LING 1010 UCONN TEST PAPER 2025/2026 QUESTIONS
WITH ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Place of Articulation - ✔✔Look in slides
✔✔Stops/Plosives (Manner of Articulation) - ✔✔the airflow is completely obstructed
(BPTDGK)
✔✔Nasals (Manner of Articulation) - ✔✔the airflow is diverted to the nasal cavity (NM)
✔✔Fricatives (Manner of Articulation) - ✔✔the airflow is disturbed, but not completely
stopped (F V Th Sh)
✔✔Affricates (Manner of Articulation) - ✔✔a stop + fricative (Ch J)
✔✔Laterals (Manner of Articulation) - ✔✔the tongue blocks the air, but air escapes
around the sides (L)
✔✔Approximants (Manner of Articulation) - ✔✔not much obstruction, very similar to
vowels (RY)
✔✔Voiced Stops - ✔✔Let the vocal folds vibrate during the obstruction (BDG). Always
is voiced for vowels - must vibrate to create the frequencies necessary
✔✔Voiceless Stops - ✔✔Stop the vocal folds from vibrating during the obstruction
(PTK)
✔✔Do Formants directly represent phonemes? - ✔✔We don't represent phonemes
using formants directly.
✔✔sequences of phonemes - ✔✔You might think that any sound can appear next to
any other sound. But this isn't true. There are patterns in the sequences that we use.
✔✔gap in the paradigm - ✔✔Lots of consonants can appear before [r], but for some
reason, [t] cannot. There is no word in English that has the sequence [tr] at the
beginning of a syllable. For example, English prohibits the sequence [tr], even for new
words. Another example, both [s] and [z] exist, but you will never find a plural [s] after a
voiced consonant, and you will never find a plural [z] after a voiceless consonant.
✔✔Phonology and the phonological theory - ✔✔We call the study of the patterns of
sequences of sounds in language phonology. The resulting theory is called phonological
theory. We can build a theory of phonology that captures these patterns by postulating
three components:
1. An underlying representation
, 2. A surface representation
3. A rule that maps from an underlying representation to the surface representation.
Underlying and rule are stored in the mind, where surface is derived from the two and
is not stored in the mind.
✔✔Morphology - ✔✔The study of the shape of words (the sequence of phonemes in a
word). Words are a pairing of sound and meaning
✔✔Compositional - ✔✔In linguistics, we say that the meaning of a string is
compositional if the meaning can be derived from the independent meanings of the
parts (if the meanings are composed of the meanings of the smaller parts). For
example, when we are looking at unlockable, the word is made of smaller parts: un-
lock-able. This is a great example of a structure in the mind. We interpret meanings
from smaller pieces, but don't even realize it!
✔✔Morpheme - ✔✔The smallest unit of language that carries a distinct meaning. Some
words are only one morpheme (e.g. lake, mouth, chair, leg, etc) and others use 2 or
more morphemes (Desk-s pre-pay, sock-s)
✔✔Free Morphemes - ✔✔Morphemes that can be a stand-alone word are called free
morphemes
✔✔Bound Morphemes - ✔✔Morphemes that only occur attached to a free morpheme
are called bound morphemes
✔✔Affixation - ✔✔Bound morphemes are sometimes called affixes because they must
be affixed to a free morpheme. Three types of affixes: Prefix, suffix, and infix.
✔✔Infix - ✔✔A bound morpheme that appears inside of a free morpheme. English
doesn't have it but it presents itself in slang, like "fan-f*cking-tastic". The rule is based
on word stress. Word stress is the extra acoustic prominence that we give to certain
syllables inside of words.
✔✔Compound words - ✔✔Words that are composed of two (or more) free morphemes.
(e.g. teacup, cupcake, spaceship, etc.) Novel compounds are compounds that you
make up on the fly (tend to have two or more meanings - cookie chair). Lexicalized
compounds are compounds that have become stored as complete units (tend to have
one meaning - teacup or cupcake).
✔✔Ambiguity - ✔✔In linguistics, we say that the meaning of a string is ambiguous if
there is more than one possible meaning. For instance, "un-do-able" can either mean
impossible to do or able to reverse an action.
