Nature of Language

Sonam Tshomo, a friend of mine is popularly nicknamed as “Sonamtsho” The technique which has been employed in deriving the nickname is called

• Clipping
• Blending
• Borrowing
• Back-formation

The language enables its user to manipulate and make an infinite variety of constructions to express himself or herself because

• it is arbitrary in nature.
• it is infinite and unlimited.
• of its possibilities of combinations.
• of its natural correction or relationship.

Which of the following statements about language is not correct?

• Language is a social phenomenon.
• Human language is species specific.
• Language is organized at two levels.
• Language is genetically transmitted.

A Bhutanese baby who is adopted and brought up by a Spanish speaking couple will have the physical characteristics inherited from his/her biological parents but will inevitably speak Spanish. This shows that language is

• a behavioural aspect of humans
• passed down from generations.
• imprinted in the child’s brain.
• inherited by the speaker.

Loanword: is a word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification. Which of the following is most likely a borrowed word in English?

• forest
• woods
• jungle
• thicket

Tshoki found that the word ‘poem’ is derived from the Greek word ‘poein’. Which field of language study did she look into?

• semantics
• phonetics
• etymology
• morphology

Shakespeare wrote, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Which feature of language was he hinting at?

• arbitrariness
• duality of structure
• open-ended system
• cultural transmission

Humans can create unlimited words because human language

• is organized at two levels of structures.
• can be used to talk about any kind of topics.
• is used for expressing individual needs and wants.
• is dependent on the culture and ways of the people using it.

Tashi calls his new furniture design, ‘chairbed’ as it can be used as a chair as well as a bed. What process of word formation has he used?

• clipping
• borrowing
• compounding
• back-formation

Words like ‘cool’, ‘chill’,etc., are examples of this type of word.

• Slang
• Archaic