Indo-European Sample Midterm Questions

THE FIRST SECTION OF THE MIDTERM WILL CONSIST OF A SELECTION OF THE FOLLOWING 84 QUIZ QUESTIONS SELECTED FROM YOUR SUBMISSIONS (scroll down for further sections):
  1. What are three good reasons why a word in one language might resemble a word in another language:
    1. a. cognate relations, grammar, chance
    2. b. chance, borrowing, language universals
    3. c. borrowing, philology, chance
    4. d. chance, borrowing, cognate relations
  2. T/F: Languages evolve mostly toward the simpler rather than the more complex.
  3. Which is true if the Nostratic hypothesis is correct:
    1. Nostratic came before PIE
    2. Nostratic is one of the cultures that various scholars claim was the PIE homeland people.
    3. Nostratic is an alternative to PIE and pretty much all that Fortson writes
    4. Nostratic existed as a language at the same time as PIE and had a huge influence on PIE.
  4. When is a good estimate of the time when PIE 'broke up' (that is, the time when something like the proto-language that we try to reconstruct existed)
    1. a. 4500 BCE
    2. b. 1958
    3. c. 1500 BCE
    4. d. 10,000 BCE
    5. e. no good estimate can be made
    6. f. before the nostratic era
  5. What era did the PIE 'breakup' likely occur in:
    1. a. Neolithic
    2. b. Classic
    3. c. Bronze age
    4. d. Nostratic
  6. Which of the following did not have its own term in PIE:
    1. a. daughter-in-law
    2. b. Brother's wife
    3. c. second cousin
    4. d. son-in-law
  7. What method of transport important for our interpretation of PIE culture and the search for its homeland is thought to have been utilized since at least 3700 BCE:
    1. a. horses and horse-drawn vehicles
    2. b. boats
    3. c. human-drawn vehicles
    4. d. use of pack dogs and sleds
  8. PIE culture:
    1. a. was mostly a hunter-gatherer society
    2. b. had agriculture
    3. c. there is no good evidence about these matters
    4. d. was nomadic and principally relied on livestock
  9. Who discovered laryngeals:
    1. a. Chomsky
    2. b. Aristotle
    3. c. Saussure
    4. d. Sapir
  10. In PIE society, what profession does Fortson suggest was 'the society's highest-paid professiona, specially trained"?
  11. Which of the following is not one of Georges Dumézil's three basic functions in PIE society:
    1. a. labor class
    2. b. governing/religious class
    3. c. reproductive/childrearing class
    4. d. warrior class
  12. What is often held to be most significant in identifying the homeland of PIE:
    1. a. Peaceful nature
    2. b. Presence of yogurt, cheese, and milk
    3. c. burial customs
    4. d. metalworking techniques
  13. Which social relationship in PIE society was not based on reciprocity:
    1. a. poet and patron
    2. b. guest and host
    3. c. husband and wife
  14. The poetry which contains the most interesting material for PIE specialists to study is:
    1. a. learned and allusive
    2. b. 'folk' material such as nursery rhymes and proverbs
    3. c. oral-formulaic
    4. d. dramatic
  15. Which myth was discussed and considered important in the PIE culture chapter:
    1. a. sheep/shepherd myth
    2. b. bull/bullfighting myth
    3. c. sea monster/journey myth
    4. d. dragon slaying/hero myth
  16. What does the culture chapter say about PIE law:
    1. a. PIE laws are free of outside influence and so diagnostic of PIE cultures
    2. b. it is an extensively studied important part of PIE studies
    3. c. it is under-studied
    4. d. written law was central to PIE culture
  17. What myths were discussed in the culture chapter:
    1. a. theft of fire
    2. b. dragon/monster slaying
    3. c. creation myths
    4. d. sex with a horse
    5. e. only 2 of the above
  18. The phrases 'men and cattle' and 'those who hear and those who do not hear' and 'diseases seen and unseen' are examples of:
