Ling. exit exam for yous-all

[mollyringle]

As promised, a small exit quiz on linguistics, just for fun. Using Google will count as cheating and get you reported to Student Judicial Affairs.

Have already discussed some of these answers with some of you.

1. (I hope this one doesn't stump anyone.) The basic word order of English is:
A) Subject-Object-Verb
B) Verb-Subject-Object
C) Subject-Verb-Object
D) Object-Subject-Verb
E) Verb-Object-Subject

2. How many tenses does English have? (write in)

3. In Japanese, haiku is not actually counted by the syllable. What is it counted by? (write in)

4. Old English is the name given to the English spoken between
A) the Roman and the Anglo-Saxon invasion of the British Isles.
B) the Anglo-Saxon and the Norman invasion of the British Isles.
C) the Celtic and the Roman invasion of the British Isles.
D) the Celtic and the Anglo-Saxon invasion of the British Isles.
E) the Norman and the Roman invasion of the British Isles.

5. Which of the following is NOT a member of the Indo-European language family?
A) Greek
B) Scots Gaelic
C) Hindi
D) Finnish
E) Sanskrit

6. In the sentence The song they played on the radio was good, what is they played on the radio?
A) A noun phrase
B) A verb phrase
C) A prepositional phrase
D) An adverbial clause
E) A relative clause

7. The Tibetan writing system is most likely based on that of:
A) Sanskrit
B) Chinese
C) Arabic
D) Latin (Roman)
E) Sindarin


Answers will be posted as replies to your comments, so don't read the comments before taking it, if you don't want to be influenced. Because, like, this matters so incredibly much.

Comments

[madbard.livejournal.com]

I guess "If I ever need to know, I'll hire an English major at minimum wage" wouldn't be an appreciated response, huh?

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

You do have a way of smacking down my posts, don't you?

And that would be a Linguistics major, thankyouverymuch. ;)

[madbard.livejournal.com]

Aw, just ribbing you a bit. (I actually think linguistics is facinating, particularly psycholinguistics.)

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

I have a cold. I'm wimpy and vulnerable.

Yes, if I go back for more studies after this, I might choose the speech-pathology route, since that's actually useful to people. Though it's more neurolinguistics than psycholinguistics, I suppose.

[bexone.livejournal.com]

1. (I hope this one doesn't stump anyone.) The basic word order of English is:

Oh, I know this one! C) Subject-Verb-Object. Although in German it's A) Subject-Object-Verb (the verb always at the end of the sentence is.)

and, um,

5. Which of the following is NOT a member of the Indo-European language family?

Is it D) Finnish? Why do I think it is?

*kicks self for not remembering Old English. Bad history major! Bad! Bad!*

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Yep; those are both right. Good job.

And Old English was between the Anglo-Saxon and the Norman invasions - not sure on the starting date, but up until about 1066 AD (at which point it started to become Middle English).

German

[(Anonymous)]

Like Yoda they speak?

[emuu.livejournal.com]

*deep breath*

1. = C) Subject-Verb-Object
2. = Three? Past, Present, Future?
3. ...erm, not sure. Beats? Counts?
4. = D) the Celtic and the Anglo-Saxon invasion of the British Isles...?
5. = D) Finnish?
6. = B) A verb phrase?
7. = ...either B) Chinese, or C) Arabic...

Wow. Linguistics looks difficult, but interesting =D

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Not bad. :) And keep in mind I didn't know most of this stuff before taking these classes. Here are the answers:

1) C: English is Subject-Verb-Object
2) Two: past and present (all other distinctions are matters of aspect or mood).
3) It is counted by the mora, which is a part of a syllable: the vowel center (or nucleus) of the syllable counts as one mora; if it is a long vowel (held out longer) it counts as two moras; and if there is a consonant at the end of the syllable then this counts as another mora. Apparently Japanese speakers know this stuff instinctively, same way we can instinctively count syllables.
4) B.: "Old English" was spoken between the Anglo-Saxon and Norman invasions.
5) D.: Finnish is related to Estonian and Hungarian, but they are not part of the Indo-European language family.
6) E.: Relative clause
7) A.: Tibetan writing system seems to be based on Sanskrit, and dates from about the 7th century AD.

