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Ling1 Homework Quizzes Spring 2024

Introduction to linguistics (University of California Los Angeles)

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Homework 1:

1. The aim of the study of linguistics is best described as:

D) To study human language from a scientific perspective.
2. Which answer most accurately characterizes the McGurk Effect?
B) Our perception of speech is not necessarily just based on sounds, but also
visuals.
3. Your roommate has been struggling with a data set. He tells you "I've been trying for
hours and I think I've come up with a syntastic analysis—I mean syntactic analysis.
Sorry, I'm exhausted."
How would we characterize this error?
A) This is an issue of linguistic performance: Your friend knows English grammar
and recognizes that she has made a speech error.
4. English disallows word-initial sequences like /zdr/; however, Slavic languages do not
exhibit this constraint. This suggests that:
A) Speakers of different languages have specific, unconscious rules about how
sounds are organized in that language.
5. Languages allow their speakers to able to produce and comprehend novel words, such
as Googleable; however, other novel words like fallable seem uninterpretable. This tells
us what about morphology?
C) Words can be created by combining individual morphemes, but this is
constrained by the rules of the language.
6. Speakers can produce an infinite set of utterances from a finite set of lexical items and
grammatical rules. This is called:
E) Linguistic Creativity
7. What—if any—is the connection between the meaning of a word and the way it is
pronounced?
D) The relation is arbirtary: the same objects are called different names in different
languages.
8. In this video at some point "uptalkers" are advised to "make sentences a little bit shorter"
and make sure to "come down at the end". Which approach to speech and language
does this specific advice reflect? Choose the most correct answer.
C) Prescriptivism: The narrator suggests how language should / must be spoken.
9. In the video, the narrator says, “Uptalk is simply the sound of your voice going up at the
end of a sentence or a thought, instead of down.” Is this a descriptive or prescriptive
statement? Choose the most correct answer.
A) Descriptive – he is providing a basic explanation on what "uptalk" is based on
its usage by the speakers.
10. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer article, the utterance “Don’t nobody go over
there!” can be interpreted in two ways. Which ones?
Imperative "Nobody must/should go over there!" as well as
declarative/observational "Nobody goes over there."
11. Consider the sentence (1) and then answer the question below.

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(1) Last week made Mary a cake for Jon.

(intended meaning: 'Last week Mary made a cake for Jon'.)
Would this sentence be a correct sentence of English according to a descriptive
grammarian? Choose the most correct answer.
F) No. A descriptive grammarian would flag this sentence to be incorrect, since
native speakers of English would reject this sentence as an "incorrect" (or
ungrammatical) sentence of English.
12. From the videos on BruinLearn and the Philadelphia Inquirer article, select the answer
that is true about dialects of American English.
(C) A word, like be or dog, may occur in two different dialects, but may be used in
a different way in each dialect.
13. Select the answer that holds for all languages.
(A) A dialect is a speech form that may be restricted to speakers from a certain
geographical area.
(B) A dialect is a speech form that may be shared by members of the same socio-
economic class.
(C) The most educated and least educated native speakers of a language all speak
some dialect.
(D) The variety of language taught in schools - which we call the standard language - is
a never dialect, since it was born as the standardized variety.
E) Statements A, B, C are true.
14. Select the choice that is not true regarding the standard and non-standard varieties of
English.
Standard English has easier grammar rules and more transparent patterns than non-
standard English varieties.
Speakers of non-standard varieties have only partial linguistic competence, unlike
speakers of Standard English.
Non-standard varieties are impoverished grammatical systems, but the speakers’
abilities can be improved through linguistic education in Standard English.
Children exposed to only non-standard English cannot fully acquire that variety, unlike
children who only acquire Standard English.
E) All the statements above are false.
15. The Singlish data above is significant due to the fact that:
A) Singlish can be described as a non-standard variety of English and non-
standard varieties of a given language can exhibit grammatical phenomena that
are not attested in the standard variety.

