The Linguistics A-to-Z ChallengeOnline version
Test your knowledge of key linguistic theories, scholars, and terminology from our 4th-year syllabus. From Saussure and Chomsky to Labov and Halliday, can you complete the entire wheel? Think fast and show your linguistic expertise!
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
L
M
N
Ñ
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
X
Y
Z
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A
Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Hockett say that the connection between a signifier (sound) and the signified (concept) is _________, meaning there is no natural or logical reason why a word has its specific name.
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B
A speaker who has the linguistic and communicative ability to use two different languages.
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C
The famous 20th-century American linguist who argued that language is an innate biological capacity and proposed the theory of Universal Grammar.
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D
A regional or social variety of a language that is distinguished by its own vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.
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E
In the Ethnography of Communication, this is the "insider" perspective that tries to understand a speech act from the community's own cultural point of view.
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F
In Michael Halliday's Register framework, this variable refers to "what is happening" or the specific topic of the social interaction.
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G
In Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), these are culturally recognized, structured ways of getting things done in a society, shaped by the Context of Culture.
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H
The sociolinguist who introduced "Communicative Competence" and famously said that a child who only knew grammar rules but didn't know how to use them socially would be a "monster".
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I
In Charles Peirce's semiotics, this is a type of sign that physically resembles or imitates the object it represents, such as a photograph or a realistic drawing.
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J
The famous Prague School scholar who emigrated to the United States and identified the six functional factors of communication.
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L
The father of variationist sociolinguistics who conducted the famous 1966 study measuring the post-vocalic /r/ sound in New York City department stores.
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M
The branch of linguistics that studies the internal structure of words and how the smallest meaningful units (morphemes) are combined.
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N
The first name of Chomsky, the scholar who revolutionized linguistics with his Generative school of thought.
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Ñ
It contains ñ: The surname of your Linguistics teacher.
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O
The "_________'s Paradox" is Labov's term for the challenge that linguists face: they want to observe how people speak naturally, but the very presence of the researcher makes speakers change their style.
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P
The branch of linguistics that deals with the physical articulation, acoustic transmission, and auditory reception of speech sounds.
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Q
The type of scientific sociolinguistics pioneered by William Labov that uses statistical methods, counting, and mathematical numbers to analyze language variation.
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R
In SFL, this is the functional variety of language used in a specific Context of Situation, defined by Field, Tenor, and Mode.
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S
The scientific study of signs and sign systems in human communication, co-founded by Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce.
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T
In Halliday's Register framework, this variable refers to "who is involved" in the communication, describing the role relationships and social status of the participants.
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U
Chomsky proposed that all human beings are born with an innate biological capacity to acquire language, which he called "_________ Grammar".
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V
In variationist sociolinguistics, a linguistic _________ is a unit of language (like a sound) that has multiple different physical realizations (variants) depending on social factors like class or age.
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X
It contains x: Dell Hymes argued that grammatical rules are pedagogically useless unless students understand the social _________ of use (where, when, and with whom to speak).
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Y
It contains y: A person who is able to speak or write in several different languages fluently (spelled with a 'y'.
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Z
In morphology, a _________ morph is an expected grammatical unit that has no physical sound or spelling realization, such as the plural form of the word "sheep".
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In this game there is a wheel with 24 letters of the alphabet (not includin "q", "x"). The aim of the game is to complete the alphabet wheel by saying yhe correct word for each letter in five minutes.