[shebit.livejournal.com]

1. (I hope this one doesn't stump anyone.) The basic word order of English is:
C) Subject-Verb-Object - I(subject) wrote(verb) this(object)


2. How many tenses does English have? 4. Past, present, future and perfect.

3. In Japanese, haiku is not actually counted by the syllable. What is it counted by? Umm, I always thought a haiku was 17 syllables long. I have no idea what it's actually counted by.

4. Old English is the name given to the English spoken between
B) the Anglo-Saxon and the Norman invasion of the British Isles - I always think of OE as what the Saxons spoke.


5. Which of the following is NOT a member of the Indo-European language family?
D) Finnish - I remember reading somewhere that Finnish bears no relationship to other European languages. That is Finnish, right? It certainly sounds like nothing else. The other Scandinavian languages are all Germanic, but Finnish is just, well, odd.


6. In the sentence The song they played on the radio was good, what is they played on the radio?
B) A verb phrase


7. The Tibetan writing system is most likely based on that of:
B) Chinese

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Pretty good - here's the key:

1) C: English is Subject-Verb-Object
2) Two: past and present (all other distinctions are matters of aspect [such as perfect or imperfect] or mood).
3) It is counted by the mora, which is a part of a syllable: the vowel center (or nucleus) of the syllable counts as one mora; if it is a long vowel (held out longer) it counts as two moras; and if there is a consonant at the end of the syllable then this counts as another mora. Apparently Japanese speakers know this stuff instinctively, same way we can instinctively count syllables.
4) B.: "Old English" was spoken between the Anglo-Saxon and Norman invasions.
5) D.: Finnish is related to Estonian and Hungarian, but they are not part of the Indo-European language family. [Yes, Finnish is quite weird compared to the other Scandinavian tongues!]
6) E.: Relative clause
7) A.: Tibetan writing system seems to be based on Sanskrit, and dates from about the 7th century AD.

[jedmiller.livejournal.com]

*steels self for miserable inadequacy...*

1. C, as in "I know this one."
2. Um... amber, orange, red - wait, no... Past, Present, Future, Conditional... FOUR! ... *meekly* four...?
3. Accented syllables? Number of insignifcant natural events overladen with meaning?
4. I'll go with D, since I think it spans the longest time period. But did the Celts really invade. hmph. Maybe it's the name given to a men's cologne used by Saxon fetishists?
5. Scots Gaelic or Finnish. Arrggghhh! I can't choose. I hate you I hate you I hate you!! Scots Gaelic.
6. Silly! "What is /they played on the radio/?" It's THE SONG, obviously. Um ... I think E.
7. A.

This is you worst post on LiveJournal ever and now I have to go nail tacks into my hand...

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Thank you for making me laugh this morning. :D Anyway, I learned most of this stuff just in the past 18 months, so don't be too hard on yourself. Besides, you didn't do so bad. You got the relative clause and the Sanskrit writing system; those aren't easy. Here's the key:

1) C: English is Subject-Verb-Object
2) Two: past and present (all other distinctions are matters of aspect or mood).
3) It is counted by the mora, which is a part of a syllable: the vowel center (or nucleus) of the syllable counts as one mora; if it is a long vowel (held out longer) it counts as two moras; and if there is a consonant at the end of the syllable then this counts as another mora. Apparently Japanese speakers know this stuff instinctively, same way we can instinctively count syllables.
4) B.: "Old English" was spoken between the Anglo-Saxon and Norman invasions.
5) D.: Finnish is related to Estonian and Hungarian, but they are not part of the Indo-European language family.
6) E.: Relative clause
7) A.: Tibetan writing system seems to be based on Sanskrit, and dates from about the 7th century AD.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

God, I'm gonna suck at this... *g*

Anyway...