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Homework 2:

1. A dichotic listening experiment is conducted on your friend with standard

lateralization. He hears “be” is in the right ear and “tee” in the left ear. Which do
we assume he will have heard?
A) The patient will report hearing "be".
2. This week you learned about the Wada Test. What does this test tell us?
D) Language is lateralized to the left hemisphere.
3. Choose the best answer describing the relationship between language and
intelligence.
D) There is no inherent link between language and intelligence.
4. This week you learned about Williams Syndrome. What does this tell us about
language and the brain?
E) Williams Syndrome shows that there is a dissociation between language
and other cognitive abilities, as people with Williams Syndrome generally
have good language skills despite a low IQ.
5. What did you learn this week about the neurolinguistic processing of signed
languages?
C) Signed languages activate Wernicke’s Area and Broca’s Area, just as
spoken ones do.
6. Joe's case study tells us what?
D) Joe can name items that are presented in his right visual field because
an item in the right visual field will be processed in the left hemisphere.
7. Is Joe able to describe objects that appear in his left visual field?
A) Joe cannot name items in his left visual field, because given the
contralateral nature of brain function, stimuli in the left visual field are
processed in the right hemisphere.
8. Why can he exclusively read words and name items that appear in his right
visual field?
D) the stimulus presented to the right visual field will be processed in the
left hemisphere.
9. This patient most likely has what type of aphasia?
B) Wernicke’s aphasia
10. Select the answer that best describes the characteristic features of Wernicke's
aphasia.
G) The characteristics of Wernicke’s aphasia are answers A, B, C
A. The semantic meaning of their utterance does not make sense.
B. They produce some fake words.
C. Their speech is generally fluent and their syntax is intact.
11. Patient Y is seeing a speech therapist. The specialist gives Patient Y a basket,
which Patient Y describes as follows:

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"It is a sort of container; it is usually used to hold things or carry objects. I'd say
it's typically made from interwoven strips of cane or even wire. I have one of
those at home and it's orange. But I can't recall what they call it."

What diagnosis is likely, given what you have learned this week?
F) The patient has Anomia because they have difficulties naming objects,
but the syntax is fine.
12. Consider an 11-year-old student; let's call her 'Yvonne'.

Yvonne succeeds and even excels in sports and subjects as diverse as history
and math. Yvonne also loves biology and enjoys drawing and classifying birds
and butterflies she encounters.

In one of her classes, someone heard Yvonne saying utterances like “We has
many books,” “Her like dogs,” and “You like cat?”

What do these facts suggest about Yvonne?

B) It's likely that Yvonne has Specific Language Impairment. Her
visual/spatial abilities show no problems and her IQ seems to be in the
typical range. Yet, Yvonne has problems with grammar.
13. Is Yvonne's case useful for proving the lack of relationship between language
ability and general intelligence?
C) Yes, because Yvonne has intelligence within the typical range for her
age but impaired language abilities.
14. Based on the reading, which of the following best describes Acquired Dyslexia?
B) Acquired Dyslexia is defined as a disorder that causes disrupted reading
ability due to brain damage to the left hemisphere.
15. What does the study of Specific Language Impairment suggest about the
relationship between linguistic competence and general intelligence?
D) The study of Specific Language Impairment suggests that no
relationship between language abilities and intellectual abilities exists.

Homework 3:

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1. For each phonetic symbol, select the corresponding utterance that exhibits this
sound. Note that, counter to normal IPA conventions, the small capital "i" shows
up sans serif on Canvas and appears to just be an "i" without a dot.
[æ] =match, [ʊ] = book, [i]= weep, [o]= no, [e]= base, [aw]= cow, [u]= shoes,
[a]= soft, [ʌ]= punch, [ɪ]= witch
For each set of sounds below, identify all of the features that they have in common.
Example: [v], [f] share manner and place because they are both labiodental fricatives.
Note: each set may share one or more than one feature.
2. [t], [d]
Manner, Place
3. [d], [z], [r], [g]
Voicing
4. [z], [t], [s]
Place
5. [ɛ], [ʌ], [o]
Height
Choose the best transcription of the following LA County place names into IPA, as
produced by the speaker in the below audio file. Note: there are multiple ways that
Angelenos may pronounce these names–make sure you are transcribing them as
pronounced here!
6. Tujunga= [təhuŋgə]
7. San Pedro= [sæn pedʒro]
8. Broxton= [brakstɪn]
9. Sepulveda= [sɛpʊlvɪdə]
10. Doheny= [dohɛni]
What phonetic property/feature distinguishes the two groups of sounds? Example: [p]
[b] vs. [t] [d] = bilabial stops vs. alveolar stops.
11. [t] [k] vs. [s] [x]
stops vs. fricatives
12. [f] [z] vs. [k] [d]
fricatives vs. stops
13. [ɪ] [ʊ] [ə] [ɛ] [æ] vs. [i] [u] [a] [e] [o]
lax vowels vs. tense vowels
14. [i][e][ɛ] vs. [o] [u]
front vowels vs. back vowels
15. [v] [θ] [s] [z] vs. [tʃ] [dʒ]
fricatives vs. affricates
16. Select the set that shares voicing and place of articulation features.
[b], [m], [p]
[β], [b], [m]
[g], [k], [l]

