Linguistics Basics
Key Terms
UCR Linguistics
Language Trivia
Phonetic Fun
100

What is linguistics?


The scientific study of language.

100

What are synonyms?

When two words mean the same thing.

100

Name one UCR linguistics professor

Prof. Graham, Prof. Ross, Prof. Chidambaram, Prof. Waltz, etc.

100

How many letters are in the English alphabet?


26

100

What is /ʃ/?


This is the symbol used in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to represent the “sh” sound in English, like in “ship.”

200

What is phonetics?

The branch of linguistics that studies how sounds are produced and perceived.

200

What are diphthongs?


These are two vowel sounds combined in one syllable. (An example would also count).

200

Name one R'Ling Board member

Elizabeth, Taylor, Krina, Natalie, Jamie

200

What is an imperative?


This grammatical mood is used for commands or requests.

200

What is a fricative?


In phonetics, this describes sounds made without blocking airflow, like “s” or “f.”

300

What is morphology?


The branch of linguistics that deals with how words are formed and structured.

300

What are voiceless sounds? Give examples.

These sounds are produced without vibrating the vocal cords. 

t, k, p, etc.

300

You must take LING020 before registering for LING121

True


300

What is a phoneme?


the smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish meaning between words.

300

The word “through” has this many phonemes (distinct sounds):


3. (/θ/ /r/ /uː/)


400

What is syntax?

The branch of linguistics focusing on how sentences are structured.

400

Translate this sentence:

/hi tʊk ˈpɪti/

He took pity.

400

Who teaches an introductory speech language pathology course at UCR?


Dr. C

400

What is "language borrowing" or "language contact"?



This linguistic term refers to the phenomenon when two languages influence each other due to prolonged contact.

400

Spell the word “phone” using IPA symbols.

/foʊn/

500

What is Universal Grammar?

The belief that all human languages share a common underlying structure.

500

Which of these are minimal pairs?

A. thin – thing
B. but – bad
C. feel – fill
D. cab – goat


C. feel - fill

500

LING021 is a major requirement


False

500

What is an "agglutinative language"?


This term describes a type of language where words tend to have many affixes (prefixes and suffixes) attached to a root word, with each affix typically representing a single grammatical meaning.

500

How many phonemes are in the word “thinks”?

5: 

/θ/ /ɪ/ /ŋ/ /k/ /s/