CSET Spanish Subtest I| 80 questions with
complete solutions
Linguistics Correct Answer: the scientific study of language
Phonetics Correct Answer: the study of speech sounds (production and pronunciation) in
isolation
Pragmatics Correct Answer: the study of the use of language in context. It deals with how
listeners arrive at intended meaning of speakers
Grammar Correct Answer: a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and
understand others
Phonology Correct Answer: The study of patterns/organization of sound systems...The system
of sound segments (phonemes) that humans use to build up words. Having phonological
knowledge means for example, knowing what sounds can combine together to form words, what
sounds can occur at the beginning or at the end of a word, and how they should be pronounced
depending on the situation
Phoneme Correct Answer: the smallest distinctive sound unit
Allophone Correct Answer: any of the speech sounds that represent a single phoneme, such as
the aspirated k in kit and the un-aspirated k in skit, which are allophones of the phoneme k.
Morphology Correct Answer: The structure of words/study of how words are formed through
the combination of morphemes (smallest unit of meaningful sounds)
Morpheme Correct Answer: The smallest unit of language that carries meaning (cannot be
subdivided further)
Free Morpheme Correct Answer: A morpheme that can stand alone as a word
-nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs (Open Class/lexical/content)
-conjunctions, prepositions, articles and pronouns (Closed Class/function/grammatical)
Bound Morphemes Correct Answer: A morpheme that cannot stand alone
-Root, affix
Allomorph Correct Answer: any variant of a morpheme, such as the plural endings s (as in
bats ), z (as in bugs ), and iz (as in buses ) for the plural morpheme.
Affix Correct Answer: prefix (added to beginning of another morpheme)
suffix (added to end of another morpheme)
infix (inserted into another morpheme)
, circumfix (added to start and end of word)
Derivational vs. Inflectional Affix Correct Answer: Derivational:added to morphemes to form
entirely new words that may or may not be the same part of speech (cloud - cloudy, happiness,
greenish, establishment)
Inflectional: added to the end of an existing word for purely grammatical reasons. there are 8 in
english ( ed-past tense, s-plural, ing-progressive, etc...). they do not alter the syntactic behavior
of the word
Root Correct Answer: Either a base word, or a part of a word to which affixes are added. Or, it
is the part left after affixes have been taken away. Technically, it is the smallest unit which
carries meaning: it cannot be reduced into smaller units.
examples: friend (in friendship) or mit (in submit)
Syntax Correct Answer: The study of sentence structure (grammar). How words are arranged to
form sentences. Links sound patterns and meanings. Knowing the syntax of a language entails
knowing the rules of sentence formation in that language
Semantics Correct Answer: The study of meaning in language. The analysis of the meaning of
words, phrases, sentences. The way in which sounds and meanings are related. Studies the way
in which language expressions have meaning.
Prescriptive vs. Descriptive grammar Correct Answer: A descriptive grammar is built up by
analyzing how speakers use a language, and deducing the rules they are following. A prescriptive
grammar is a set of explicit rules for using language that are taught, or enforced, so that people
will use the language in a particular way.
Universal Grammar Correct Answer: There are universal concepts and properties that are shared
by all languages, and these principles are contained in the Universal Grammar, which forms the
basis of all possible human languages.
Productive Rule of Language Correct Answer: One that works for more than one or two words
or constructions in the language; a regularly used rule, (i.e. -s or -es to make plurals)
Distinction between Deep Structure and Surface structure Correct Answer: Proposed by
Chomsky in his Standard Theory of transformational grammar: Every sentence has 2 levels of
structure, one which is obvious on the surface (S-structure) and another which is deep and
abstract (D-structure). They are related by a processes called Transformations.
Example: Close the door! and The door is closed by you have same deep structure (noun=you,
verb=close, object=door)
Classification of languages into families and branches Correct Answer: A set of languages
deriving from a common ancestor or "parent." Languages with a significant number of common
features in phonology, morphology and syntax are said to belong to the same language family.
