McMaster University; LINGUIST 1AA3 - Test 1 Questions (Answered) Winter 2025/2026.

The dataset given here is from a conlang (a constructed language), but it follows the patterns of a natural language. Identify the affixes you find in the data. When entering your answers, do not include hyphens, dashes, or any other punctuation. zbiθ "cow" zbiθubi "cows" zbiθiz "calf (baby cow)" zbiθubzi "calves" ʃod "coin" ʃodubi "coins" ʃodiz "small coin" ʃodubzi "small coins" brof "tree" brofubi "trees" brofiz "small tree" brofubzi "small trees" biθir "stone" biθrubi "stones" biθriz "small stone" biθrubzi "small stones" lifθ "fence" lifθubi "fences" lifθiz "small fence" lifθubzi "small fences" 1. What is the affix that indicates the plural in this conlang? ubi 2. What are the two allomorphs of the affix that indicates the diminutive (the meaning "small") in this conlang? iz ubzi 3. Assume that the singular form of the word that means "hand" in this conlang is [stal]. Give the form for "hands". stalubi4. Assume that the singular form of the word that means "hand" in this conlang is [stal]. Give the form for "small hand". staliz 5. Assume that the singular form of the word that means "hand" in this conlang is [stal]. Give the form for "small hands". stalubzi The dataset given here is from a conlang (a constructed language), but it follows the patterns of a natural language. lonobod I shout benobod you.SG shout enobod he/she shouts onobod we.DU shout ornobod we.PL shout naarnobo d you.PL shout ernobod they.PL shoutThe prefixes in this dataset indicate who is shouting. What kind of inflectional information do these prefixes communicate? Question 2 options: tense modality animacy obviation case agreement number causativity clusivity evidentiality Look at the table from the previous question. The glosses of the various inflected forms of the verb shout in this dataset include more pronouns than English usually contains. What kind of inflectional information here is more complex than in English? Question 3 options: obviation agreement clusivity modality causativitytense evidentiality case number This table includes the data from the previous two questions and adds another column of data. lonobod I shout lolnobodo I shouted benobod you.SG shout belnobodo you.SG shouted enobod he/she shouts elnobodo he/she shouted onobod we.DU shout olnobodo we.DU shouted ornobod we.PL shout olornobodo we.PL shouted naarnobod you.PL shout naalornobodo you.PL shouted ernobod they.PL shout elornobodo they.PL shouted What indicates the past tense in this conlang? Question 4 options: infix suffix circumfix prefix his table contains the same data as the previous od I shout lolnobodo I shouted benobod you.SG shout belnobodo you.SG shouted enobod he/she shouts elnobodo he/she shouted onobod we.DU shout olnobodo we.DU shouted ornobod we.PL shout olornobodo we.PL shouted naarnobod you.PL shout naalornobodo you.PL shouted ernobod they.PL shout elornobodo they.PL shouted Does the past tense morpheme in this conlang have any allomorphs? Question 5 options: No, only one form of the morpheme. Yes, more than one allomorph. Next Page This next table includes the past tense examples from the previous two questions, and introduces at least two new morphemes. lolnobodo I shouted belnobodo you.SG shouted elnobodo he/she shoutedolnobodo we.DU shouted olornobodo we.PL shouted naalornobodo you.PL shouted elornobodo they.PL shouted lodolnobodo I shouted at someone edolnobodo he/she shouted at someone Odolnobodo we.DU shouted at someone lodolnobodonaar I shouted at you.PL bedolnobodoloy you.SG shouted at me edolnobodobaaɖ he/she shouted at us.PLOne new morpheme takes the verb shout, which is ordinarily intransitive, and transitivizes it. What kind of affix is the transitivizer? Question 6 options: infix suffix circumfix Look at the data in the table above. What is the form of the transitivizer morpheme? In your answer, do not include hyphens, dashes, or any other punctuation. do In the previous question, you identified the transitivizer morpheme. What inflectional information is communicated by the remaining new morphemes in the last three rows of this dataset? Question 8 options: evidentiality animacy agreement clusivity modality numbercase causativity tense obviation In the following sentence, what syntactic category does the bolded word belong to? Latonya wishes her aunt would stop asking if she has a boyfriend. Question 1 options: noun verb adjective In the following sentence, what syntactic category does the bolded word belong to? Leah has recently been learning how to make sourdough. Question 2 options: noun verb adjective Next Page Laetitia was furious that her sister had entered them into a lip-synch contest, Question 3 options: noun verb adjective Lacy knew her kids were not going to eat those leftovers. Question 4 options:noun verb adjective Leif is curious about the study's findings. Question 5 options: noun verb adjective Did you know Larissa has a twin sister? Question 6 options: noun verb adjective When you buy something online then you have to wait for a delivery. Which of the following represents the derivation of the word delivery? Question 7 options: de + liver + y de- +livery + -ery deliver + y de + livery Actors, singers and dancers hold many rehearsals before they're ready to perform a show. At their final rehearsal, they might feel emotional. Do