1 All systems of writing represent sounds to some extent.
A O1
O1 True
R1
O2 False
R2 See p.000.
2 The earliest known writing system was an abjad used for writing Sumerian.
A O2
O1 True
R1 The earliest known system of writing was Sumerian writing, but this was not an abjad. See p.000.
O2 False
R2
3 The Chinese writing system is pictographic, that is, each character directly represents an idea.
A O2
O1 True
R1 Read p.000 again.
O2 False
R2
4 Representing the English word ate by the numeral 8 illustrates which principle:
A O5
O1 allographic
R1 See p.000.
O2 conventionality
R2 See p.000.
O3 determinism
R3 See p.000.
O4 novel name-new category
R4 See p.000.
O5 rebus
R5
5 In which type of writing system do the graphic forms ideally represents words and morphemes?
A O1
O1 logographic
R1
O2 syllabary
R2 See p.000.
O3 alphabet
R3 See p.000.
O4 abjad
R4 See p.000.
6 In the Hangul alphabet letters represent to some extent the articulatory features of the consonants of Korean.
A O1
O1 True
R1
O2 False
R2 Read p.000 again.
7 Which of the following is not an allograph of h in the Latin alphabet?
A O2
O1 H
R1 Check your understanding of allograph (p.000) and allophone (p.000).
O2 n
R2
O3
R3 Check your understanding of allograph (p.000) and allophone (p.000).
O4
R4 Check your understanding of allograph (p.000) and allophone (p.000).
O5 h
R5 Check your understanding of allograph (p.000) and allophone (p.000).
8 A number of letters in the Phoenician abjad have their origins in Egyptian hieroglyphs.
A O1
O1 True
R1
O2 False
R2 See p.000.
9 The English writing system is so bad that there is nothing whatever to recommend it.
A O2
O1 True
R1 No, there are at least some points in its favour. See p.000.
O2 False
R2
10 One factor contributing to the standardization of English spelling was the advent of the printing press.
A O1
O1 True
R1
O2 False
R2 See p.000.
11 If a word is spelled in such a way as to suggest that it is a borrowing from a particular language this is called:
A O4
O1 irregular spelling
R1 See p.000.
O2 non-standardized spelling
R2 See p.000.
O3 phonemic spelling
R3 See p.000.
O4 etymological spelling
R4
O5 folk etymology
R5 See p.000.
O6 none of the above
R6 See p.000.
12 The writing system for Modern English (the variety of English spoken today) is closer to the alphabetic ideal than the writing system of Old English.
A O2
O1 True
R1 It is not: see p.000.
O2 False
R2
13 Writing the past participle of verbs consistently with a {d} regardless of whether the actual phonemic realization is with /d/ or /t/ is an example of which of the following?
A O3
O1 a syllabic tendency
R1 See p.000.
O2 a tendency to abjad representation
R2 See p.000.
O3 a logographic tendency
R3
O4 a tendency towards phonemic representation
R4 See p.000.
O5 none of the above
R5 See p.000.
14 Noah Webster's reforms to English spelling resulted in a more regular orthography for American English than the system of British spelling, one which is closer to the alphabetic ideal.
A O2
O1 True
R1 No, the successful changes did not result in a system that better reflects the phonemic form of most words. See p.000.
O2 False
R2
15 Hindi uses a Devanagari writing system whilst Urdu uses an abjad. This is an illustration of which of the following phenomena?
A O4
O1 diglossia
R1 See p.000.
O2 successful spelling reform
R2 See p.000.
O3 unsuccessful spelling reform
R3 See p.000.
O4 digraphia
R4
16 Which of the following is not a feature of writing that distinguishes it from speech?
A O2
O1 greater persistence, i.e. slow rate of fade
R1 See p.000.
O2 infrequent use of nominalizations
R2
O3 relatively slow and planned production and rapid comprehension
R3 See p.000.
O4 slow rate of system change
R4 See p.000.
O5 high lexical density
R5 See p.000.
17 It seems likely that writing on the medium of paper will soon be entirely superceded by writing in the electronic medium.
A O2
O1 True
R1 See p.000.
O2 False
R2
18 Abbreviations, non-standard spellings, acronyms, and logograms are highly frequent in text messaging, and are peculiar to this type of language use.
A O2
O1 True
R1 See p.000
O2 False
R2
19 Text messaging show some features that make them resemble spoken language and some that are unlike characteristics of speech.
A O1
O1 True
R1
O2 False
R2 See p.000.
20 Writing on the internet has resulted in significant changes to both the lexicon and grammar of English.
A O2
O1 True
R1 It has resulted in a considerable amount of lexical change, but little grammatical change. See p.000.
O2 False
R2
21 There are relatively few features that are common to all types of writing on electronic media and serve to distinguish writing in this medium from writing on paper.
A O1
O1 True
R1
O2 False
R2 See p.000.
22 The technology of electronic media has consequences on the style of interaction between reader and writer, making it different to that between a speaker and hearer in an ordinary conversation.
A O1
O1 True
R1
O2 False
R2 See p.000.
23 Like spoken language, written language has a symbolic value relating to the expression of the user's identity.
A O1
O1 True
R1
O2 False
R2 See p.000.