Georgian Grammar Intermediate Questions PDF

Lesson 1 1. What are the main functions of language? The main function of language is to express our thoughts , ideas and transmit them in order to communicate and cooperate with others. 2. What does creativity or a creative aspect of language imply? It implies the ability which allows us to c...

Lesson 1 1. What are the main functions of language? The main function of language is to express our thoughts , ideas and transmit them in order to communicate and cooperate with others. 2. What does creativity or a creative aspect of language imply? It implies the ability which allows us to communicate in unique and flexible ways, creating sentences we\'ve never heard or said before but still understand them. 3. What's the difference between a person's linguistic competence and his/her linguistic performance? [Competence] - *the knowledge which is necessary to produce sentences of a particular language, P[erformance] - the usage of that knowledge* 4. How is the knowledge of language acquired in childhood? In adulthood? In childhood- learned subconsciously, more easily, in adulthood- with great effort. 5. What are the three constituent parts (subsystems) of a language system? Define each of them. - **The phonological system** determines the material (phonetical) appearance of its meaningful units. - **The lexical system** represents the vocabulary and word groups. - ***The grammatical system*** represents the rules. 6. What's the origin and the meaning of the word *grammar*? What is the subject of grammar? Give its two interpretations. The word itself comes from Greek, means "Art of Letters". On one hand, in a broad sense, the term refers to a theory that a linguist creates to explain what a speaker knows about their language. On the other hand, in a more specific sense, \"grammar\" refers to studying how words are formed (morphology) and how sentences are structured (syntax). 7. What's the difference between Descriptive and Prescriptive Grammar? [a descriptive grammar -] does not tell you how you should speak or what rules you should know in order to speak. [A prescriptive grammar] - provides one with the set of rules. 8. What's the aim of Teaching Grammar? Teaching grammar is used in schools to fulfill language requirements. 9. What's the essence of Chomskian Transformational-Generative Grammar? Chomsky\'s theory of Transformational Grammar explains how we create countless sentences using a limited set of basic sentences (kernel sentences) and transformation rules. Each sentence has two parts: a deep structure (its core meaning) and a surface structure (how it\'s expressed). These transformation rules help change sentence forms without changing their essential meaning, like turning \"John saw Mary\" into \"Mary was seen by John.\" 10. What's the aim of Universal Grammar? Universal Grammar seeks to identify the basic principles shared by all languages and to explain the innate human ability to learn language. 11. What's the aim of Theoretical Grammar? The aim of theoretical grammar is to provide a scientific analysis and explanation of a language\'s grammatical system. It defines the main word classes (parts of speech) and their grammatical categories, and studies how sentences are formed during speech. Lesson 2 12. Define syntagmatic relations between lingual units. **When elements combine with others along a horizontal dimension, they enter into syntagmatic relations.** 13. Give the definition of the term *syntagma*. Name the main types of syntagmas and define each of them. **The combination of two words or word-groups in a segmental sequence, one of which is modified by the other, forms a unit which is called a syntactic "syntagma."** - Predicative syntagma: A combination of a subject and a predicate (e.g., *A girl is talking*). - Objective syntagma: A combination of a verb and its object (e.g., *is talking to my brother*). - Attributive syntagma: A combination of a noun and its attribute (e.g., *a beautifully dressed girl*). - Adverbial syntagma: A combination of a modified word (like a verb or adjective) with its adverbial modifier (e.g**., *is talking in the yard*).** 14. Define paradigmatic relations between lingual units. How do syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations differ from each other? Elements enter into paradigmatic relations when they have the same potential to appear in the same context and functionally substitute each other. **[The difference] -- syntagmatic is along the horizontal dimension, paradigmatic -- along the vertical dimension.** 15. What are classical examples of paradigmatic relations between lingual units? Binary paradigms: Consist of two opposing forms, like: - Singular and plural of nouns (e.g., *boy* -- *boys*). - Common and possessive case (e.g., *boy* -- *boy\'s*). Ternary paradigms: Involve three forms, typically found in the degrees of comparison of adjectives, such as: - Positive, comparative, and superlative forms (e.g., *large* -- *larger* -- *largest*). Quaternary paradigms: Found in certain verbal categories, which involve four forms(play, plays, played, will play) 16. How is the language system organized (structured)? What does the hierarchy of levels imply? The language system is organized as a hierarchy of levels, where each level is built from the units of the level below it. For example, phonemes combine to form morphemes, morphemes form words, and so on. The hierarchy of levels implies that each higher-level unit depends on and is composed of lower-level units. 