1. The basic word order of English is:
C) Subject-Verb-Object

2. How many tenses does English have?
Um... in Latin it's ten active and ten passive, so I'll just guess that it's similar in English...

3. In Japanese, haiku is not actually counted by the syllable. What is it counted by?
lines? *feels ashamed because she should know it*

4. Old English is the name given to the English spoken between...
(I should know that, too. *even more ashamed*)
B) the Anglo-Saxon and the Norman invasion of the British Isles?

5. Which of the following is NOT a member of the Indo-European language family?
D) Finnish. I think.

6. In the sentence The song they played on the radio was good, what is they played on the radio?
B) A verb phrase?
*wild guess*

7. The Tibetan writing system is most likely based on that of:
A) Sanskrit... I suppose...

Gah. How embarassing.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

You did all right - and don't worry; nobody needs to know this stuff, really. :)

Answers:
1) C: English is Subject-Verb-Object
2) Two: past and present (all other distinctions are matters of aspect or mood).
3) It is counted by the mora, which is a part of a syllable: the vowel center (or nucleus) of the syllable counts as one mora; if it is a long vowel (held out longer) it counts as two moras; and if there is a consonant at the end of the syllable then this counts as another mora. Apparently Japanese speakers know this stuff instinctively, same way we can instinctively count syllables.
4) B.: "Old English" was spoken between the Anglo-Saxon and Norman invasions.
5) D.: Finnish is related to Estonian and Hungarian, but they are not part of the Indo-European language family.
6) E.: Relative clause
7) A.: Tibetan writing system seems to be based on Sanskrit, and dates from about the 7th century AD.

[ladydragonspaw.livejournal.com]

If I don't get this right... I'm so stupid. I've been taking linguistics classes... And I just got that as my major... -_-;; ::worried::


1) C
2)stumped. 10?
3)mora? (I'm taking japanese too... pathetic)
4)B
5)E
6)E
7) E (wild guess... and no my other E's weren't just for the sake of an E guess)

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Not bad! I'm especially impressed you got the "mora" thing.

Answers:

1) C: English is Subject-Verb-Object
2) Two: past and present (all other distinctions are matters of aspect or mood).
3) It is counted by the mora, which is a part of a syllable: the vowel center (or nucleus) of the syllable counts as one mora; if it is a long vowel (held out longer) it counts as two moras; and if there is a consonant at the end of the syllable then this counts as another mora. Apparently Japanese speakers know this stuff instinctively, same way we can instinctively count syllables.
4) B.: "Old English" was spoken between the Anglo-Saxon and Norman invasions.
5) D.: Finnish is related to Estonian and Hungarian, but they are not part of the Indo-European language family.
6) E.: Relative clause
7) A.: Tibetan writing system seems to be based on Sanskrit, and dates from about the 7th century AD.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Pretty good job. I'm not sure how the Kanji characters line up with the moras and syllables, so that may be accurate too...*shrug*

Answers:

1) C: English is Subject-Verb-Object
2) Two: past and present (all other distinctions are matters of aspect or mood).
3) It is counted by the mora, which is a part of a syllable: the vowel center (or nucleus) of the syllable counts as one mora; if it is a long vowel (held out longer) it counts as two moras; and if there is a consonant at the end of the syllable then this counts as another mora. Apparently Japanese speakers know this stuff instinctively, same way we can instinctively count syllables.
4) B.: "Old English" was spoken between the Anglo-Saxon and Norman invasions.
5) D.: Finnish is related to Estonian and Hungarian, but they are not part of the Indo-European language family.
6) E.: Relative clause
7) A.: Tibetan writing system seems to be based on Sanskrit, and dates from about the 7th century AD.

