List of top Language and Linguistics Questions asked in GATE Humanities and Social Sciences- Linguistics

Examine the given data. The value of X is ________ (in integer).
{Hint: Onset clusters are not allowed in the language.}

  12    buzbi     

  20    bizbu     

  22    bizbuzbi  

  13    busti     

  X     tizbuzbi

Which of the following autosegmental representation/s violate/s the Well-Formed Conditions (WFC) in a tone language, where V is the tone-bearing unit (TBU) and T is a lexical tone? 


 

Which of the following antonyms is/are gradable antonym/s?

Based on the statements in (1) – (4), which option/s is/are correct?  
(1)   Thor has a female sibling                             
(2)   Thor has a sister
(3)   Thor has visited New Delhi
(4)   Thor has visited India

Which of the following is / are demonstrated by dichotic listening experiments?

Consider the following list of languages, from the Austroasiatic (AA), Dravidian (DR), Indo-Aryan (IA) and Tibeto-Burman (TB) language families, spoken in India. 
Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Khasi, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Tulu and Urdu} 
Choose the option that shows the correct number of languages from each of the four language families in the list.

Choose the option that correctly matches the compound words (P – S) in column X with their types (i – iv) in column Y. 


 

Consider the following data. The intended and actual utterances (P – S) are given in columns X and Y, respectively. Choose one option that correctly matches the sentences (P – S) with the error types (i – iv) in column Z. 


 

Given the principle of naturalness of sound change, in the comparative method of reconstruction, which one of the options may be reconstructed as a proto form for the cognates in Language P, Language Q, Language R, Language S, and Language T? 


 

Which one of the following languages is a verb-second (V2) language?

In the following truth table, what does X stand for? 


 

A set of raw data is provided in columns P, Q, and R. A list of standard deviations is provided in i), ii) and iii). Choose the appropriate option that correctly matches the data in the columns (P – R) with their standard deviations (i – iii). 
Hint: No calculation is necessary to solve this problem.


 

Choose the option that correctly matches the type of writing systems (P – S) in column X with the names of writing systems (i – iv) in column Y. 


 

Which of the following statement/s is/are TRUE about tones in Indian languages?
Which of the following is/are NOT true about Sign languages?
In William Labov's Martha's Vineyard study, what is/are the sound change/s involved?
Which of the following writing system/s follow/s right to left writing direction?

Given the Hindi and English words below, which one of the options is the reason for their similarity? 


 

Choose the option that correctly matches the names of scholars (P – S) in column X with the fields or approaches (i – iv) in column Y they are primarily associated with. 


 

Language X is in vigorous use, with literature in a standardized form being used by some, though this is not yet widespread or sustainable. Based on the EGIDS scale by Lewis and Simons 2010, what is the status of the language X?
Consider the following two statements and choose the correct option.
S1: Patients with Broca's aphasia have trouble producing speech.
S2: Patients with Wernicke's aphasia have trouble understanding what others say.
Assuming a language has 5 basic colour terms, which one of the following options is predicted by language universals?
Choose the option that demonstrates Grassmann's law of sound change.