strong verbs are verbs such as 'bring' in English, which have irregular preterites and past participles. Particle verbs are English verbs composed of a simple verb plus a preposition. Matrix verbs are verbs found in main clauses.

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Last Updated Nov 01 2025 5:45 AM

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