Engl 402 Midterm Study Guide

Fall 2009

The midterm will consist of questions based on the questions and statements below. Answers should be about 3-4 sentences long, with examples as called for. You will have plenty of choice, but in studying you should be prepared to answer as many of these as you can. Look over these questions today and tomorrow, because I will ask in class during the review session exactly which questions you’d like me to review.  Good luck.

These questions are drawn chronologically from the chapters in the assigned reading. They are arranged in sections, and you must answer questions from each section.

I. General questions about language

  1. We can use language without explicitly understanding its grammar, so what do we gain from studying the structure of the language?
  2. Some people pronounce the word spelled ask as [æsk] while others say [æks]. Discuss the social and linguistic significance of the two pronunciations.
  3. People judge you by the words you use. Explain what this means and give examples.
  4. Language is a system. Explain.
  5. What is the difference between descriptive and prescriptive grammar?
  6. How is human language different from animal communication? Give examples.
  7. Language changes over time. Does that change represent progress or decay? Explain.
  8. We often say, "The dictionary says . . . " or "The dictionary defines x as . . ." But there are more than one dictionary, and they don't always agree. Why do we give such status to "the dictionary"? Do dictionaries actually make rules about how to use words, or do they simply record the way speakers and writers deploy the words of their language?
  9. What are some of the general characteristics of standard English?
  10. Give an example of a prescriptive grammatical rule. Comment on its appropriateness and its effect.
  11. What are some of the key differences between speech and writing? Be sure to give examples.
  12. Samuel Johnson’s dictionary contained some funny definitions, but why was it a really important dictionary of English?

II. Phonetics, Phonology, and Morphology

  1. Define the phoneme and explain why it is a useful concept.
  2. What is the difference between a consonant and a vowel? Give examples.
  3. Explaining both stops and voicing, what is the difference between a voiced and a voiceless stop? Give examples.
  4. Vowels are classified according to tongue height and tongue position in the mouth. What is the difference in tongue placement between a high front vowel and a low back vowel. Give an example of each. You may illustrate with a diagram, but be sure to use words to describe it as well.
  5. Explain and give an example of one of the following phonological processes: assimilation, deletion, insertion, metathesis.
  6. Give three reasons why English spelling is so complex and illustrate with examples of each.
  7. Define the morpheme and explain why it is a useful concept.
  8. Discuss the difference between a free and a bound morpheme, giving examples..
  9. What is the difference between an inflectional and a derivational morpheme? Give examples of each.
  10. Discuss two ways forming new words in English and give an example of each.

III. Syntax

  1. Why do traditional school definitions of the parts of speech fall short? Give examples where they lack explanatory adequacy.
  2. Lexical categories may be open or closed. Define and give an example of an open and a closed category.
  3. Speakers of a language know the difference between an utterance that is grammatical and one that is acceptable. Explain what this means, and what it tells us about the nature of language competence?
  4. Explain the concept of universal grammar. Give examples of grammatical elements that are universal, and elements that are not.
  5. Why is the sentence a useful unit of grammatical analysis?
  6. What are the limitations of taking the sentence as the basic unit of grammatical analysis?
  7. The notion of a well-formed sentence is descriptive. That of a properly-formed sentence is prescriptive. Explain the difference between these two notions of sentence appropriateness.
  8. A descriptive grammar describes the utterances we make when we speak a language (or write it). A generative grammar consists of an abstract set of rules for producing (or "generating") the sentences of that language. Why do we need both?
  9. What is the difference between a dependent clause and an independent clause?
  10. The utterance Colorless green ideas sleep furiously is grammatical. Why can we say that? Is it also acceptable? How can we know?
  11. Why is it important to consider both form and function when dealing with language constituents?
  12. What's a relative clause? What's a complementizer?
  13. Study the sentence diagrams in the syntax powerpoint. Be prepared to discuss some of the following:
    1. deep and surface structure
    2. the Noun Phrase
    3. the Verb Phrase
    4. sentence embedding
    5. recursion
    6. transformation