iiit.ac.in Postgraduate Entrance Examination Linguistic Question Paper : International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad

Name of the Organisation : International Institute of Information Technology IIIT-Hyderabad
Exam : Postgraduate Entrance Examination (PGEE) 2016
Subject : Linguistic Paper
Year : 2016
Document Type : Previous Years’ Question Papers

Website : http://admissions.iiit.ac.in/
Download Model/Sample Question Paper : http://admissions.iiit.ac.in/samplelinguisticpaper.html

Sample Questions for Linguistic Paper :

[For those students who have a background in Linguistics (M.A (Ling) or M.Phil (Ling))]

Related / Similar Question Paper :
IIIT Hyderabad MSIT GAT Mock Test

1. Illustrate the following concepts in one or two lines: [15]
a. Minimal pair
b. Obstruents
c. Hypercorrection
d. Loan Translation
e. Control verb
f. Co-indexing
g. Hyponymy
h. Metathesis
i. Compounding
j. Recursion

2. Answer the following questions: [ 5 ]
a. The linguists Leonard Bloomfield and Ferdinand de Saussure belonged to which of the following tradition:
i. Generativism
ii. Behaviorism
iii. Structuralism

b. Which subpart of linguistics may be defined as the “meaning of language in context”:
i. Pragmatics
ii. Semiotics
iii. Semantics
iv. Relevance Theory

c. The overwhelming majority of sounds in the world’s language use which airstream mechanism:
i. Velaric
ii. Pulmonic
iii. Alveolar
iv. Glottalic

d. Which of these books was not written by Noam Chomsky:
i. Syntactic Structure
ii. The Language Instinct
iii. Knowledge of Language
iv. Barriers

e. There is usually no natural connection between linguistic form and meaning
i. True
ii. False

3. What inflectional categories are there for nouns and verbs in your language and in which order do they occur? Illustrate with suitable examples. [8]

4. Read the following sentences: [10]
a. John will answer the question precisely at noon
b. The professor’s appointment was shocking

The above sentences are ambiguous. What are the readings involved? Try to explain their structural ambiguity with the help of tree diagram and/or rules.
5. Read the following sentences: [5+2]
1a. The butcher cuts the meat
b. The meat cuts easily

2a. Jane broke the crystal
b. Crystal breaks at the slightest touch

3a. John opened the door
b. The door opened with a bang

4a. Kelly adores French fabric
b.*French fabric adores easily

5a. Joan knows the answer
b. *The answer knows easily

Study the above data. Consider syntax and semantics of the verbs and explain why the verbs are behaving differently. Give one more example for each of the above patterns.
6. Read the following sentences and answer the questions: [4+4+4] [20 min]
a. Mithu’s mother draws a picture of herself
How do you determine whether ‘herself’ should co-refer to Mithu or Mithu’s mother?

b. *Ratna tries Meera to learn English
Why is the above sentence ungrammatical in English?
c. Have all the boys done their homework?
How will you account for the agreement between the subject and the verb in the above sentence?

Section B :
[For students from a background other than Linguistics]
1. Consider the following sentences of English: [8]
a. Is Sheela coming for dinner tomorrow?
b. What are you cooking for dinner tomorrow?

Sentence (a) is an example of ‘yes-no’ question and sentence (b) is an example of ‘wh-question’. Now answer the following:
i. Give the equivalent sentences for (a) and (b) in your language
ii. What are the structural differences between the two types of questions in your language?
iii. How does the structure of (a) and (b) in English differ from their equivalents in your language?

2a. Mark the following sentences with Noun group (NG) and Verb group (VG) as shown in the example :
(Remember pronoun is also a kind of noun.) [6+2]

Example :
[The post office]NG [is situated]VG near [the bus stop]NG.
a. John’s sister is very smart
b. Mandy carefully explained it to him.
c. The boys are playing with a ball in the garden
b. Label the part of speech of the words which are left in the sentences above after doing the grouping?

3. Give one example each of the following concepts from your language and English [5]
a. Second person plural pronoun
b. Suffix
c. Imperative sentence
d. Past continuous tense
e. Intransitive verb