Laguna State Polytechnic University

Los Baos Campus

Los Baos, Laguna

Final Examination in
EN
Introduction to Linguistics

Prepared by:
BATUCTOC, Leo Vigil M.
MAED English
Submitted to:
PROF. MYRNA O. MEDRANO
Answer the following questions.

1. Explain the statement:

a. Language is biologically based attainment that relies upon social,
cognitive and affective process.
Language is a biologically-based attainment:
This is true in the sense that language is attained based on an
individuals biological readiness to learn to speak a language.
That is to say, one will only be able to speak a language if and
only if his mental and physical faculties have been developed,
the Wernickes Area, Brocas Area, and the articulators, to
mention a few.
Language and social process:
A child wont be able to acquire a language if he is not
exposed to it. This means that without social interaction,
language acquisition will not be possible. It is through social
interaction, or communication, that a child acquires the
process and principles of how words are combined to form
phrases, clauses, and eventually, sentences. It is also through
this that a child understands, though unconsciously, the rules
of grammar in the language that is in use, as well as the
usage of certain words with regard to the context of the
communication process.
Language and cognitive process:
b. Each human language is a complex of knowledge and abilities
enabling speakers of the language to communicate with each other,
to express ideas, hypotheses, emotions, desires, and all the other
things that need expressing.
c. On Gender and Sexism: Gender Differences in Language
Elaborate: Why do men say, Open the window, but women say,
Boy, it sure would be nice if we could get a breeze in here?
This happens because men and women employ different
communication styles. One might say that men are direct

while women are subtle, but that is just a mild way of putting
it. The use of language is directly related to how men and
women also differ when they are in authority. Men, with the
desire to communicate efficiently, reinforce functional
hierarchy, and demonstrate responsibility through
decisiveness, use direct, brief and commanding language to
communicate decisions. This exhibits authority. On the other
hand, women ask questions, not using commanding language
or rhetoric questions to get something done. This is because
of their desire to create an atmosphere of respect and team
work, de-emphasize hierarchical relationships and build on
intrinsic motivation and teamwork.
d. Language is the human capacity for acquiring and using complex
systems of communication.
e. Human beings acquire language from their surrounding and culture
but not from genes while animals acquire language through genes.
Animals communicate with another animal from the same
species, but with a language different from that of the
humans. Their language is much more instinct driven, and is
very limited, due to very limited combinations they can come
up with their limited capabilities. For example, a bee can tell
another bee where food is available by doing some sort of a
dance. Peacocks can attract mates by revealing their very
colorful tails. Based on the said examples, one can assume
that the main reason why animals communicate is to survive,
which is, of course, a manifestation of how their instincts
control their language.
On the other hand, human beings acquire language from their
surrounding and culture. It is through experience and
exposure to other human beings that they acquire language.
The immediate environment and culture of a certain place

play a vital role in language acquisition. For example, the

word snow does not have an equivalent in the Filipino
language (nieve is a Spanish word), and that is because the
Philippines only has two seasons: dry and wet. Culture is the
reason why one cannot translate into English the Filipino word
kilig.
Also, a human being does not acquire language through
genes. Language is not inscribed in anybodys DNA. A
persons parentage does not determine what language he will
learn to speak. An American child will certainly not speak
English if he is not exposed to the language, and if he did not
grow up hearing and speaking the language.
2. Define and discuss briefly the following:
a. Morphemes and phonemes
A morpheme is defined as the smallest grammatical unit in a
language. It is a languages smallest meaningful unit that
cannot be further divided. Morphemes are categorized into
two: free morphemes and bound morphemes. Free
morphemes, also known as roots, are morphemes that can
stand alone (e.g. happy) because they have meanings of their
own, while bound morphemes are those that must be joined
to other morphemes to be understood (e.g. ness in
happiness). Furthermore, bound morphemes may be classified
into derivational and inflectional morphemes. Derivational
morphemes change the semantic meaning or the part of
speech of the root they are attached to. For example, when
the root happy (noun) is joined by the morpheme ness, it
becomes an adjective. Another example is the morpheme un
in the word uncover, because it changes the meaning of the

word formed by the root. Meanwhile, inflectional morphemes

are those that change the form of the root word, without
changing its meaning or class. Examples are the morphemes
s in cats and ed in wanted.
On the other hand, a phoneme is the smallest contrastive unit
in the sound system of a language. Simply put, it is the
smallest unit of speech that can be used to make one word
different from another word. There are two major
classifications of phonemes: consonants and vowels. A
consonant sound is one in which the air flow is cut off, either
partially or completely, when the sound is produced. In
contrast, a vowel sound is one in which the air flow is
unobstructed when the sound is made. In totality, there are
48 phonemes in the English language: 18 consonants, 5
consonant digraph, 16 vowels, 5 r-controlled phonemes, and 4
blends.
b. Syntax and phonetics
Syntax is the study of the principles and processes by which
sentences are constructed in particular languages.
Furthermore, it is concerned with the combination of words
into phrases, clauses and sentences, and is known as the
grammar of sentence construction. Among others, the most
important point that syntax is concerned is that every
sentence is a sequence of words but not every sequence of
words is a sentence. This simply means that one cannot just
put together different words and call it a sentence if it does
not express meaning, for it would still be ungrammatical, or ill
formed.

Meanwhile, phonetics is the scientific study of speech sounds.

It studies how speech sounds are articulated, transmitted, and
received, and has three branches: articulatory phonetics,
which is the study of how speech sounds are produced by the
human vocal apparatus; acoustic phonetics, which is the
study of the sound waves made by the human vocal organs
for communication, and; auditory phonetics, which is the
study of how speech sounds are perceived by the ear,
auditory nerve and brain.
c. Characteristics of Human Language
d. Origin of Language
e. Arbitrariness
Arbitrariness is one of the characteristics of language that
states that there is no inherent relation between the words of
a language and the meanings and ideas conveyed by them.
Paper (English) is papel in Filipino,
3. What is in the utterances that have something to do with the
understanding of the knowledge that will eventually lead to the
comprehension of the ideas being imparted?
4. Give your reflection on the following theories:
a. The Divine Theory
b. The Natural Sound Theory
c. The Oral Gesture Theory
d. Interactions and Transaction
5. Explain/discuss briefly:
a. How do children learn a language?
b. The developmental phases of childrens language growth.
c. Why grammar is a mysterious part of language learning.