17. Describe each level of the hierarchical structure of the language system **Phonemic Level**: The lowest level, consisting of phonemes, which are the smallest units of sound that do not carry meaning by themselves. They differentiate between morphemes and words. **Morphemic Level**: Above the phonemic level, morphemes are the smallest meaningful components of words. They can be a sequence of phonemes or a single phoneme that carries meaning. **Lexemic Level**: This level is made up of words (lexical items) that can consist of one or more morphemes and serve as the smallest units that name things, qualities, actions, or processes. **Syntactic Level**: At this level, sentences are the main units, conveying complete ideas or information and serving a communicative function. **Textual Level**: The highest level, represented by a text, which is a sequence of thematically related sentences that form a meaningful whole. The text requires at least two sentences to be considered complete. 18. Give the structural and functional definition of the text and explain it. [The structural definition of a text] specifies that its lower boundary consists of at least two sentences. In contrast, the structuralist view allows for flexibility at the upper boundary due to the wide range of possible themes. [From a functionalist view,] any language unit, whether a series of sentences, a simple sentence, or a single word, can be considered a text if it serves a communicative purpose. This includes short expressions like \"Fire!\" or \"Help! 19. Name structural types of texts and define them  **Microtexts**:-Focus on one specific theme.  **Macrotexts** - Composed of several microtexts. Linked by a larger main theme, known as a hypertheme, which is derived from the individual microthemes. Lesson 3 20. Define the concepts of a dictionary word and a text word. Lexeme- An abstract idea representing a dictionary word. Reflects the mental vocabulary we possess (the lexicon). Word-Form- A concrete version of a word that can be pronounced. Used in sentences and texts. 21. Define the notions of a grammatical paradigm of a lexeme and of a word family. Grammatical Paradigm of a Lexeme- A set of word-forms that express a specific grammatical meaning of a single lexeme. Example: The lexeme \"live\" has the word-forms: live, lives, lived, has lived, and has been living. Word Family- A group of related lexemes that share a common root or base word. Example: The word family of \"read\" includes read, readable, unreadable, reader, readability, and reread. 22. Name the types of morphological relationship among words and explain how they differ from each other. **Derivational Relationship**- The connection among words in a family that share a root. Example: beauty, beautiful, beautifully, and beautify. **Inflectional Relationship** - The connection among different forms of a single lexeme. Example: The word-forms give, gives, gave, is giving, has given, and has been giving are all related through inflection. 23. What does morphology study? When was the term "morphology" mean? Morphology is the study of how words are structured and how they are formed. The term comes from Greek, meaning \"the science of word forms.\" It was first used in the late 19th century. 24. Define the concepts of a root and a stem. **Root** - The basic part of a word that has meaning and cannot be broken down into smaller parts. **Stem**- A root combined with an affix (like a prefix or suffix). A stem can be a complete word or just part of a word. Example: \"painter\" is a word and a stem, while \"ceive + er\" is only a stem without being a complete word. 25. Name the types of affixal morphemes and characterize them. **Prefixes**- These are added to the beginning of a root word. They change the meaning and grammatical class of the word. Example: \"un-\" in \"unhappy\" changes the meaning of \"happy.\" **Suffixes** - These are added to the end of a root word. Like prefixes, they also alter the meaning and grammatical class of the word. Example: \"-ful\" in \"beautiful\" changes \"beauty\" (a noun) into an adjective. **Inflections**- These are added to a root or word form to express grammatical functions. Inflections do not change the grammatical class of the word; they only indicate aspects like tense, number, or case. Example: \"s\" in \"cats\" shows plural, while \"-ed\" in \"played\" indicates past tense. 26. Name the types of morphemes with examples. **Free Morphemes** - These can stand alone as words. Examples: \"cat,\" \"run,\" \"happy.\" **Bound Morphemes** - These cannot stand alone and must be attached to other morphemes. Examples: prefixes like \"un-\" (as in \"unhappy\") or suffixes like \"-ing\" (as in \"running\") **Allomorphs** - These are different forms of the same morpheme that have the same meaning but change depending on the context. Examples: The plural morpheme can be pronounced as \[s\], \[z\], or \[iz\] depending on the word (e.g., \"cats,\" \"dogs,\" \"buses\"). 27. Define the concept of grammatical category. A grammatical category is a way of showing general meanings in language by using different forms of words. It helps organize words that have similar meanings or functions. For example, categories like tense (past, present, future) and number (singular, plural) help us understand how words relate to each other in sentences. 