Subdivisions of a language family are called "branches."
complete solutions
Linguistics Correct Answer: the scientific study of language
Phonetics Correct Answer: the study of speech sounds (production and pronunciation) in
isolation
Pragmatics Correct Answer: the study of the use of language in context. It deals with how
listeners arrive at intended meaning of speakers
Grammar Correct Answer: a system of rules that enables us to communicate with and
understand others
Phonology Correct Answer: The study of patterns/organization of sound systems...The system
of sound segments (phonemes) that humans use to build up words. Having phonological
knowledge means for example, knowing what sounds can combine together to form words, what
sounds can occur at the beginning or at the end of a word, and how they should be pronounced
depending on the situation
Phoneme Correct Answer: the smallest distinctive sound unit
Allophone Correct Answer: any of the speech sounds that represent a single phoneme, such as
the aspirated k in kit and the un-aspirated k in skit, which are allophones of the phoneme k.
Morphology Correct Answer: The structure of words/study of how words are formed through
the combination of morphemes (smallest unit of meaningful sounds)
Morpheme Correct Answer: The smallest unit of language that carries meaning (cannot be
subdivided further)
Free Morpheme Correct Answer: A morpheme that can stand alone as a word
-nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs (Open Class/lexical/content)
-conjunctions, prepositions, articles and pronouns (Closed Class/function/grammatical)
Bound Morphemes Correct Answer: A morpheme that cannot stand alone
-Root, affix
Allomorph Correct Answer: any variant of a morpheme, such as the plural endings s (as in
bats ), z (as in bugs ), and iz (as in buses ) for the plural morpheme.
Affix Correct Answer: prefix (added to beginning of another morpheme)
suffix (added to end of another morpheme)
infix (inserted into another morpheme)
, circumfix (added to start and end of word)
Derivational vs. Inflectional Affix Correct Answer: Derivational:added to morphemes to form
entirely new words that may or may not be the same part of speech (cloud - cloudy, happiness,
greenish, establishment)
Inflectional: added to the end of an existing word for purely grammatical reasons. there are 8 in
english ( ed-past tense, s-plural, ing-progressive, etc...). they do not alter the syntactic behavior
of the word
Root Correct Answer: Either a base word, or a part of a word to which affixes are added. Or, it
is the part left after affixes have been taken away. Technically, it is the smallest unit which
carries meaning: it cannot be reduced into smaller units.
examples: friend (in friendship) or mit (in submit)
Syntax Correct Answer: The study of sentence structure (grammar). How words are arranged to
form sentences. Links sound patterns and meanings. Knowing the syntax of a language entails
knowing the rules of sentence formation in that language
Semantics Correct Answer: The study of meaning in language. The analysis of the meaning of
words, phrases, sentences. The way in which sounds and meanings are related. Studies the way
in which language expressions have meaning.
Prescriptive vs. Descriptive grammar Correct Answer: A descriptive grammar is built up by
analyzing how speakers use a language, and deducing the rules they are following. A prescriptive
grammar is a set of explicit rules for using language that are taught, or enforced, so that people
will use the language in a particular way.
Universal Grammar Correct Answer: There are universal concepts and properties that are shared
by all languages, and these principles are contained in the Universal Grammar, which forms the
basis of all possible human languages.
Productive Rule of Language Correct Answer: One that works for more than one or two words
or constructions in the language; a regularly used rule, (i.e. -s or -es to make plurals)
Distinction between Deep Structure and Surface structure Correct Answer: Proposed by
Chomsky in his Standard Theory of transformational grammar: Every sentence has 2 levels of
structure, one which is obvious on the surface (S-structure) and another which is deep and
abstract (D-structure). They are related by a processes called Transformations.
Example: Close the door! and The door is closed by you have same deep structure (noun=you,
verb=close, object=door)
Classification of languages into families and branches Correct Answer: A set of languages
deriving from a common ancestor or "parent." Languages with a significant number of common
features in phonology, morphology and syntax are said to belong to the same language family.
Subdivisions of a language family are called "branches."
