Linguistics Quiz

What is the study of speech sounds known as in linguistics?

• morphology

• phonetics

• syntax

• semantics

What is the term for the smallest unit of sound that can change the meaning of a word?

• consonant

• phoneme

• syllable

• morpheme

What is the difference between a phoneme and an allophone?

• A phoneme is a type of musical instrument, while an allophone is a type of phone used for communication.

• A phoneme is a written symbol, while an allophone is a spoken word.

• A phoneme is a distinct unit of sound in a specific language, while an allophone is a variation of a phoneme that occurs in different contexts.

• A phoneme is a vowel sound, while an allophone is a consonant sound.

What is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) used for?

• Writing in different languages

• Creating new words

• Representing the sounds of spoken language

• Translating ancient texts

What is the term for the study of the sound patterns of a language?

• syntax

• semantics

• morphology

• phonology

What is the process of forming words from morphemes called?

• sentence construction

• word formation

• morpheme fusion

• word amalgamation

What is the difference between inflectional and derivational morphemes?

• Inflectional morphemes have no impact on the meaning of a word, while derivational morphemes only affect the tense of a word.

• Inflectional morphemes change the grammatical function of a word, while derivational morphemes create new words or change the meaning of the word.

• Inflectional morphemes change the spelling of a word, while derivational morphemes change the pronunciation.

• Inflectional morphemes create new words, while derivational morphemes change the grammatical function of a word.

What is the term for the study of the internal structure of words?

• semantics

• morphology

• phonology

• syntax

What is the term for the study of the sound patterns of a language?

• psychology

• phonology

• geometry

• biology

What is the process of forming words from morphemes called?

• language obliteration

• morpheme destruction

• word formation

• word disintegration