UGC-NET (NTA) LINGUISTICS, JUNE-2025

Total Questions: 100

71. Backward Control is a phenomenon in which two syntactically linked clauses share a common subject (which is elided in the matrix clause). Which of the following Indian languages exhibit this phenomenon:

A. Kannada, Malayalam
B. Assamese, Gujarati, Nepali
C. Mizo, Kokborok, Bodo
D. Tamil, Telugu
E. Khasi and Munda languages
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

1. А, В only
2. A, B, D only
3. C, E only
4. A, B, C, D only

Correct Answer: 4. A, B, C, D only

Solution:

Kannada, Malayalam $\rightarrow$ $\rightarrow$ Assamese, Gujarati, Nepali $\rightarrow$ $\rightarrow$ Mizo, Kokborok, Bodo $\rightarrow$ $\rightarrow$ Tamil, Telugu: Backward Control is a syntactic phenomenon where the overt subject appears in the embedded clause, while the matrix clause subject position is empty, and both positions are interpreted as having the same subject. In India, this phenomenon is attested in several Indo-Aryan (Assamese, Gujarati, Nepali), Dravidian (Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu) and Tibeto-Burman languages (Mizo, Kokborok, Bodo). These languages allow constructions where the semantic subject appears in the lower clause, while the upper clause subject is unexpressed but controlled by the embedded subject. Khasi and Munda languages (E) show different clause-linking behaviours and do not exhibit classical backward control. Hence, the languages belonging to groups A, B, C and D display backward control.

72. Which of the following statements about script and terminology standards for Indian languages are correct:

A. The standard for Devanagari is developed by CHD - a Directorate under the Ministry of Education.
B. The official standard terminology in all Indian languages is developed by CSTT - a Commission under the Ministry of Education.
C. Devanagari is officially used by more than 12 of 22 scheduled languages of India.
D. Diverse non-standard terminology is essential for education through Indian languages.
E. Unicode fonts for Indian languages are rendered seamlessly well across all browsers and platforms.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

1. А, В only
2. A, C only
3. B, D only
4. A, E only

Correct Answer: 1. А, В only

Solution:

The Devanagari standard is developed by CHD → official terminology in Indian languages is developed by CSTT:
• A is correct because script standardisation for Devanagari is handled by the Central
Hindi Directorate (CHD), a Directorate under the Ministry of Education responsible for orthography rules, script reforms and writing conventions.
• B is correct because the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT),
also under the Ministry of Education, develops official terminology in all Indian languages used in administration, education and scientific communication.
• C is incorrect because Devanagari is used officially by 10 Scheduled-VIII languages, not more than 12.
• D is incorrect since education requires standardised terminology, not diverse non standard sets.
• E is incorrect because Indian Unicode rendering is not seamless across all browsers
and operating systems; font fallback, shaping and ligature issues remain.
Thus, only A and B are correct.

73. Consider the following English sentences

(a) It’s hard to eat with a spoon
(b) ...har eat...wit...pun
In psycholinguistic studies, the sentence (b) should be an example of:
A. Nonfluent aphasia
B. Motor aphasia
C. Fluent aphasia
D. Global aphasia
E. Non-verbal mispronunciation
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

1. B, C only
2. A, B only
3. A, B, C only
4. D, E only

Correct Answer: 2. A, B only

Solution:

Nonfluent aphasia → Motor aphasia: Sentence (b) "...har eat...wit...pun" shows effortful, fragmented, telegraphic speech, with omissions of functional elements.
A. Nonfluent aphasia fits because speech becomes broken, slow and lacking grammatical fillers.
B. Motor aphasia (Broca's aphasia) fits because the patient knows what they want to say
but cannot produce fluent speech, resulting in shortened, incomplete utterances.
C. Fluent aphasia is incorrect-fluent aphasics produce smooth but meaningless or grammatically incorrect speech, not truncated fragments.
D. Global aphasia involves near-total breakdown of comprehension and production, which is not reflected here.
E. Non-verbal mispronunciation does not apply because the example shows syntactic reduction, not articulatory mis-production.
Thus, the correct pair is A and B.

