UGC-NET (NTA) LINGUISTICS, JUNE-2025

Total Questions: 100

91. Read the passage carefully and answer the questions:

At first glance the most basic unit of linguistic structure appears to be the word. The word, though, is far from the fundamental element of study in linguistics; it is already the result for a complex set of more primitive parts. The study of morphology concerns the construction of words from more basic components corresponding roughly to meaning units. There are two basic ways that new words are formed, traditionally classified as inflectional forms and derivational forms.
Inflectional forms use a root form of a word and typically add a suffix so that the word appears in the appropriate form given the sentence. Verbs are the best examples of this in English. Each verb has a basic form that then is typically changed depending on the subject and the tense of the sentence. For example, the verb sigh will take suffixes such as -s, -ing, and -ed to create the verb forms sighs, sighing, and sighed, respectively. These new words are all verbs and share the same basic meaning.
Derivational morphology involves the derivation of new words from other forms. The new words may be in completely different categories from their subparts. For example, the noun friend is made into the adjective friendly by adding the suffix-ly. A more complex derivation would allow you to derive the noun friendliness from the adjective form. There are many interesting issues concerned with how words are derived and how the choice of word form is affected by the syntactic structure of the sentence that constrains it.
The study of morphology concerns______.

Correct Answer: 2. The construction of words from more basic components corresponding roughly to meaning units
Solution:

The passage states that morphology studies how words are built from "more basic components corresponding roughly to meaning units." These smaller components (morphemes) combine to form complete words, showing that morphology deals with the internal structure of words, not. historical change or cross-linguistic comparison.

92. Each verb has a basic form which changes due to______.

Correct Answer: 3. subject and tense of the sentence
Solution:

The passage explains that verbal forms such as sighs, sighing, and sighed arise because the verb must appear in the form required by the "subject and the tense of the sentence." Thus, English verbs inflect depending on agreement (subject) and tense-aspect requirements.

93. Derivational morphology involves:

Correct Answer: 1. Derivation of new words from other forms
Solution:

Derivational morphology is directly defined in the passage as "the derivation of new words from other forms," such as friend → friendly or friendly→ friendliness. It is not about analogy, borrowing, or simply identifying processes, but about forming new lexemes through morphological operations.

94. In the area of Derivational Morphology, new words

Correct Answer: 1. may be in completely different categories from their sub-parts.
Solution:

The passage clearly states that derivational morphology may produce words "in completely different categories from their subparts," such as the noun friend becoming the adjective friendly, and then again the noun friendliness. Therefore, category shift is an essential characteristic of derivational morphology.

95. Formation of the noun 'friendliness' from the adjective 'friendly' is possible through

Correct Answer: 2. Derivation
Solution:

The noun friendliness is derived from the adjective friendly by adding the suffix -ness. This is a textbook example of derivation because it creates a new lexeme of a different grammatical category, not an inflection, prefixation, or substitution.

96. Read the passage carefully and answer the questions:

The widely cited paragraph of Sir William Jones (1746-94) on the strong affinity of Sanskrit with Greek, Latin and other western languages had an impact long after its presentation in 1786. It took some time for Sanskrit text to reach scholars, in view of the Napoleonic wars as well as slow transportation. Many texts were held up in Paris, where they attracted the brilliant young scholar, Franz Bopp (1791-1867). He continued his education in Paris, to work on Sanskrit manuscripts.
Seminal works by him (1816) and Jacob Grimm (1822) then aroused massive interest in historical linguistics, shifting the study of language away from descriptive treatments. Not all historical concern was directed at the IndoEuropean family. In 1799 the Hungarian Samuel Gyarmathi (1751-1830) related Hungarian with Finnish, laying the basis for establishing the Finno-Ugric family. The interest in historical linguistics was aided by the attention in the Romantic movement to earlier periods.
Among the views of the movement it was held that contemporary' social practices, whether in law, literature or language, could be best understood by knowledge of earlier stages. Thus the Grimm brothers assembled their immensely popular collection of fairy tales on the assumptions that they were repositories of earlier literature. They also published a large work on early Germanic law. And when Jacob Grimm went on to write a grammar of Germanic languages, its best known section owed a great deal to two precursors, Friedrich Schlegel and Georges Cuvier.
Following a period of study in Paris, Friedrich Schlegel (1772-1829) published a book "on the language and wisdom of the Indians" (1808). Among its notable principles was the insistence on examining language for its innermost structure. That principle directed historical linguistic study from the start, not as often assumed only through the influence of Saussure or even later linguists. As a second dictum, Schlegel looked to comparative grammar for information on the genealogy of languages much as comparative anatomy clarified natural history.
The paradigm shift in the study of language away from descriptive treatments is due to the works of____.

Correct Answer: 3. Franz Bopp and Jacob Grimm
Solution:

The passage states that seminal works by Franz Bopp (1816) and Jacob Grimm (1822) "aroused massive interest in historical linguistics, shifting the study of language away from descriptive treatments." This clearly identifies their contributions as the reason for the major paradigm shift from descriptive linguistics toward historical-comparative linguistics.

97. The basis for establishing the Finno-Ugric family is attested to_______.

Correct Answer: 2. Samuel Gyarmathi
Solution:

The passage explicitly says that in 1799 the Hungarian scholar Samuel Gyarmathi related
Hungarian with Finnish, "laying the basis for establishing the Finno-Ugric family." No other figure mentioned in the passage contributed to this specific classification.

98. The book "on the language and wisdom of the Indians" discusses_______.

Correct Answer: 1. The historical linguistic study
Solution:

Friedrich Schlegel’s book “On the language and wisdom of the Indians” (1808) emphasized examining language for its “innermost structure,” and promoted comparative grammar for determining genealogical relations among languages. Both concerns directly belong to early historical linguistics rather than romanticism, wars, or Sanskrit-Greek affinity.

99. The Grammar of Germanic languages is written by_______.

Correct Answer: 4. Jacob Grimm
Solution:

The passage clearly states that "Jacob Grimm went on to write a grammar of Germanic languages," whose most influential section built on ideas from Schlegel and Cuvier. No other scholar in the options is described as authoring such a grammar.

100. The assumption that the fairy tales were repositories of earlier literature can be attested to_______.

Correct Answer: 3. The work of Grimm brothers
Solution:

The Grimm brothers assembled their famous fairy tales believing they were "repositories of earlier literature," a view tied to the Romantic movement's interest in earlier periods. Thus, this assumption is directly attributable to their work and perspective.