Introduction to Linguistics - Assignment 2 James Madison University

[This assignment will be marked only as an acceptable or unacceptable effort.] The first part is based on a distinction discussed in Chapter 1. The other exercises should be attempted after (or while) reading Chapter 2.

1. Here is some practice with the distinction between prescriptive grammar rules and descriptive grammar rules. Put a (P) next to the rules that you think are rules of a prescriptive grammar for English and a (D) next to all those you think are rules in a descriptive grammar of English.
   
   1. Do not start a sentence with "And."
   2. "very" and other intensifier adverbs come before the adjective they modify.
   3. Certain verbs can have whole sentences as direct objects.
   4. Use the subjunctive form after verbs like "prefer" (eg, "I prefer that Manny apologize to his friends," not "I prefer that Manny apologizes to his friends."

   Questions on New Material:

2. According to our textbook, what is another name for "content words," and why does this other label apply as well?
3. What is the name for the smallest meaningful units in a language?
4. According to our textbook, what can we show about morphological structure by using tree diagrams?
5. List at least 5 content words in English (other than those examples mentioned in your text or in other such references) that you believe to be monomorphemic, including at least two that are multisyllabic.
6. List at least 5 content words in English that you believe to be polymorphemic, including at least two that are monosyllabic.
7. Find and write down a sentence at least 12 words long from a written source (a favorite novel or story?) and then write a second version but leaving out all the words in that sentence that you think may be in the category of so-called "function words" in English.