74. Let us consider the following sets listing English vowels:

A = {a, i, o, e, u}
B = {a, e, i, o, u}
Which of the following statements is/are correct?
A. A equals B
B. B is a proper subset of A
C. A is a subset of B and B is a subset of A
D. A is a proper subset of B
E. A and B are not equal
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

1. A, B only
2. A, C only
3. B, D only
4. A, C only

Correct Answer: 3. B, D only

Solution:

A equals BA is a subset of B and B is a subset of A:
Both sets are written as:
A = {a, i, o, e, u}
B = {a, e, i, o, u{
Since both sets contain exactly the same elements,
they are equal. A. A equals B→ correct.
C. A is a subset of B and B is a subset of
A this is the formal definition of set equality, so it is correct.
(B) is wrong because neither is a proper subset of the other.
(D) is wrong because A is not a proper subset of B.
(E) is wrong because the sets are equal.
Thus, the correct statements are A and С.

75. Which of the following are true of "ambient affiliation"?

A. A social network of individuals who interact through specific social media, potentially crossing geographical boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests and goals
B. The loose relationship in micro-blogging between those who post messages, those who may read them, may follow them, may respond to them and so on
C. A computer-simulated environment that allows the computer-user to interact with it in ways that resemble our bodily experience of the real world
D. The term ambient affiliation was coined by Martin Montgomery
E. The term ambient affiliation was coined by Zappavigna
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

1. A & D only
2. B & D only
3. C & E only
4. B & E only

Correct Answer: 4. B & E only

Solution:

The loose relationships in micro-blogging coined by Zappavigna: Ambient affiliation is a concept from social media linguistics, describing how people form loose, lightweight social bonds online through hashtags, micro-blogging, liking, reposting, or
following. B is correct: The idea focuses on loose relationships between users who may or may not know each other but interact through posts, likes, hashtags, and follows.
E is correct: The term ambient affiliation was coined by linguist Zappavigna (2011 onwards) in the context of social media discourse and online sociality.
(A) is not fully correct because it describes broader social networks, not the particular
ambient aspect of interaction.
(C) describes virtual reality, unrelated to ambient affiliation.
(D) is incorrect because Montgomery did not coin the term.
Thus, the correct option is B and E.

76. Match the LIST-I with LIST-II.

LIST-I (Language Type)	LIST-II (Description)
A. Isolating	I. Languages have no (or few) bound morphemes. All the words are invariable. Words seem to be monomorphemic.
B. Agglutinating	II. Words typically contain a linear sequence of morphs. It can be difficult to separate morphemes from one another; the boundaries between them are blurry.
C. Inflectional	III. Words display grammatical relationships morphologically: they typically contain more than one morpheme but there is no one-to-one correspondence between these morphemes and the linear sequence of morphs.
D. Polysynthetic	IV. Languages demonstrate morphologically rich long and complex word forms that often convey information requiring a multi-word clause in other types of languages.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

1. A-I, B-II, C-III, D-IV
2. A-II, B-I, C-IV, D-III
3. A-III, B-IV, C-I, D-II
4. A-IV, B-III, C-II, D-I

Correct Answer: 1. A-I, B-II, C-III, D-IV

Solution:

A. Isolating → I: Isolating languages have no (or few) bound morphemes and words remain monomorphemic; B. Agglutinating→ II: Agglutinating languages contain linear sequences of morphs whose boundaries are clear and separable; C. Inflectional → III: Inflectional languages display multiple grammatical categories in one form, without a one-to-one mapping between morphemes and morphs; D. Polysynthetic → IV: Polysynthetic languages form extremely long complex word-structures expressing meanings that require full clauses in other languages.