✔✔Hierarchical Structure - ✔✔Smaller units are combined to form larger units. We can
use trees to demonstrate the hierarchical structure. For instance, with
WITH ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Place of Articulation - ✔✔Look in slides
✔✔Stops/Plosives (Manner of Articulation) - ✔✔the airflow is completely obstructed
(BPTDGK)
✔✔Nasals (Manner of Articulation) - ✔✔the airflow is diverted to the nasal cavity (NM)
✔✔Fricatives (Manner of Articulation) - ✔✔the airflow is disturbed, but not completely
stopped (F V Th Sh)
✔✔Affricates (Manner of Articulation) - ✔✔a stop + fricative (Ch J)
✔✔Laterals (Manner of Articulation) - ✔✔the tongue blocks the air, but air escapes
around the sides (L)
✔✔Approximants (Manner of Articulation) - ✔✔not much obstruction, very similar to
vowels (RY)
✔✔Voiced Stops - ✔✔Let the vocal folds vibrate during the obstruction (BDG). Always
is voiced for vowels - must vibrate to create the frequencies necessary
✔✔Voiceless Stops - ✔✔Stop the vocal folds from vibrating during the obstruction
(PTK)
✔✔Do Formants directly represent phonemes? - ✔✔We don't represent phonemes
using formants directly.
✔✔sequences of phonemes - ✔✔You might think that any sound can appear next to
any other sound. But this isn't true. There are patterns in the sequences that we use.
✔✔gap in the paradigm - ✔✔Lots of consonants can appear before [r], but for some
reason, [t] cannot. There is no word in English that has the sequence [tr] at the
beginning of a syllable. For example, English prohibits the sequence [tr], even for new
words. Another example, both [s] and [z] exist, but you will never find a plural [s] after a
voiced consonant, and you will never find a plural [z] after a voiceless consonant.
✔✔Phonology and the phonological theory - ✔✔We call the study of the patterns of
sequences of sounds in language phonology. The resulting theory is called phonological
theory. We can build a theory of phonology that captures these patterns by postulating
three components:
1. An underlying representation
, 2. A surface representation
3. A rule that maps from an underlying representation to the surface representation.
Underlying and rule are stored in the mind, where surface is derived from the two and
is not stored in the mind.
✔✔Morphology - ✔✔The study of the shape of words (the sequence of phonemes in a
word). Words are a pairing of sound and meaning
✔✔Compositional - ✔✔In linguistics, we say that the meaning of a string is
compositional if the meaning can be derived from the independent meanings of the
parts (if the meanings are composed of the meanings of the smaller parts). For
example, when we are looking at unlockable, the word is made of smaller parts: un-
lock-able. This is a great example of a structure in the mind. We interpret meanings
from smaller pieces, but don't even realize it!
✔✔Morpheme - ✔✔The smallest unit of language that carries a distinct meaning. Some
words are only one morpheme (e.g. lake, mouth, chair, leg, etc) and others use 2 or
more morphemes (Desk-s pre-pay, sock-s)
✔✔Free Morphemes - ✔✔Morphemes that can be a stand-alone word are called free
morphemes
✔✔Bound Morphemes - ✔✔Morphemes that only occur attached to a free morpheme
are called bound morphemes
✔✔Affixation - ✔✔Bound morphemes are sometimes called affixes because they must
be affixed to a free morpheme. Three types of affixes: Prefix, suffix, and infix.
✔✔Infix - ✔✔A bound morpheme that appears inside of a free morpheme. English
doesn't have it but it presents itself in slang, like "fan-f*cking-tastic". The rule is based
on word stress. Word stress is the extra acoustic prominence that we give to certain
syllables inside of words.
✔✔Compound words - ✔✔Words that are composed of two (or more) free morphemes.
(e.g. teacup, cupcake, spaceship, etc.) Novel compounds are compounds that you
make up on the fly (tend to have two or more meanings - cookie chair). Lexicalized
compounds are compounds that have become stored as complete units (tend to have
one meaning - teacup or cupcake).
✔✔Ambiguity - ✔✔In linguistics, we say that the meaning of a string is ambiguous if
there is more than one possible meaning. For instance, "un-do-able" can either mean
impossible to do or able to reverse an action.
✔✔Hierarchical Structure - ✔✔Smaller units are combined to form larger units. We can
use trees to demonstrate the hierarchical structure. For instance, with