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[f], [p], [θ]

17. Which pair of sounds consists of two nasal consonants?
[m], [n]
18. Which of these sounds is different from the others with respect to the manner of
articulation?
[ð]
[ʃ]
[s]
[p]
19. One of these sounds is different from the others with respect to the manner of
articulation: which one?
[k]
[t]
[x]
[p]

Homework 4:

Phonetics Continued

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1. Select the true statement about SNAE

- Where SNAE speakers use the voiceless interdental fricative, CE
speakers always use the voiceless labiodental fricative.
2. Select the true statement about SNAE and CE.
- Where SNAE has a word-final [r], this [r] is not pronounced in CE
3. Select the true statement about CE.
- Where SNAE has word-final [l] following a round vowel, this sound is
deleted in CE.
4. Select the true statement about CE
- Where SNAE has word-final [l] following an unrounded vowel, CE has [w].

5. The word `aunt' (time: 00:47) is pronounced by the speaker as:

- B. [ant]
6. The word `theater' (time: 00:53) is pronounced by the speaker as:
- D. [θiətə]
7. The word `pecan' (time: 01:15) is pronounced by the speaker as:
- C. [pikən]
8. The word `lawyer' (time: 01:42) is pronounced by the speaker as:\
- A. [lɔjə]

Morphology

9. You see that the Oxford English Dictionary has added several new verbs since 2018.
Should this be surprising?
- A. No. Verbs are an open category. Therefore, finding new verbs created
since 2018 is not surprising.
10. Does independent evidence exist for the division of morphemes into the `lexical' and
`functional' categories?
- C. Yes. Independent evidence comes from both Specific Language
Impairment as well as Broca’s Aphasia. These conditions do not affect
lexical morphemes, while they involve the processing of the functional
morphemes.
11. Why does the addition of -ity result in ungrammaticality for the terms on the right?
- C. The -ity suffix is a deadjectival nominalizer (i.e. it forms nouns from
adjectives) and not a denominal nominalizer.
12. We have seen data in this course from both Singlish and Standard North American
English (SNAE). Which of the following statements is/are true?
- A and B are true.
- A. The meaning associated with reduplication in Singlish varies according to the
part of speech of the reduplicated item.
- B. Reduplication in English is subject to dialect-specific grammatical rules.

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13. Select the accurate statement about [s], [z], and [ ɪz] in English plurals.
- B. Their appearance is predictable; they are allomorphs of the same single
morpheme because they all express the value “plural” .
14. Select the correct word tree for ``renationalize''.

15. Based on the following trees, which of the following statements are true?
- None of the above
16. The Akple morpheme for ``boil'' is:
- D. mitsho
17. The Akple morpheme for ``try'' is:
- B. nohtee
18. ``I will boil'' in Akple would be:
- D. nikamitshon
19. If ‘banku’ means ‘roll into a ball’, how would you say: “She/he will try to roll into a
ball”
B. kanohteebankux
20. If ‘banku’ means ‘roll into a ball’, how would you say: “You rolled into a ball”
- E. kikibankun

Homework 5:

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1. What is the correct PS tree for this sentence?

2. Which PS rule(s) do you have evidence for in Malagasy?

b. VP → VP PP
c. S → VP NP
B and C
3. What string is a VP?
a. mandidy mofo amin'ny antsy
b. mandidy mofo
A and B
4. What string is an NP?
a. Rakoto
b. mofo
c. antsy
A, B, and C
5. Consider the following sentence and the phrase structure tree that would be used
to represent it:
The astronaut danced on the moon.

A Ling 1 student runs constituency tests on this sentence and reaches some
conclusions. Which are correct?
c. The NP “the astronaut” is sister to a VP.
d. The string “on the moon” is a constituent.
C and D are correct
6. Which of the following statements are true about the following sentence?

