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Matve's Linguistics Challenge Trivia Quiz

Welcome to my Linguistics Challenge. Anyone who is doing a Linguistics degree should not complain about the difficulty of the questions; anyone else is welcome to be totally baffled.

A multiple-choice quiz by Matve. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Author
Matve

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
77,415

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Very Difficult

Avg Score
4 / 10

Plays
2538

Last 3 plays: Guest 66 (9/10), Guest 198 (5/10), Guest 77 (2/10).

This quiz has 2 formats: you can play it as a or as shown below.
Scroll down to the bottom for the answer key.

1. Morphology: Which hypothesis, which first appeared in Chomsky (1970), was a reaction to the programme of generative semantics? Hint

Limited access hypothesis

Morphological hypothesis

Reductionist hypothesis

Lexicalist hypothesis

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2. Syntax: What name is given in Principles and Parameters theory to verbs such as 'believe', which apparently govern across maximal projections, unlike most verbs? Hint

Strong verbs

Matrix verbs

Particle verbs

ECM verbs

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3. Phonology: Who wrote the seminal 'Grundzuege der Phonologie' (Basics of Phonology)? Hint

N.S. Trubetskoy

Noam Chomsky

Leonard Bloomfield

Ferdinand de Saussure

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4. Semantics: Which principle states that the meaning of an expression is determined by the meaning of its constituents and the way in which they are combined? Hint

Compositionality

Compositoriness

Composition

Composal

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5. Which nineteenth-century German linguist devised (or at least formalised) the 'wave theory' of language change?

Answer: (Both names or surname)

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6. Syntax: In the Minimalist Programme, the 'external interfaces' have the initials PF and LF. PF stands for 'Phonetic Form' - what does LF stand for? Hint

Lexical Form

Lyric Form

Linguistic Form

Logical Form

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7. Phonetics: In the International Phonetic Alphabet, the symbol ! represents which sound? Hint

Voiced uvular plosive

Postalveolar click

Voiceless epiglottal fricative

Labiodental approximant

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8. Phonology: The important 1968 work by Chomsky and Halle, which introduced a new type of distinctive feature matrix, had what title? Hint

The Sound Pattern of English

Generative Phonology

Grundzuege der Phonologie

Preliminaries to Speech Analysis

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9. Pragmatics: The conversational maxim 'Make your contribution as informative as is required' was devised by whom? Hint

Jerry Fodor

Richard Montague

Stephen Levinson

Herbert Paul Grice

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10. To what family do the languages Georgian, Mingrelian and Svan belong? Hint

Nakh-Daghestanian

Caucasic

Kartvellian

Circassic

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Morphology: Which hypothesis, which first appeared in Chomsky (1970), was a reaction to the programme of generative semantics?

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.

2. Syntax: What name is given in Principles and Parameters theory to verbs such as 'believe', which apparently govern across maximal projections, unlike most verbs?

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.

3. Phonology: Who wrote the seminal 'Grundzuege der Phonologie' (Basics of Phonology)?

Answer: N.S. Trubetskoy

Trubetzkoy belonged to the influential Prague School of phonology. Bloomfield was an American structuralist around the same time. Chomsky is a generativist. Saussure was a famous Swiss structuralist.

4. Semantics: Which principle states that the meaning of an expression is determined by the meaning of its constituents and the way in which they are combined?

Answer: Compositionality

This is an important basic principle in semantics, but since I hate the subject, I won't tell you anything interesting about it.

5. Which nineteenth-century German linguist devised (or at least formalised) the 'wave theory' of language change?

Answer: Johannes Schmidt

This model is often contrasted with the Stammbaum or 'family tree' model. In a way they are complementary, and not opposite, ways of looking at language change.

6. Syntax: In the Minimalist Programme, the 'external interfaces' have the initials PF and LF. PF stands for 'Phonetic Form' - what does LF stand for?

Answer: Logical Form

These interface levels represent a radical overhaul of the Principles and Parameters model. Deep Structure and Surface Structure were seen as unnecessary and theory-internal levels, which were not supported empirically. LF and PF represent the external conditions on linguistic form.

7. Phonetics: In the International Phonetic Alphabet, the symbol ! represents which sound?

Answer: Postalveolar click

The postalveolar click is found in such improbably-named languages as !Xu.

8. Phonology: The important 1968 work by Chomsky and Halle, which introduced a new type of distinctive feature matrix, had what title?

Answer: The Sound Pattern of English

'Grundzuege der Phonologie' (1939) was by N.S. Trubetzkoy (as you should know if you've been paying attention!). 'Generative Phonology' (1979) is the title of a book by Michael Kenstowicz and Charles Kisseberth. 'Preliminaries to Speech Analysis' (1952) did introduce a new distinctive feature matrix, but it was by Roman Jakobson, Gunnar Fant and Morris Halle.

9. Pragmatics: The conversational maxim 'Make your contribution as informative as is required' was devised by whom?

Answer: Herbert Paul Grice

Again, I'm not big on this subject, but Grice's maxims come up again and again. They are supposed to describe the typical behaviour of speakers in actual conversational situations. The others are also eminent pragmaticists and semanticists.

10. To what family do the languages Georgian, Mingrelian and Svan belong?

Answer: Kartvellian

Georgian is by far the Kartvellian language with the most speakers. It has its own ornate alphabet, and is also famous among linguistics for being an 'ergative' language - that is, one where the same morphological endings are found on subjects of intransitive verbs as on objects of transitive verbs (at least, in the perfective aspect).

The incorrect options are language families spoken in the same region, and at one time included along with the Kartvellian family as the Caucasian family, a family no longer recognised by linguists.

Source: Author Matve

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor LadyCaitriona before going online.
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May 13 2023 : Guest 66: 9/10
Apr 28 2023 : Guest 198: 5/10
Apr 23 2023 : Guest 77: 2/10
Apr 18 2023 : Guest 192: 4/10

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