[xenedra.livejournal.com]

1. C) Subject-Verb-Object

2. Past-Tense, Present-Tense, Future-Tense, and Tense-o-Rama!

3. Japanese haiku is counted in terms of time or beats (onjii in Japanese), a standard beat being equivalent to a short vowel. Traditional Japanese Haiku consists of a set syllabication pattern of only 17 beats. 17 Japanese beats are equivalent to +/- 11 English syllables.

4. B) the Anglo-Saxon and the Norman invasion of the British Isles.

5. D) Finnish

6. E) A relative clause

7. B) Sanskrit

[xenedra.livejournal.com]

Er...7 was supposed to be A) Sanskrit, not B Sanskrit

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Wow, great job! All correct, except: we have no future tense in English (the future is expressed through a "modal auxiliary" verb rather than by changing the form of the main verb); so English has just past and present tense, by the standards of most linguists. And the technical terminology for what they count in Japanese is the "mora," but your description seems to match it pretty well, and you clearly know what you're talking about. :)

[xenedra.livejournal.com]

Yay! Woot for me!

[laleonaenojada.livejournal.com]

1. C) Subject-Verb-Object

2. Does this include different moods too?
Let's say 8, maybe 9 if you include commands

3. character

4. B) the Anglo-Saxon and the Norman invasion of the British Isles

5. D) Finnish

6. E) A relative clause

7. C) Arabic

~A

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Not bad! And, no, tense is separate from mood according to most linguists; therein lies the trick. :)

Answers are:
1) C: English is Subject-Verb-Object
2) Two: past and present (all other distinctions are matters of aspect or mood).
3) It is counted by the mora, which is a part of a syllable: the vowel center (or nucleus) of the syllable counts as one mora; if it is a long vowel (held out longer) it counts as two moras; and if there is a consonant at the end of the syllable then this counts as another mora. Apparently Japanese speakers know this stuff instinctively, same way we can instinctively count syllables.
4) B.: "Old English" was spoken between the Anglo-Saxon and Norman invasions.
5) D.: Finnish is related to Estonian and Hungarian, but they are not part of the Indo-European language family.
6) E.: Relative clause
7) A.: Tibetan writing system seems to be based on Sanskrit, and dates from about the 7th century AD.

[saraahphim.livejournal.com]

Hmm, okay, I'll only give the ones I'm pretty sure about:

1)C
2)3?
6)E

I want to take linguistics, but I just want to learn stuff like that...

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Close: only 2 tenses in English (past and present). Future is expressed through an auxiliary verb, not by changing the form of the main verb, so most linguists don't count it as a formal "tense." Good job on the relative clause, though! Not many people recognize those. (Not that anyone really needs to...heh...)

Ling. answers

[(Anonymous)]

From Jen (http://www.freakinjen.us):

1. C, subject verb object
2. 9 (?)
3. I have no clue
4. E
5. C
6. E
7. I desperately want to say E for the fun of it. My actual guess is B.

Re: Ling. answers

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Hi Jen! Not bad - answers are below. I see you've abandoned blogspot as well, and have been giving me lovely plugs on the new blog. Thanks! :) I'll have to come by more often and comment, now that school is over. (Of course, I have this moving thing to do...)

Cheers -
Mol

1) C: English is Subject-Verb-Object
2) Two: past and present (all other distinctions are matters of aspect or mood).
3) It is counted by the mora, which is a part of a syllable: the vowel center (or nucleus) of the syllable counts as one mora; if it is a long vowel (held out longer) it counts as two moras; and if there is a consonant at the end of the syllable then this counts as another mora. Apparently Japanese speakers know this stuff instinctively, same way we can instinctively count syllables.
4) B.: "Old English" was spoken between the Anglo-Saxon and Norman invasions.
5) D.: Finnish is related to Estonian and Hungarian, but they are not part of the Indo-European language family.
6) E.: Relative clause
7) A.: Tibetan writing system seems to be based on Sanskrit, and dates from about the 7th century AD.