ELL110 Introduction to Language and Linguistics (Sections 1 and 2)
MIDTERM EXAM ASSIGNMENT
April 17, 2022
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
1. This assignment will be considered as your midterm exam.
2. The grade you get from this work will form 30% of your overall passing grade.
3. Copy the questions into your own assignment document with your name on it.
4. Answer the questions writing in Arial 11 fonts.
5. After you finish your assignment save it as a PDF file.
6. Upload your saved PDF document to the system in due date.
7. You are given only one chance to upload your assignment document.
8. Give the answer to the question at first hand and then discuss your answer.
9. Giving irrelevant information other than that in the question does not bring credit no matter how wordy and lengthy it
is.
10. Write your answers in your own sentences.
11. Do not use information from other sources directly or indirectly either with or without referencing. You are supposed to
base your answers only on the required book (Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2018). An introduction to
language. Cengage Learning.) and the course lectures.
12. Plagiarism in your paper will result in non-credit and failure.
13. Check for grammar and spelling mistakes before finalizing your document.
14. Failure to obey the instructions 3,4,and 5 (about the format) will cause the loss of 10 points in your total grade.
Dr. Rahim Sarı
QUESTIONS:
1. (15 points) For what purposes do linguists study languages? Discuss your answer by also referring to mental
grammar.
2. (15 points) What are the similarities and differences, if any, between a language with a lexicon of
320,000 words and one with that of only 200? Base your discussion on the basic concepts of linguistics
(arbitrary, conventional, creative, grammar, communication, etc.)
3. (20 points) Consider the following sentences I,ii.
a. Determine the subject, main verb and the object (if any)
b. Replace all of the Ns and NPs with a pronoun to arrive at the shortest form..
Example: “The new mayor criticized the previous one for not having solved the traffic problem in the city.”
a. Subject: the new mayor Main verb: criticized Object (direct): the previous one
b. He/She criticized him/her for it.
i. “Every human being who speaks a language knows its grammar.”
a.
b.
1