    1. a. cadence
    2. b. merism
    3. c. assonance
    4. d. anacoluthon
  19. Which of these words underwent 'taboo deformation' in PIE and the daughter languages:
    1. a. bear
    2. b. wolf
    3. c. both a and b
    4. d. neither a nor b
  20. A reconstructed ancestral language is called a:
    1. a. cognate language
    2. b. proto-language
    3. c. Indo-European language
    4. d. social construct
  21. What is a 'reflex' for purposes of PIE?
    1. a. a glottal stop
    2. b. a place of articulation in the mouth
    3. c. a descendant outcome of ancestral PIE sounds
    4. 2 similar sounds that become dissimilar
  22. What is philology, according to Fortson?
    1. a. slow, careful analysis of language
    2. b. the philosophy of language
    3. c. love of stories and their history
    4. d. study of love
  23. T/F: A good deal of our knowledge of PIE comes from Proto-Indo-European writings.
  24. Which language family is Hittite part of:
    1. a. Celtic
    2. b. Iranian
    3. c. Turkic
    4. d. Anatolian
  25. In verbs and nouns, the suffix that consists simply or -e- or -o- is called:
    1. a. resonant alternation
    2. b. thematic
    3. c. a basic suffix
    4. d. Frank
  26. In Fortson's reconstruction of PIE phonology, there are ______ consonants and ______ vowels. (give a number for each)
  27. What sounds were found to exist in Hittite that had been only hypothetical before?
    1. a. pharyngeals
    2. b. uvulars
    3. c. laryngeals
    4. d. glottals
  28. In terms of geography, the satem languages generally toward the:
    1. a. North
    2. b. South
    3. c. East
    4. d. West
  29. Satem languages are opposed to:
    1. a. Saten languages
    2. b. Center languages
    3. c. Centum languages
    4. d. Datem languages
  30. Greek, Italic, Celtic, and Germanic (including English) are considered which of the following based on what happened to their velar stops:
    1. a. Satem languages
    2. b. Center languages
    3. c. Centum languages
    4. d. Datem languages
  31. Which two sets of stops do satem languages collapse into one set:
    1. a. velars and labiovelars
    2. b. palatals and velars
    3. c. dentals and palatals
    4. d. laryngeals and retroflex
  32. Which of the following is not a fricative:
    1. a. v
    2. b. dh
    3. c. f
    4. d. all are fricatives
  33. T/F: A diphthong is formed by combination of two sounds in a single syllable.
  34. Which of the following is an example of voicing assimilation:
    1. a. dk > tk
    2. b. st > zt
    3. c. kp > gp
    4. d. bd > pd
  35. Which of these are often called "plain velars":
    1. a. k,  and p
    2. b. k, gh, and g
    3. c. g, g̑, and p
    4. d. c, k̑, and k
  36. How can you tell if a sound is voiced or unvoiced:
    1. a. determine whether it is pronounced or "silent"
    2. b. hold your hand up to your throat and feel for vibrations
    3. c. determine if it is a vowel or a consonant
    4. d. see if it is followed by a vowel or not
  37. In retrogressive assimilation (also called anticipatory assimilation), what happens:
    1. a. the first sound assimilates to the following sound
    2. b. the following sound assimilates to the previous sound
    3. c. all the sounds of a certain sort change to another sort
    4. d. one language does a sound change and all the others eventually follow suit
  38. An s-mobile root:
    1. a. has a sibilant that moves around
    2. b. sometimes starts with an s
    3. c. expresses reflexive motion
    4. d. cannot be conjugated in the aorist
  39. A root differs from a stem in that:
    1. a. a root can always appear on its own as a word
    2. b. a stem can always appear on its own as a word
    3. c. a stem is built up from a root
    4. d. a root is built up from a stem
  40. Which of the following is not a likely PIE root:
    1. a. *dhent
    2. b. *orst
    3. c. *h₂ērh₁
    4. d. *kat
  41. Which of these is not a standard PIE root template:
    1. a. CeRC
    2. b. CeRCC
    3. c. CReRC
  42. When an *s is added to the beginning of a PIE root, what happens?
    1. a. the following consonant turns into a fricative
    2. b. it never happens, so nothing happens
    3. c. the root is otherwise unchanged
    4. d. the following consonant assimilates to the s
  43. How did laryngeal h₁ color adjacent vowels?
    1. a. *eh₁ > *a
    2. b. *eh₁ > *o
    3. c. *eh₁ > *i
    4. d. none of the above
  44. Which of the following is not true:
    1. *eh₁ and *h₁e color to *u
    2. *eh₂ and *h₂e color to *a
    3. *eh3 and *h3e color to *o
  45. When a laryngeal disappears, what often happens:
    1. a. compensatory lengthening of an adjacent vowel
    2. b. an adjacent sound becomes sibilant
    3. c. a new word or root results
    4. d. an adjacent sound palatalizes
  46. How did laryngeal h₂ next to short e color?
    1. a. > *a
    2. b. > *e
    3. c. > *o
    4. d. > *u
    5. e. It didn't color
  47. The 'boukólos rule' states that _____ lost their _______ when adjacent to _______:
    1. a. labiovelars, labial element, *u
    2. b. palatals, velar element, *i
    3. c. palatals, dental element, *i
    4. d. labiovelars, sibilant, *u
  48. Szmerenyi's law states that:
    1. a. the sequence vowel stop resonant becomes vowel resonant stop
    2. b. the sequence vowel resonant s becomes vowel resonant
    3. c. long vowels before resonant plus consonant became short vowels
    4. d. glides regularly become vowels near affricates
  49. Fortson presents a theory of the development of stops in PIE: what is the alternative theory he presents briefly?
    1. a. Lingual theory
    2. b. Laryngeal theory
    3. c. Glottalic theory
    4. d. Sabellic theory
  50. T/F: Sometimes sound change can affect the same sound in the same environment in the same way, and other times in different ways.