28. How many ways of grammatical word-forming are there in modern English? How do they differ from each other? Two ways to form grammatical structures: - **Synthetic Forms**: These use parts of words (morphemes) to create meaning. Examples include \"girls,\" \"toys,\" \"bigger,\" and \"shouted.\" - **Analytic Forms**: These are made by combining two or more words, where one is a helper word (like \"is\" or \"has\") and the other carries meaning. Examples include \"is buying\" and \"has bought.\" 29. Define the essence of inner inflection, outer inflection and suppletivity with examples. **Inner Inflection**: This changes vowels to form past tense and past participle of irregular verbs or to make some nouns plural. Examples *begin* → *began* → *begun*, *do* → *did* → *done*. **Outer Inflection**: This adds endings (suffixes) to words to show things like plural and possessive forms for nouns or different tenses for verbs. Examples *: car*→ *cars*, teacher→ *teacher's*. **Suppletivity**: This uses different roots to show grammatical changes. Examples : Verbs: *be* forms (am, is, was) ; Comparison: *good* → *better*, *bad* → *worse*; Pronouns: *I* → *me*, *we* → *us*. 30. How are analytic morphological forms built up in modern English? Name some examples of classical analytic forms in English grammar. Analytic forms are created by combining at least two words, usually one auxiliary (helping) verb and one main (content) word. English is known for using these forms. Examples **: Perfect Forms**: *have gone*, *had gone* ; **Continuous Forms**: *is going*, *was going* Lesson 4 31. Define content words and function words. **Content words- refer to elements in the world, function words- mainly signal language-internal relationships.** 32. What do parts of speech include? **Parts of speech include articles, nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections (emotions)** 33. What is a code? A code in language is a system of words that represent general ideas. Words serve as code items, while context helps us switch from general meanings to specific messages. 34. Define a phrase. What types of phrases are there? *[Phrases] -- are the units of language as messages.* - ***Noun Phrases (NP)**: These phrases identify participants or objects in a sentence, such as \"my old yellow sweater.\"* - ***Verb Phrases (VP)**: These contain the action of the sentence and may include one or more verbs, like \"has dug up.\"* - ***Prepositional Phrases (PP)**: These provide additional information about the location or context, such as \"in the town hall.\"* - ***Adverb Phrases (AP)**: These describe how actions are performed, for example, \"quite slowly.\"* - ***Determiner Phrases**: These phrases specify which nouns are being referred to, such as \"the\" or \"my\" in a noun phrase.* 35. What is mood? How can you signal mood? **Mood** indicates the speaker\'s attitude in a sentence, showing whether they\'re asking, telling, or expressing a wish. **To signal mood**, you can: Use questions for interrogative mood; Make statements for declarative mood; Express wishes for subjunctive mood; Add words like \"perhaps\" or \"possibly\" to show uncertainty 36. What is a clause? What does it contain? A **clause** is a higher-level structure formed by combining phrases to provide detailed information about a situation or process. It typically consists of a verb phrase (VP) and one or more noun phrases (NPs) that identify the participants involved. 37. Define the head and modifier. **Head** - The head of a phrase is the core word that defines the main meaning of the phrase. In the example \"my old yellow sweater,\" the word \"sweater\" serves as the head because it identifies the primary subject of the phrase. **Modifier**- Modifiers are words or phrases that add detail or limit the meaning of the head. In the same example, \"my,\" \"old,\" and \"yellow\" are modifiers that provide additional information about the sweater, describing its characteristics or ownership. 38. Define adjectives and determiners. **Adjectives** - Words that describe or give qualities to nouns, adding detail about characteristics such as size, color, or age (e.g., \"old\" and \"yellow\" in \"my old yellow sweater\"). **Determiners** - Words that introduce nouns and clarify their reference, specifying which item is being referred to. Examples include possessives like \"my\". 39. Define an interjection. **Interjections express emotions such as pleasure, surprise, shock, etc. Most interjections are just sounds, rather than actual words, and come at the beginning or at the end of what we say. Interjections are more common in speaking than in writing. e.g. ouch, hooray** 40. How can we switch from general code to particular? To switch from general language to specific meanings, context is essential. General words can indicate broad ideas, but adding context or using detailed phrases helps clarify specific items. For instance, saying \"Salt, please\" effectively conveys a clear message in a relevant setting. In contrast, \"Sweater, please\" may lack clarity without additional details. Phrases like \"my old yellow sweater\" specify the item needed. 41. Analyse the clauses from formal and functional points of view. From a **formal** perspective, a clause consists of essential components: a verb phrase (VP) and noun phrases (NPs). For example, a basic structure includes a subject (NP) like \"Your dog,\" a verb (VP) like \"has dug up,\" and an object (NP) like \"all my flowers.