2008 National Taichung University English Department Transfer Exam
Introduction to Linguistics I. Match: (Each item will be used only once.) 30%
A. morphology B. complementary distribution C. syntax D. semantics E. antonyms F. phonetics alphabet G. pragmatics H. morpheme I. phonology J. speech
1. is the study of phrases, clauses and sentences.
2. A ________ can be loosely defined as a minimal unit having more or less constant meaning associated with more or less constant form.
3. ________ is a study of how language is used to communicate within its situational context.
4. ________ is the study of the sound system of language: the rules that govern pronunciation.
5. ________ is the study of linguistic meaning; that is, the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences.
6. ________ is the study of word formation.
7. When two items never occur in the same environment, the two items are said to be in ________.
8. ________ refers to what we are actually doing when we talk or listen. 9. The words are if their meanings differ only in the value for one
single semantic feature.
10. Linguists have developed a , in which one symbol always corresponds to a single phoneme.
II. Choose the best answer: 60%
11. “Keep quiet.” is a(an) ________ sentence in the syntactic form. (A) declarative
(B) imperative (C) exclamatory (D) interrogative
either impossible or absurd within the context of the utterance. Which is a nonliteral locutionary act?
(A) Please turn down the radio. (B) I am very hungry.
(C) I could eat a horse.
(D) Cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health.
13. A commissive is an utterance used to commit the speaker to do something. Which of the following utterances is a commissive?
(A) Who won the 1968 presidential election? (B) I’ll meet you at the library at 10:00 p.m. (C) I have five toes on my right foot.
(D) I’m sorry for calling you a dweeb.
14. In order for a performative verb to have its performative sense it must (i) be positive, (ii) be present tense, (iii) have a first person agent and (iv) refer to a specific event. Which of the following sentences has a perfromative verb? (A) I can’t promise to bring the beans.
(B) I promise I’ll bring the beans. (C) I promise I would bring the beans.
(D) I promise people things from time to time
15. What semantic feature or property differentiates the following sets of nouns? ［ niece, daughter, sister VS. nun, woman, girl ］
(A) human (B) concrete (C) female (D) relative
16. A hyponym is a word that contains the meaning of another word; the
contained word is known as the superordinate. What is the lowest hyponym in the following set of nouns?
［ animal, female, cow, mammal ］ (A) animal
(B) female (C) cow (D) mammal
17. What is the superordinate in the following set of nouns? ［ jasmine, lily, flower, rose ］
(A) jasmine (B) lily (C) flower (D) rose
18. Binary antonyms are pairs that exhaust all possibilities along some dimension. Which of the following pairs is binary antonyms? (A) hot vs. cold
(B) dark vs. bright (C) dead vs. alive (D) warm vs. cool
19. Below are some English phrases. Which phrase is a NOUN PHRASE? (A) Ice floats.
(B) was a fool (C) ran
(D) the red car
20. Every phrasal category contains at least one lexical category of the same basic type. Which of the following statements is FALSE?
(A) “The fat man ate.” contains a NP. (B) “Chris hit the ball.” contains a VP. (C) “The battery died.” contains a PP. (D) “The teacher is angry.” contains an AP.
21. Which of the following sentences is structurally ambiguous? (A) Visiting relatives can sometimes be a nuisance.
(B) Meet me at the bank.
(C) The man examined the plant.
(D) Visiting relatives are sometimes a nuisance. 22. Consider the following data:
(1) I wrote a letter and a postcard. (2) *I wrote a letter and to Fred. (3) I wrote to Fred and to Ricky. (4) *I wrote carefully and a letter.
The analysis that best explains these data is that:
(A) Only items belonging to identical categories can be conjoined by “and.” (B) Only items belonging to different categories can be conjoined by “and.” (C) Only NPs can be conjoined by “and.”
23. Free morphemes are those that can stand alone as words. Which is the free morpheme in the following words?
(A) The morpheme｛er｝, as in teachers (B) The morpheme｛press｝, as in suppress (C) The morpheme｛clude｝, as in conclude (D) The morpheme｛s｝, as in cats
24. The main verb is always the right –most verb in a simple sentence. Thus, in the sentence “John should have gone”, the main verb is . (A) should
(B) have (C) gone (D) have gone
25. In English affixes, which of the following statements is TURE? (A) All derivational affixes are suffixes.
(B) All derivational affixes are prefixes. (C) All inflectional affixes are prefixes. (D) All inflectional affixes are suffixes.
26. English contains a group of words called reflexive pronouns. These pronouns are formed by adding suffix –self or –selves to a personal pronoun. Personal pronouns have three forms: nominative, objective and possessive. Based on the following data, which form of the personal pronouns is –self or -selves added to in order to form a reflexive pronoun? ［myself, ourselves, yourselves, yourself］
(A) nominative (B) objective (C) possessive
(D)none of the above
27. Identify the segment that differs in manner of articulation from the other three in the following group. /n/, /f/, /s/, /z/
(A) /n/ (B) /f/ (C) /s/ (D) /z/
28. Identify the segment that differs in voicing from the other three in the following group. /b/, /p/, /r/, /v/
(B) /p/ (C) /r/ (D) /v/
29. Give the English phonemic symbol that corresponds to the following articulatory descriptions: voiced palatal glide.
(A) /e/ (B) /y/ (C) /u/ (D) /o/
30. Give the English phonemes that correspond to the following feature specifications. -back ］ +tense ［
(A) /i/, /e/ (B) /i/, /o/ (C) /e/, /u/ (D) /u/, /o/
III. Consider the following data from Isleta, a dialect of Southern Tiwa, a native American language spoken in New Mexico, and answer the questions that follow: 10﹪
temiban “I went” mimiay “he was going”
amiban “you went” tewanban “I came” temiwe “I am going” tewanhi “I will come”
List the morphemes corresponding to the following English translations. (1) “I” (2) “go” (3) “(present progressive)
(4) “you” (5) “come” (6) “(past progressive) (7) “he” (8) “past” (9) “(future)
10.What sort of affixes are the subject morphemes?