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The postman gave a postcard to my neighbor.

a. The constituent "a postcard" can be clefted.
7. Consider the following sentence:
Julia baked a cake for Pedro on Friday.
What are some of the conclusions that the student should reach about the
constituency of this sentence based only on the "do-so" substitution test results?
a. “baked a cake” is a constituent.
d. “baked a cake for Pedro” is a constituent.
e. The results would support both (a) and (d).
8. In the word "densify," what does the segment "-ify" represent?
C. "-ify" is a derivational morpheme and its insertion results in the
formation of verbs.
9. What statement is correct about the possible structural ambiguity of the following
sentence:
The kittens are tickling the unicorn with a wand.
C. This sentence does show structural ambiguity and that is due to the
height/structural position of the PP.
10. Select the true statement about first language acquisition.
C. Children automatically extract rules of grammar from their linguistic
environment and use this information to create their own grammar.
11. Select the true statement.
A. When children are signed to in the critical period, they acquire sign
language in essentially the same way they would acquire a spoken
language.
12. The innateness hypothesis is most strongly supported by:
B. Poverty of the stimulus.
13. Infants begin to "babble" at:
B. Around 6 months
14. Which of the following is an example of overgeneralization?
A. foots
15. When children first produce multi-word utterances, they use unbound functional
morphemes (i.e. function words like the, on, they, us, etc.) inconsistently. Many
of their utterances consist only of open-class or content words.
For example, they might utter something like 'Dog stand up table" which can be
interpreted as "The dog is standing up on the table".
What is this period of development called?
C. Telegraphic stage
Homework 6:

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1.
D. Certain varieties of English Exhibit both Negative Inversion and Negative
Concord

Use the following to answer Questions 2 through 5:

The following data come from Persian (Farsi), an Indo-European language spoken in
Central and West Asia.

‫مهسا با چاقو میوه میبرد‬

Mahsa ba čâqu mive mi-borad
Mahsa with knife fruit cuts
"Mahsa cuts fruit with a knife"

2. Which of the following strings is a VP?

A. ba čâqu mive mi-borad
3. What is the correct PS tree for this sentence?

4. Which PS rule(s) do you have evidence for in Persian?

None of the above
5. Which other PS rule(s) do you have evidence for in Persian?
VP → PP VP
6. Why is it significant that there are particular kinds of grammatical errors that
children do not make?
b. It suggests that language acquisition is guided by an innate mechanism.
c. This is evidence that even very young children have grammars,
although those grammars may be different than the adult grammar.
B and C
7. Why would we not want to say that reinforcement/correction plays a major role in
first language acquisition?
b. Adults do not systematically correct children if they say something
ungrammatical.

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c. Adults often provide positive feedback, regardless of whether the child’s

utterance is grammatical or ungrammatical.
B and C
8. First language acquisition involves something linguists have dubbed the “logical
problem”. Which of the following best explains that problem?
E. The kinds of input that a child receives does not seem commensurate
with the grammatical knowledge that native speakers possess.
9. Why do we think that Universal Grammar plays a central role in first language
acquisition?
b. The rapidity of acquisition and the depth of grammatical knowledge
attained
c. Similar stages of language acquisition for both spoken and signed
languages
B and C
10. Does the case of Genie provide evidence for or against the existence of a critical
period for language?
A. For. Genie began receiving language input only at puberty near the end
of the critical period. She has not been able to acquire English to native-
like levels.
11. Comparing the cases of Genie and Chelsea, which one is more likely a better
candidate to test the Critical Period Hypothesis for Language?
F. Chelsea is better. She was brought up in a non-abusive environment
so we know that psychological factors do not play a role.
12. Which of the following statements best justifies the claim that children do not
depend on direct instruction in acquiring their native language?
a. There are cultures where adults do not typically direct speech to
children, but the children fully acquire the language anyway.
b. Children produce grammatical sentences even in the case they never
heard them before.
A and B
13. Studies of the acquisition of American Sign Language suggest that…
there is a critical period for the acquisition of signed languages, just as for
spoken languages.

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14.
Yes. For this child, word-final voiced fricatives and stops become voiceless
15. After pointing their toy, a child says: “Gigi breaked that!”. Which of the following
is likely true?
b. The child currently has a grammar that simply does not match the adult
grammar.
16. Watch The Linguists from this week's module before answering. Which of the
following is not a reason that linguists carry out fieldwork?
C. To teach linguistic communities the correct way to speak their language.
17. Which of the following linguistic features can be borrowed?
Words Sounds Affixes Syntactic Constructions
All of the above
18. Which of the following is not a characteristic of a pidgin?
Native speakers
19. Which of the following is not a characteristic of a creole?
B. No bi-/multi-lingual speakers of the Creole and the sub-/super-/ad-strate
languages
20. Which of the following is not a contributing factor to language death?
B. Grammatical complexity inhibiting proper acquisition during the critical
period

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