77. Match the LIST-I with LIST-II.

LIST-I (Description)	LIST-II (Property)
A. The elements of a signal can be analyzed as having definable boundaries, with no gradation or continuity between them	I. Productivity
B. Linguistic forms are said to lack any physical correspondence with the entities in the world to which they refer	II. Displacement
C. Language can be used to refer contexts removed from the immediate situation of the speaker	III. Arbitrariness
D. Refers to the creative capacity of language users to produce and understand an infinitely large number of sentences	IV. Discreteness

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

1. A-IV, B-III, C-II, D-I
2. A-II, B-I, C-III, D-IV
3. A-I, B-IV, C-I, D-III
4. A-IV, B-I, C-II, D-III

Correct Answer: 1. A-IV, B-III, C-II, D-I

Solution:

A. Discreteness → IV: Linguistic signals consist of units with clear boundaries, not continuous gradation; B. Arbitrariness → III: Linguistic forms lack physical resemblance to the entities they denote; C. Displacement → II: Language refers to contexts removed from the here-andnow; D. Productivity I: Humans can create and interpret infinitely many new sentences.

78. Match the LIST-I with LIST-II.

LIST-I	LIST-II
A. formant	I. The acoustic change which takes place as the vocal organs move to and fro from the articulatory position of consonants, especially plosives
B. burst	II. Concentration of acoustic energy, reflecting the way air from the lungs vibrates in the vocal tract, as it changes its shape
C. transition	III. The vibrations of the air movement in the vocal tract which are set in motion by a source of phonation
D. resonance	IV. sudden short peak of acoustic energy which occurs in the production of certain sounds, such as at the release stage of plosives

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

1. A-III, B-I, C-IV, D-II
2. A-IV, B-III, C-II, D-I
3. A-II, B-IV, C-I, D-III
4. A-II, B-III, C-IV, D-I

Correct Answer: 3. A-II, B-IV, C-I, D-III

Solution:

A. Formant → II: Formants are concentrations of acoustic energy shaped by the resonating vocal tract; B. Burst → IV: A burst is a sudden acoustic peak released during plosives; C. Transition → I: Transitions reflect acoustic changes when articulators move between consonant and vowel positions; D. Resonance → III: Resonance refers to the vibratory patterns created when air movement is set into motion in the vocal tract.

79. Match the LIST-I with LIST-II.

List-I (Phonological Theory)	List-II (Proponent)
A. Generative Phonology	I. Paul Kiparsky
B. Lexical Phonology	II. John M. Anderson
C. Dependency Phonology	III. John Goldsmith
D. Auto-segmental Phonology	IV. Morris Halle

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

1. A-II, B-III, C-I, D-IV
2. A-IV, B-I, C-II, D-III
3. A-III, B-IV, C-I, D-II
4. A-II, B-I, C-IV, D-III

Correct Answer: 2. A-IV, B-I, C-II, D-III

Solution:

A. Generative Phonology → IV: Associated with Morris Halle, co-author of The Sound Pattern of English; B. Lexical Phonology → I: Developed by Paul Kiparsky, integrating phonology with morphological structure; C. Dependency Phonology → II: Developed by
John M. Anderson, representing phonological relations in dependency form; D. Autosegmental Phonology→ III: Introduced by John Goldsmith, separating phonological tiers such as tone, features and segments.

80. Match the LIST-I with LIST-II.

LIST-I (Concept)	LIST-II (Definition)
A. Appositional Compound	I. A compound that refers to multiple referents corresponding to the compound members
B. Coordinative Compound	II. A compound that consists of a head and a dependent (or several dependents)
C. Endocentric Compound	III. A compound pattern that does not contain a (semantic) head and a dependent
B. Exocentric Compound	IV. A compound denoting an entity that fulfils several descriptions simultaneously

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

1. A-I, B-II, C-III, D-IV
2. A-II, B-I, C-IV, D-III
3. A-III, B-IV, C-I, D-II
4. A-IV, B-I, C-II, D-III

Correct Answer: 4. A-IV, B-I, C-II, D-III

Solution:

A. Appositional Compound → IV: Appositional compounds describe entities fulfilling multiple descriptions simultaneously (e.g., singer-poet); B. Coordinative Compound → I: Coordinative compounds refer to multiple referents corresponding to both members (e.g., writerpublisher, bittersweet);
C. Endocentric Compound → II: Endocentric compounds contain a semantic head and
dependent (e.g., toothache, doghouse);
D. Exocentric Compound → III: Exocentric compounds lack a semantic head and refer
to something external to their components (e.g., pickpocket, redhead).