the words emotional and rehearsal contain the same affix? Question 8 options: yesno Before carving a wooden ornament, you might need to sharpen your tools. Do the words wooden and sharpen contain the same affix? Question 9 options: no yes Before carving a wooden ornament, you might need to sharpen your tools. Do the words wooden and sharpen contain the same affix? Question 9 options: no yes If you're mailing something fragile, you have to pack it carefully to prevent breakage. Which of the following represents the derivation of the word breakage? Question 10 options: N + -age → N V + -age → N V + -age → A N + -age → V When you own a car, you also have to pay for insurance. Which of the following words is derived the same way as insurance? Performance If you have high grades you might win a scholarship. Which of the following represents the derivation of the word scholarship?N + -ship → N When a movie is shown to an audience whose language is not the language of the movie, it sometimes includes subtitles in the audience's language, which appear beneath the action of the movie. If a teacher is too sick to go to work, they might ask for a substitute teacher, who replaces them in the classroom for the day. Do the words subtitle and substitute begin with the same morpheme? Question 11 options: Yes, they begin with the same morpheme. No, they don't begin with the same morpheme. An extralegal process is one that happens outside the scope or authority of the law. Something extraordinary is very unusual or unexpected. Do the words extralegal and extraordinary begin with the same morpheme? Question 12 options: Yes, they begin with the same morpheme. No, they don't begin with the same morpheme. Consider the following sentence:Annika asked her nextdoor neighbour to bring in the mail. Q1: Is the bolded portion a constituent in this sentence? (Enter either "yes" or "no".) Q2: What is your evidence for your decision? In other words, enter the constituency test you used to make your decision. Yes replacement test Consider the following sentence: Anthony asked his sister to take off her headphones. Q1: Is the bolded portion a constituent in this sentence? (Enter either "yes" or "no".) Q2: What is your evidence for your decision? In other words, enter the constituency test you used to make your decision. No replacement test Consider the following sentence: Alfred gave his brother a scarf he had knitted.Q1: Is the bolded portion a constituent in this sentence? (Enter either "yes" or "no".) Q2: What is your evidence for your decision? In other words, enter the constituency test you used to make your decision. Yes cleft test Consider the following sentence: Ardyth wanted her parents to buy her a car. Q1: Is the bolded portion a constituent in this sentence? (Enter either "yes" or "no".) Q2: What is your evidence for your decision? In other words, enter the constituency test you used to make your decision. No replacement test Which of the following represents the derivation of the word amusement? Question 14 options: V + -ment → N A + -ment → N V + -ment → A N + -ment → VAntifreeze is something that people put in a car's engine to keep it from freezing in the winter. An antique is something (usually furniture or housewares) that is very old. Do the words antifreeze and antique begin with the same morpheme? Question 11 options: Yes, they begin with the same morpheme. No, they don't begin with the same morpheme. Which of the following is the best example of the concept of performativity described in this course? Question 1 options: A soldier wears their military uniform according to their commander's orders. A sports fan wears their team's jersey and paints their face in the team colours. A white ASL interpreter wears a black shirt to maximize the visibility of their hands when they're signi Question 2 (2 points) Saved Explain your reasoning for your answer about performativity in the previous question. Question 2 options:Performativity in this course is that somethings performs certain functions for people. It is not about acting according to rules or according to our identity. The soldier wears the uniform according to rules. And interpreters wears black shirt according to his identity. But sports fan wears the jersey to express the love to the team. The jersey performs fan's love, so it performs certain functions. Performativity means that certain things or words perform certain functions for people. Therefore, the purpose of the actions is not to obey the rules or perform the job responsibility, but to show people's emotions or intent. The uniform is to obey the rules, and the interpreter is to follow the job responsibility. Only the fans doing this action aim to show his or herlove and passions towards the team. Thus, the jersey performs the function for fans. Question 3 (3 points) Saved In recent weeks, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland received criticism for her remarks about the likelihood of Canada giving aid to Africa. Initially, she said that Africans should be “prepared to die for their democracy”, then later apologized with the words, “I really didn’t mean to offend you [African people].” Q1. Thinking about the linguistic definition of offense, does Freeland’s undo any offense she caused? Answer “yes” or “no”. Q2. Explain your reasoning for your answer in Q1. Question 3 options: No Offense