GATE Humanities and Social Sciences - Linguistics Practice Quiz

Question 1

A sound change affects all instances of Proto-*p between vowels, turning it into *v in every lexical item where that environment occurs. Which mechanism of language change is best illustrated here?

Accepted Answer

Regular sound change

Question 2

In a language, the past tense of a low-frequency verb changes from an inherited irregular form to a new form modeled on the dominant -ed pattern used by most verbs. Which mechanism best explains this change?

Accepted Answer

Analogical leveling

Question 3

A form historically analyzed as [main verb + complementizer] comes to be interpreted by speakers as a single auxiliary expressing obligation, without any overt phonological change. Which mechanism best captures this shift?

Accepted Answer

Syntactic reanalysis

Question 4

In a language, /t/ becomes [ts] before front vowels, and later [ts] becomes [s] in the same environment. Considering the overall trajectory /t/ > [ts] > [s], which mechanism of sound change is this a classic example of?

Accepted Answer

Lenition through intermediate affrication

Question 5

Suppose a language originally has the plural alternation foot/feet, tooth/teeth, and book/books. Over time, children begin producing foots and tooths, while books remains unchanged. Which mechanism most plausibly drives foots and tooths?

Accepted Answer

Proportional analogy

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