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#1
By TheQuizWire
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Medium
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Fact Checked
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29 Jan 2026
What term, in Chomsky’s theory, refers to the speaker’s idealized, underlying knowledge of their language structure?
💡 Explanation:Noam Chomsky introduced the distinction between Linguistic Competence and Linguistic Performance. Competence refers to the idealized, intrinsic knowledge a native speaker has of their language's grammar (syntax, morphology, etc.). Performance refers to the actual use of language in concrete situations, which is often affected by non-linguistic factors like memory limitations, errors, and distractions.
#2
By TheQuizWire
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Medium
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Fact Checked
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25 Jan 2026
A speaker’s accidental slip of the tongue primarily illustrates which linguistic concept?
💡 Explanation:A 'slip of the tongue' or speech error is an imperfection in the actual production of language, which Noam Chomsky termed 'Linguistic Performance.' Performance refers to the actual use of language in concrete situations. The speaker's underlying, abstract knowledge of the language rules, which is unaffected by the error, is termed 'Linguistic Competence.'
#3
By TheQuizWire
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Easy
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Fact Checked
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20 Jan 2026
Which branch of linguistics studies the internal structure of words and their formation?
💡 Explanation:Morphology is the branch of linguistics dedicated to the study of the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed, often by combining morphemes (the smallest meaningful units).
#4
By TheQuizWire
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Medium
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18 Jan 2026
Which branch of linguistics analyzes the formation of the word ‘unbelievable’ from morphemes?
💡 Explanation:Morphology is the study of the internal structure of words and the rules by which words are formed, primarily through the combination of morphemes (the smallest meaningful units). In 'unbelievable,' the morphemes are 'un-,' 'believe,' and '-able.' Syntax deals with sentence structure; Semantics deals with meaning; and Phonology deals with sound systems.
#5
By TheQuizWire
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Hard
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Fact Checked
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11 Jan 2026
What is the technical term for a variant of a phoneme that occurs in a specific phonetic context without changing the word’s meaning?
💡 Explanation:An allophone is a phonetically distinct variant of a phoneme. Its occurrence is usually determined by the sound's position or phonetic environment, and substituting one allophone for another of the same phoneme does not change the meaning of the word. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning, and phonotactics are the rules for combining phonemes.
#6
By TheQuizWire
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Medium
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Fact Checked
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31 Dec 2025
A native English speaker says “swimmed” instead of “swam” but corrects himself. This momentary error is an example of a lapse in:
💡 Explanation:Noam Chomsky distinguished between Competence (the idealized, unconscious knowledge of language rules) and Performance (the actual use of language in concrete situations, which is affected by factors like fatigue, memory, and distraction, leading to slips of the tongue). A native speaker knows the correct past tense (Competence) but momentarily errs in production (Performance).
#7
By TheQuizWire
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Hard
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Fact Checked
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23 Dec 2025
In Generative Grammar, what explains the divergence of a speaker’s linguistic competence from their actual language performance?
💡 Explanation:Noam Chomsky introduced the crucial distinction between linguistic 'competence' and 'performance.' Competence refers to the idealized, unconscious knowledge a native speaker has of their language's rules (the underlying mental grammar). Performance refers to the actual use of language in concrete situations (the utterances, which often contain errors, false starts, and hesitations). The divergence between the two is explained by 'psychological constraints and errors,' which include non-linguistic factors like memory limitations, distractions, fatigue, and shifts of attention.
#8
By TheQuizWire
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Hard
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Fact Checked
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20 Dec 2025
Which morpheme, when added, alters grammatical function without changing the root word’s category?
💡 Explanation:The suffix '-ed' is an inflectional morpheme; it adds a grammatical function (past tense) but does not change the word's lexical category (a verb like 'walk' remains a verb in 'walked'). Derivational morphemes (un-, -tion, -ly) typically create a word with a new core meaning or change its lexical category (e.g., 'act' (verb) to 'action' (noun)).
#9
By TheQuizWire
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Medium
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Fact Checked
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08 Dec 2025
The Strong Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (Determinism) asserts that language primarily dictates what?
💡 Explanation:The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, also known as Linguistic Relativity, has two main forms. The Strong Version (Linguistic Determinism) argues that an individual's language completely determines or limits their thought processes and perception of the world. The concepts and categories available in one's language are said to restrict what one can think. The Weak Version (Linguistic Influence/Relativity) suggests that language merely influences or biases thought, making certain concepts easier or more frequent to consider, but not impossible to grasp. Options A and B are general sociolinguistic or psycholinguistic factors, and Option D relates to Noam Chomsky's Generative Grammar/Universal Grammar, a contrasting theory.
#10
By TheQuizWire
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Hard
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Fact Checked
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07 Dec 2025
In Chomsky’s theory, what is the idealized, subconscious knowledge of a language system?
💡 Explanation:Noam Chomsky made a fundamental distinction between Competence and Performance. Linguistic Competence refers to the idealized, intrinsic, and subconscious knowledge a native speaker has of their language's grammar and system. Linguistic Performance (Option A) is the actual use of language in concrete situations, which is often affected by non-linguistic factors like memory limitations, fatigue, and speech errors. Deep Structure (Option B) is a related concept, referring to the abstract, underlying meaning of a sentence before transformations, but is not the term for the overall knowledge system. Social Register (Option D) is a concept from Sociolinguistics concerning language variation based on context.
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