is a kind of social or psychological harm that is done to discourseparticipants. Her words are offensive as these words discourse the African people. Offense can happen regardless of speaker intent. Even though Chrystia did not mean to offend African people, these people are still offended by these words as the harm has been caused and cannot be undone. Mi'gmaq is an Indigenous language with about 9000 speakers, most of them in eastern Canada. Here are two slightly different sentences of Mi'gmaq, along with translations: nemi-g muin "I see the bear." nemit-u ptauti "I see the table." The verb root nemi- means to see. What information is encoded in the difference between the -g and -u suffixes on the verb? Question 3 options: evidentialitycase causativity modality clusivity animacy agreement tense obviation number Question 4 (3 points) Saved Suppose your friend Ziv comes out as non-binary and announces that they use they/them pronouns. Your friend Marley says, "I don't have a problem with your gender, but singular they is simply ungrammatical so I won't use it." Provide a linguistically-motivated response to Marley. (You needn't describe your personal opinion; Question 4 options: Marley does not want to use "they" to express singular since it is ungrammatical to him. That means that his mental grammar does not generate such sentences to use "they" to express singular form. But languages areproductive and performative. Ziv uses "they" to perform certain functions, which are to show his willingness to use non-binary pronouns. The singular "they" has performative language. The function of performance is valued more than grammar for Ziv's purpose. It is understandable that Marley thinks the sigular "they" is ungrammatically as in his mental garmmar, the word "they" is used to express plural forms. However, language is productive and can generate many kinds of forms. Thus, there may be many varieties of language to express the singular form. In addition, if people use binary pronouns to indicate some people, it may cause some offenses if that people do not commit the pronouns. For example, if we use "she" to represent one person but that person thinks the gender is "he", offense will generate. Using "they" without gender can reduce the offensive language. Question 5 (1 point) SavedWhen linguists say that a word or sentence is ungrammatical, what do they mean? Question 5 options: Only uneducated people use that word or sentence. The mental grammar of fluent speakers of that language does not generate that word or sentence. It's perfectly acceptable to use that word or sentence, even if your high school teacher told you not to. Which of the following statements illustrates a descriptivist view of grammar? Question 6 options: Expressing the future tense with gonna instead of will indicates a speaker's ignorance. Double-modal constructions like, "You might should lock your doors," are common in some varieties o English but ungrammatical in standardized English. The word whom is a more proper way of saying who. The word they is plural so it can never refer to a single person. Of the following, which is the primary goal of the field of Linguistics? Question 7 options: To learn how to teach languages effectively. To learn how to treat people whose language use is atypical or disordered. To learn how language knowledge is represented in the mind. To learn to speak and write correct English. Question 8 (1 point) SavedMaliseet-Passamaquoddy is an endangered Indigenous language spoken in New Brunswick and Maine. Here are two slightly different sentences of Maliseet-Passamaquoddy, along with translations: n-tíhin-èn "He and I have it." k-tíhin-èn "You and I have it." What information is communicated by the difference between the n- and k- prefixes? Question 8 options: modality obviation animacy evidentiality causativity case number tense agreement clusivity Chinook is a language that originally evolved from contact between English-speaking settlers and Indigenous people inthe area that is now called British Columbia. Here are some words of Chinook, along with translations: maika "you" mtaika "both of you" mʃaika "all of you" What information is encoded in the difference between the three forms? Question 9 options: agreement clusivity obviation number tense case animacy evidentiality causativity modality In 2020, a white, English-speaking professor in the USA was required to stop teaching his class after studentscomplained. The prof had mentioned a common Chinese filler word (similar to English "um, uh") that sounds similar to the English N-word, a slur towards Black people. Q1. Was the prof's language use derogatory towards Black people? (Answer "yes" or "no".) Q2. Was the prof's language use offensive towards Black people? (Answer "yes" or "no".) Q3. Explain your reasoning for your answers to Q1 and Q2. No Yes Derogatory means the expressions that disparage people. The professor just mentioned some Chinese words "um, uh" and these words have no meaning of derogatory at all. However, these words sound similar to N-word, leading to offense towards black people. Offense is a kind of social and/or psychological harm that is done to discourse participants and it can occur regardless of the speaker's intent. Though the professor did not have intent to offend black people, the harm has caused due to the similar pronunciations.