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

[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.