Introduction to English Studies Revision November 15, 2017
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I History of the English language/British and American English 1.
Why do languages change?
2.
How do languages change? Provide examples for your answer.
3.
What does it mean to say that languages have genetic origin?
4.
Which language family does English belong to?
I History of the English language/British and American English
1.
What are the periods in development of English?
2. What are the most important differences between the Middle and Modern English period? 3. Define and provide one example of the Great Vowel Shift.
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I History of the English language/British and American English 1.
What is the significance of the Norman Conquest in the context of the development of the English language?
2.
Classify the following words as belonging to British(Br) or American English(Am). If some words belong to both, mark them with Br/Am: a. vacation _____ b. lift ______ c. underground ____ d. candy_____ e. gas _____ d. flashlight _____ f. torch _____ d. postal code
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II Phonetics/Phonology 1.
Define phonetics. What does it study?
2.
What does it mean when we say that sounds have manner or articulation?
3.
How would you define a phoneme?
4.
What is an allophone? Provide one example of English allophones.
II Phonetics/Phonology
1.
Write a phonetic symbol which corresponds to the phonetic descriptions of the following phonemes in English: 1. 2.
labio-dental voiceless fricative bilabial voiced plosive
2. For each group of sounds listed below, state one articulatory feature which they all share: a)/k,g/ b) /n, m / 6
II Phonetics/Phonology
1. Which of the following words end in a voiceless (-v) and which in a voiced (+v ) phoneme? a. house ________ b. brick ________ c. label _________ d. church __________
2. Human palate is divided into the hard palate and the soft palate or __________.
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II Phonetics/Phonology 1.
How would you define the concept of a distinctive feature in phonology?
2. What does it mean to say that two phonemes are in complementary distribution? Provide one English example.
II Phonetics/Phonology
1.
Match the words fan, false, feed, faith, reap, fun, wreath, mouse, bid, hour, with their minimal pairs below ( some of these words do not have a minimal pair here! ): a.kid _____ b. keep ________ c. son _____ d. house ________ e. fake ______ 9
II Phonetics/Phonology
1. Choose the odd one out: a) put shut cut bud trouble b) black blank blew apple bad c) sea leave heat intend sweet
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III Grammar
1.
What are some different meanings of the word grammar?
2. Which two basic grammatical relations are there within a syntactic structure? 3. What is the basic difference between descriptive and prescriptive grammar? 11
III Grammar
1.
In a clause, adjectives could have the ________and the ______ function.
1.
Explain the difference between finite and nonfinite verb forms in English.
2.
What is the difference between natural and grammatical gender?
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