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Linguistics 1AA3: Words, Sentences & Meaning
Take-home Final Exam Spring 2023

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In completing this take home exam, you may consult your class notes, the textbook, and any course material in Avenue. These sources do not need to be cited. It is not necessary to consult any outside sources, but if you do, you must cite them in some standard format (such as APA or MLA).

This takehome exam is to be your own work. You may consult the TAs or the instructor, but not anyone else. Allowing anyone but yourself to use your McMaster login credentials is a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy.

Question 1: TakeAways

What is the most interesting, important, or surprising thing you learned in this class this semester? Write a short description that would be understandable by someone who has not taken the course.

(5 points)

Question 2: Morphology (10 points)

Serbo Croatian

Examine the following data from Serbo-Croatian, a Slavic language spoken in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia, and answer the questions below. The data are given in standard Roman orthography.

i. What is the first person singular present tense suffix? (1 point)

ii. What is the third person plural present tense suffix? (1 point)

iii. What is the infinitival suffix? (1 point)

iv. What is the suffix that turns verbal stems into deverbal nouns like the living or the calling? (1 point)

v. Some verbal stems above have exactly the same form regardless of which suffix is added to them (e.g., swiram, sviraju, svirati, sviranje), while other verbal stems have one form when you add the first or third present tense suffix to it, and a different form if it occurs with the infinitive or the noun-forming suffix (e.g., kupujem, kupuju vs. kupovati, kupovanje). If you look at the infinitive form of a verb in Serbo-Croatian, how can you tell whether the stem will stay the same or change when combined with the first or third person present tense suffix? Describe as precisely as you can how the form of these stems changes. (2 points)

vi. Given the answers you came up with for i-v, fill in the blanks below. (4 points)

(The letters at the bottom of the cell (a, b) indicate numbering for grading purposes, but they are not part of the data).

Question 3: Syntax (17 points)

a) Create sentences that have the following properties. Include ALL the properties to get full points (6 points):

i. A declarative simple sentence that has a lexical verb and an auxiliary. The lexical verb selects two arguments, but it is not a ditransitive verb. (2 points)

ii. A declarative sentence with a verb that selects an object and a finite embedded sentence. The finite embedded sentence has an intransitive verb. (2 points)

iii. A declarative sentence containing a transitive verb, a NP and three additional phrases that are not selected by the verb.  (2 points)

b) Decide whether the underlined phrases are constituents. Justify your answer. Show whether the words or string of words pass or fail the constituency test. You get points from showing that the word or string of words pass or fail the test (6 points)

i. My brother draws and paints in his spare time. (1 point)

ii. My brother draws and paints in his spare time.  (1 point)

iii. My brother draws and paints in his spare time.   (1 point)

iv. My friends study veterinary medicine. (1 point)

v. My friends study veterinary medicine.  (1 point)

vi. My friends study veterinary medicine.   (1 point) 

c) Decide whether the underlined phrases are selected by the verb and provide evidence. You get points from providing evidence (6 points).

i. My roommates usually play soccer on the weekends.  (1 point)

ii. I hope that classes are in person soon.  (1 point)

iii. I saw my best friend this summer.  (1 point)

iv. John  always   listens to    music     while    he works.  (1 point)

v. I believe that we'll go to the movies at nine o’clock.  (1 point) 

Question 4: Semantics (10 points)

a) For each of the following sentences, identify the presuppositions and provide evidence using the negation test and the question test. You also get points from the justification!) 

b) (5 points)

i. John regrets selling his car. (1 point)

ii. Alice is returning to her hometown.  (1 point)

iii. The concert was sold out. (1 point)

iv. I forgot to buy groceries.  (1 point)

v. Susan’s mother is a student again.  (1 point)

c) Decide whether sentence 2 in each pair is a regular entailment, a presupposition, or an implicature of sentence 1. Justify your answer you also get point from the justification!) 

d) (5 points)

i. (1) Sarah bought an apple. (2) Sarah bought a fruit. (1 point)

ii. (1) Mark ate a slice of chocolate cake. (2) Mark ate a cake. (1 point)

iii. (1) Martha had ten dollars. (2) Martha had no more than ten dollars. (1 point)

iv. (1) John ate some of the cookies. (2) John did not eat all of the cookies. (1 point)

v. (1) Anna stopped learning French. (2) Anna was learning French. (1 point)

Question 5: Pragmatics (8 points)

a) For each example, decide what maxim is being flouted most obviously and justify your answer (you also get points from the justification!)

 Examples i to iii are extracted from the show Community. Unfortunately, not all of the excerpts are available online, but you can watch the first one here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mb49HU21aE (16:19-16:32)

i. Dean Craig Pelton: Do you know who may have stolen a box of hairnets from the kitchen?

Abed: Someone with hair.

ii. Pierce: When  technology  advances,  they  will  extract  her  body  vapors and recondense it to a solid state, and before you know, mom will be in the kitchen making me and Troy sandwiches.

Troy: (Troy breaks down in tears)

Jeff: You guys hear about that turtle in China? Two packs a day.

iii. The school is being decorated with German-themed decorations for Oktoberfest. The study group is in the cafeteria when the dean of the school is informing them about a break-dance competition and what the main prize of that competition is.

Dean: The winner gets to annex Poland. Kidding, the winner gets an iTunes gift card.

           iv. Identify the Maxim that is being flouted in this cartoon.