Language and Phonetics Quiz

Morphemes are:

• rules for combining words into grammatically correct sentences.

• the best examples of particular categories of objects.

• the smallest distinctive sound units of a language.

• the smallest speech units that carry meaning.

Which of the following statements about language is true?

• Suffixes and prefixes are phonemes.

• Suffixes and prefixes are morphemes.

• Suffixes and prefixes are neither phonemes nor morphemes.

• Suffixes and prefixes are both phonemes and morphemes.

English words are constructed from about _______ different phonemes.

• 100,000

• 26

• 40

• 5

Children lose the ability to make the sounds of multiple languages and have settled on the sounds of their native language by the time they are:

• 5 years old.

• 6 months old.

• 1 year old.

• 2 years old.

The word “apples” has _____ morphemes and _____ phonemes.

• 1; 2

• 2; 3

• 2; 4

• 1; 4

The sound “sh” that begins the word “short” is an example of one of the _____ used in the English language.

• morphemes

• phonemes

• prototypes

• semantics

Phonemes are combined to form:

• sentences.

• single sounds.

• morphemes.

• semantics

B.F. Skinner argued that learning a language was the result of:

• a predisposition.

• a biological drive.

• cultural influences.

• association, imitation and rewards.

When 3-year-old Lea complained, “Boris hitted me with a ball,” she was illustrating the tendency of young children to:

• imitate the incorrect speech patterns of others.

• overgeneralize by using certain grammatical rules in sentence construction.

• receive inadequate rewards and punishments for correct language use at a young age.

• use telegraphic speech patterns.

When a child starts using two-word sentences, it implies he/she:

• has mastered the pronouncing of all the phonemes of a given language.

• is ready to begin learning how to read.

• has finished the babbling stage.

• is beginning to understand grammar rules.