GRAMMAR REVIEW
SYNTACTIC CATEGORIES (THE PARTS OF SPEECH) NOUN: Nouns are identifiable on the basis of several criteria. First, they can occur after definite articles, e.g., the book, after indefinite articles, e.g., a book. Second, noun are inflected to
ENGLISH SPELLING It is no secret that English words are not spelled phonetically. In fact, lists of spelling nightmares like the following can be found in every students notebook: (1) a. b. c. d. e. rafter / laughter / slaughter slay / sleigh / sleight /
TABLE I: HISTORICAL CLASSIFICATION
LEXICON: INDOEUROPEAN
love (n)
mother
father
brother
break (v) three five
hundred
heart
love
love
lufu
liebe
liefde
mother
moder
mdor
mutter
moeder
father
fader
fder
vater
vader
brother
brother
bror
bruder
broeder
break
IDENTIFYING PARTS OF SPEECH
Important note: often one cannot determine the part of speech of a word in isolation; there is no single foolproof test that works all the time.
1.
Test for nouns, e.g., water, child, down, etc. Nouns can be plural: the waters
THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE IS BAD ENGLISH
Excerpts printed from The Turkish Times: 1. In a Bucharest hotel Lobby: The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable. 2. In a Paris hotel elevator: Please leave your
LIN 180
Spring 2004
SAMPLE FINAL QUIZ SOLUTION
(1)
Supply two reasons why diagram (1b) is more descriptively adequate than diagram (1a).
(20 POINTS)
(a)
(b)
Reason One:
The diagram in (1a) confuses structural and functional information. Labels like SUBJEC
LIN 180
Spring 2004
SAMPLE QUIZ FOUR SOLUTION
Discussion:
a.
the industrious industrial engineer from Moscow
Industrial engineer is a compound noun; industrious is an adjective modifying engineer and
from Moscow is a PP modifying engineer.
b.
*the industr
LIN 180
Spring 2004
SAMPLE QUIZ TWO SOLUTION
Consider the following data from Kwahu, an Akan language from Ghana (Keith Brown and Jim
Miller, Syntax - A Linguistic Introduction to Sentence Structure, 1991, London: Routledge, p. 59):
a.
]kyerekyerefo] no r
PRACTICE WITH FEATURES, SYMBOLS, AND NATURAL CLASSES
1.
In each of the following, supply English words that contain the sound given in as many
different spellings as you can. Underline the letters representing the sound in the answer.
[f]
a.
[i]
Answer:
b
SAMPLE DIAGRAMS 1
1. The book may be in the library.
2.
John will not read those magazines.
3.
Mary will send a letter to the company.
2 4. John reads those magazines.
5.
The roses border the fence.
6.
The accident occurred at the corner.
3 7. The plant f
MORPHOLOGY
Most grammars divide the study of sentence structure into two areas, MORPHOLOGY, which deals with the internal structure of words, and SYNTAX, which deals with the way words are combined to form sentences. In morphology, the basic units under i
THE GENERALITY OF LINGUISTICS UNIVERSALS COMPARISON OF LANGUAGE AND VISION
1. Ambiguity in Isolation. a. Linguistic. (1) (2) (3) (4) This baby is too young to stand up by himself. This baby is too young to be stood up. This baby is too young either to sta
GOBBLEDYGOOK
http:/stick.us.itd.umich.edu/cgi-bin/chomsky.pl
Relational information appears to correlate rather closely with the ultimate standard that determines the accuracy of any proposed grammar. I suggested that that result would follow from the ass
SYNTAX, PARSING AND DEGREES OF UNACCEPTABILITY
1. a. The linguistics students that the philosophy majors tutor outnumber the biology students that the chemistry majors tutor. Linguistics majors that philosophy majors tutor outnumber philosophy majors that
PRACTICE WITH PHONOLOGICAL RULES
1.
a.
All intervocalic voiceless stops become voiced.
b.
Voiceless stops become voiced when intervocalic.
c.
d.
e.
2.
Nontense vowels become stressed when followed by two or more consonants in the
final syllable of a word.
TYPOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION
ANALYTIC (ISOLATING) LANGUAGES: words consist of single morphemes; most words
consist only of a root. Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Cambodian. Examples in
Mandarin adapted from Norman J., Chinese, Cambridge, 1988:
1.
LIN 180
Spring 2004
SAMPLE QUIZ ONE SOLUTION
Consider the following data from a hypothetical human language:
[grub]
[krog]
[grud]
[prok]
[krop]
[grod]
[grut]
[brob]
_
1.
cardinal
priest
rabbi
bishop
pope
archbishop
Brahmin
nun
novice
[grupim]
[krokim]
[gr
