Phonetics
What is the difference between 'place' and 'manner' of articulation?
Place of articulation = where in the vocal tract airflow is obstructed or modified.
Manner of articulation = how the airflow is manipulated as it passes through vocal tract
What is the difference between a 'free' and 'bound' morpheme?
A free morpheme can exist independently as a word (lexical and functional).
A bound morpheme cannot stand alone and must be affixed to another form.
What is constituent analysis? What is the purpose of it?
Constituent analysis shows how constituents (parts of speech) go together. It shows how different constituents can be substituted at different levels, e.g. Proper nouns and pronouns can substitute a noun phrase.
What is a structural ambiguity?
Structural ambiguity occurs when there are two underlying structures for a sentence, which means there are two different ways to interpret it.
What are 'semantic roles'?
Semantic roles analyse the roles that words play in a sentence, e.g. Agent, Patient, Instrument, Experiencer, Location, Source and Goal.
What is the difference between 'bilabials' and 'labiodentals'? Provide examples.
Bilabials = sounds formed using upper and lower lips, e.g. 'b' or 'p'
Labiodentals = sounds formed using upper teeth and lower lips, e.g. 'f' and 'v'
What is the difference between 'inflectional' and 'derivational' morphemes?
Derivational morphemes make new words/change grammatical categories, e.g. verb to noun or noun to verb, e.g. [encourage] + [ment] = verb to noun
Inflectional morphemes change the grammatical function of a word, e.g. -s (plural), -'s (possessive), -ed (past tense), -er(comparative), etc.
What is the difference between collective and uncountable nouns?
Collective nouns refer to a group as a unit - they can be pluralized and use numbers directly, e.g. team or class.
Uncountable nouns refer to something that cannot be counted individually without using a unit or quanity expression, e.g. a piece/grain/gram, etc. They usually don't have a plural form.
In syntactic analysis, what does a NP rewrite as?
NP --> {Art (Adj) N, Pro, PN}
What is the difference between 'semantic features' and 'lexical relations'?
Semantic features analyse words as 'containers' of meaning, e.g. basic properties used to describe the meaning of words (man = +human, + adult)
Lexical relations analyse the relationship between a word and other words, e.g. synonymy, antonymy
What is difference between 'alveolars' and 'post-alveolars'?
Alveolars = sounds formed with the front part of the tongue on the alveolar ridge, e.g. 't', 'd', 's'
Post-alveolars = sounds formed with tongue and the BACK of the alveolar ridge, e.g. [ʃ], [tʃ] , [dʒ] and [ʒ]
Compounding = joining to separate words to produce a single form, e.g. blueberry
Blending = combining two separate forms to produce a new term (joining beginning of one word with the end of another), e.g. smog
Explain the difference between 'adverbs' and 'adjectives'
Adjectives provide more information about things, and they can also be used to compare.
Adverbs modify a verb, adjective or another adverb. It tells use more about when, where (place and direction) and how something occurred, as well as the frequency or intensity of something.
In syntactic analysis, what does S rewrite as?
S --> NP VP
What is the difference between 'complementary' and 'gradable' antonyms?
Complementary antonyms = the negative of one member implies the other, e.g. dead/alive
Gradable antonyms = the negative of one member does not imply the other, e.g. not old doesn't imply young
What is the difference between 'fricatives' and 'affricates'?
Fricatives = sounds produced by almost blocking airflow, creating a narrow opening to create friction, e.g. 's', 'f' or ' [ʃ]
Affricates = sounds produced by brief stopping of airflow combined with obstructed release to cause friction, e.g. [tʃ] and [dʒ]
Think of affricates as a combination of a 'stop/plosive' and a 'fricative'.
What is the difference between 'backformation' and 'conversion'?
Backformation = when one word is reduced to form another word (usually noun to verb), e.g. babysit - babysitter; burglar - burgled
Conversion = when a word changes its grammatical function without any change to form, e.g. bottle - noun and verb.
What is the difference between 'dynamic' and 'state' verbs?
Dynamic verbs = active verbs; activities where a change happens
State verbs = unchanging situations (emotional states, state or quality, opinion and perception, senses, possession)
What do VPs rewrite as?
VP --> V NP
What is the difference between homonymy and polysemy?
Homonymy = one form has two or more unrelated meanings, e.g. bat
Polysemy = when one form has multiple meanings that are related, e.g. foot/head.
What is a 'glide'?
Sounds that are produced when the tongue glides from one position to another, e.g. [w] or [j]
What is a 'calque' or loan translation?
Directly translating elements of a word into the borrowing language, e.g. skyscaper (rascacielos), honeymoon (luna de miel), basketball (baloncesto).
What is the difference between punctual and durative verbs?
Punctual verbs suggest repeated action, e.g. tapping your finger.
Durative verbs suggest a single, continuous episode, e.g. napping or reading.
How can we use syntactic analysis to help us identify the underlying structures that cause structural ambiguity with prepositional phrases (PP)?
Chris shot the bear with a rifle.
We can use syntactic trees to demonstrate an interpretation where the PP modifies VP (manner of action), and when PP modified NP (description/properties of someone/something).
What is a homophone?
Homophone = when two or more different forms have the same pronunciation, e.g. bear vs bare, pair vs pear