\" From a **functional** perspective, clauses play different roles depending on their context. The same noun phrase, such as \"my younger brother,\" can act as a subject in one sentence and an object in another, demonstrating the versatility of clauses in conveying meaning. Lesson 5 42. Name the major families of words in modern English. **Lexical (i.e. content) words, function words and insert words.** 43. How are parts of speech defined in modern linguistics? Comment on the semantic, morpho-logical and syntactic criteria of their discrimination. **In modern linguistics, parts of speech are defined as lexico-grammatical series of words which are classified based on their meaning, form, and role in sentences:** - The **semantic criterion** focuses on the common meaning shared by words in a part of speech. - The **morphological criterion** looks at how words change form (inflection) and how new words are created (derivation). - The **syntactic criterion** considers the typical function of a part of speech in a sentence. 44. Enumerate seven characteristic features of lexical (i.e. content) words. - Lexical words carry the main information in speech or writing. - They can stand alone in a sentence and serve a specific role. - Lexical words are many in number and continue to grow, as new words are added to name new ideas, like \"download\" or \"blog.\" - These words can be made up of multiple parts, like \"un-friend-li-ness.\" - Lexical words can be the main part of phrases, such as \"a group of students.\" - They are usually stressed in speech. - Lexical words stay in shortened sentences, like in newspaper headlines, e.g., \"Elderly Care Crisis Warning.\" 45. Enumerate five characteristic features of function words. - Function words don\'t have a specific meaning; they mainly serve a grammatical role. - They include words like articles, prepositions, conjunctions, and particles. - Function words can\'t stand alone in a sentence; they show how other words relate. For example, articles tell us if a noun is familiar (the boy) or not (a boy), and prepositions show relationships between things. - Function words are part of closed classes, meaning there aren\'t many new ones added to the language. - You can find function words often in various types of writing. 46. Enumerate six characteristic features of inserts. - Inserts are mostly used in spoken language. - They don't have a grammatical role but can be added freely to sentences. - Inserts are often set apart by a pause in speech or punctuation in writing. For example: "Well, we made it." - They can be divided into groups like interjections, modal words, greetings, and fillers. - Inserts usually show emotions or reactions, like saying \"oh,\" \"wow,\" or \"yeah\" to express feelings or responses. - They are usually simple but often have a specific way of being pronounced. 47. Characterize nouns (their semantic, morphological and syntactic peculiarities).  **Meaning:** Nouns primarily represent tangible objects (e.g., \"book,\" \"friend\") but can also refer to abstract concepts (e.g., \"freedom,\" \"wish\").  **Forms:** Nouns change based on number (e.g., \"book\" vs. \"books\") and case (e.g., \"Sara\" vs. \"Sarah's\"). They are categorized into simple (e.g., \"boy\"), derived (e.g., \"singer\"), and compound nouns (e.g., \"merry-go-round\").  **Sentence Role:** Nouns can serve various functions in sentences: as subjects (e.g., \"A man was walking\"), objects (e.g., \"I see a man\"), predicates (e.g., \"She is a teacher\"), attributes (e.g., \"a gold medal\"), and adverbial modifiers (e.g., \"Every morning\"). 48. Characterize adjectives (their semantic, morphological and syntactic peculiarities).  **Meaning:** Adjectives describe qualities of people (e.g., \"tall man\"), things (e.g., \"heavy box\"), and abstract concepts (e.g., \"serious case\").  **Forms:** Many adjectives change to show comparison: -er for comparative (e.g., \"darker\") and -est for superlative (e.g., \"darkest\"). They can be simple (e.g., \"red\"), derived (e.g., \"beautiful\"), compound (e.g., \"color-blind\"), or compound-derived (e.g., \"broad-shouldered\").  **Sentence Role:** Adjectives often function as attributes (e.g., \"a pretty girl\") or predicates (e.g., \"She is pretty\"). 49. Characterize semantic, morphological and syntactic features of numerals.  **Meaning:** Numerals represent numbers, divided into cardinals (e.g., two, four) for \"How many?\" and ordinals (e.g., first, second) for \"Which?\"  **Forms:** They include simple forms (one, ten), derived forms (thirteen, fifth), and compound forms (twenty-five, two thousand ten).  **Sentence Role:** Numerals usually act as attributes (e.g., \"Four people were arrested\"). 50. Enumerate major classes of pronouns and give examples. Pronouns indicate or reference nouns and can replace whole noun phrases. - **Personal:** Refer to the speaker, addressee, or others (e.g., I, you). - **Demonstrative:** Point to specific items (e.g., this, that). - **Reflexive:** Refer back to the subject (e.g., myself). - **Reciprocal:** Indicate mutual relationships (e.g., each other). - **Possessive:** Show ownership (e.g., my, mine). - **Indefinite:** Have vague meanings (e.g., everything, nobody). - **Relative:** Introduce relative clauses (e.g., who, which). - **Interrogative:** Ask questions (e.g., what).