Morphology
Syntax
Semantics
Phonology
Grammar Theories
100

What is the smallest unit of meaning in language?

Answer: What is a morpheme?

100

What is the typical word order in English?



Answer: What is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO)?

100

What is the study of meaning in language?



Answer: What is semantics?

100

What is the study of the sound system of a language?



Answer: What is phonology?

100

Who is the linguist behind Generative Grammar?



Answer: Who is Noam Chomsky?

200

The word "unhappiness" consists of how many morphemes?

 Three morphemes

200

What is a "head" in a syntactic phrase?



Answer: What is the central word that determines the type of phrase?

200

What is the term for a word with multiple meanings?



Answer: What is polysemy?

200

What are the smallest units of sound in a language called?



Answer: What are phonemes?

200

What is the focus of Structural Grammar?



Answer: What is the structure of language rather than its use or meaning?

300

Name the process of forming words by adding prefixes and suffixes.


Answer: What is affixation?

300

What type of clause cannot stand alone as a sentence?



Answer: What is a subordinate clause?

300

Define "semantic field."



Answer: What is a set of words related by meaning?

300

What is the term for two words differing by only one sound?

Answer: Minimal pair

300

Define "Universal Grammar."



Answer: What is the theory that all languages share a common structural basis?

400

What is the term for a morpheme that cannot stand alone?


Answer: What is a bound morpheme?

400

In X-bar theory, what does "XP" stand for?


Bonus. You have one minite to find it from google.

Answer: What is a phrasal projection?

400

What is the difference between connotation and denotation?



Answer: What are emotional/associative meanings vs. literal meanings?

400

Define "allophone."



Answer: What is a variation of a phoneme that does not change meaning?

400

What does Dependency Grammar emphasize?



Answer: What is the relationship between words in a sentence?

500

Differentiate between derivational and inflectional morphemes.



Answer: What are morphemes that change word class or meaning vs. morphemes that modify tense, number, etc.?

500

Explain the difference between deep structure and surface structure.



Answer: What are the underlying syntactic structures vs. the structures as realized in speech?

500

Explain the concept of compositionality in semantics.



Answer: What is the principle that the meaning of a whole is determined by the meanings of its parts?

500

What is the difference between phonetics and phonology?



Answer: What are the physical properties of speech sounds vs. their functional role in a language?

500

Explain the difference between prescriptive and descriptive grammar.



Answer: What are rules on how language should be used vs. how language is actually used?

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