  51. What is the phenomenon central to the neo-grammarian hypothesis?
    1. a. analogical change
    2. b. regular sound change
    3. c. grammaticalization
    4. d. lexical change
  52. The resonants are liquids, nasals, and _____:
    1. a. glides
    2. b. stops
    3. c. fricatives
    4. d. affricates
  53. A verb can be characterized by:
    1. a. person, case, tense, pitch, and force
    2. b. person, number, tense, voice, and mood
    3. c. tense, status, voice, and case
    4. d. mood, aorist, aspect, pitch, and person
  54. *-m(e)no- characterizes what kind of participle:
    1. a. -nt- participle
    2. b. perfect participle
    3. c. mediopassive participle
    4. d. preterite participle
  55. T/F: Primary middle personal endings can be used to form the imperfect indicative middle.
  56. Which of the following is not a form of participle:
    1. a. mediopassive participle
    2. b. -nt- participle
    3. c. -to- participle
    4. d. perfect participle
  57. Which of the following is/are athematic:
    1. a. *sk̑é/ó- presents
    2. b. causative iteratives
    3. c. nasal-infix presents
    4. d. root presents
  58. T/F: the PIE subunctive was used primarily for hypothetical situations.
  59. T/F: The middle voice has a clear and distinct meaning different from all actives and all passives.
  60. Which contains an example of what a 'supine' means?
    1. a. she is complaining
    2. b. to cause to complain
    3. c. want to complain
    4. d. go to complain
  61. Which of the following is an example of 'voice':
    1. a. passive
    2. b. aorist
    3. c. optative
    4. d. weak grade
  62. Which of the following is not a 'mood' in PIE:
    1. a. indicative
    2. b. middle
    3. c. imperative
    4. d. subjunctive
  63. What was the subjunctive most likely used for in PIE:
    1. a. future tense
    2. b. wishes
    3. c. questions
    4. d. subordinate clauses
  64. Verbal adjectives with a *-tó- or *-nó- suffix are most similar to this in English:
    1. a. adjectives
    2. b. adverbs
    3. c. present participles
    4. d. past participles
  65. Ablauting of a root is called:
    1. a. root extensions
    2. b. root contraints
    3. c. grades
    4. d. vowel persistence
  66. T/F: The stem, and the ending of a word can have ablaut, but never the suffixes.
  67. Which of the following is not an ablaut grade:
    1. a. e-grade
    2. b. long o grade
    3. c. i-grade
    4. d. zero-grade
  68. What is a causative-iterative?
    1. a. a synonym for a factitive
    2. b. a verb meaning 'cause to do'
    3. c. a form with a reduplicated syllable
    4. d. all of the above.
    5. b
  69. T/F: The imperfect shows completed past actions while the aorist shows ongoing past actions.
  70. What kind of verb expresses desire or intent?
    1. a. Factitive
    2. b. Inchoative
    3. c. Durative
    4. d. Desiderative
  71. T/F The middle could have passive meaning:
  72. The endings for the perfect active are most closely relate to:
    1. a. the present middle voice
    2. b. the optative
    3. c. the aorist
    4. d. the present active
    5. a
  73. Simple thematic presents had which grade?
    1. a. lengthened o-grade
    2. b. zero-grade
    3. c. full grade
    4. d. lengthened e-grade
  74. Thematic nouns are also referred to as _____-stem nouns:
    1. a. e-stem
    2. b. o-stem
    3. c. a-stem
    4. b
  75. A Narten present:
    1. a. always has the accent on the personal endings
    2. b. always has the accent on the root
    3. c. is totally unaccented
    4. d. never has a long vowel
  76. T/F: A Narten present has a lengthened grade in the singular and a full grade elsewhere.
  77. Which of the following is the active primary ending for the 1st person singular:
    1. a. *-we
    2. b. *-ti
    3. c. *-énti
    4. d. *-mi
    5. d
  78. The present active singular endings in PIE are:
    1. a. *-vi, *-si, *-ti
    2. b. *-me, *-ti, *-si
    3. c. *-mi, *-si, *-ti
    4. d. *-ti, *-si, *-vi
  79. What is the -i called that marks primary active endings?
    1. a. the eye of the tense
    2. b. the hic et nunc particle
    3. c. the constant i
    4. d. the analogical i
  80. What is the "augment"?
    1. a. *h₁e-
    2. b. *h₁-
    3. c. *e-
    4. d. *-e-
  81. What is it called when there is no augment on a form that often has one:
    1. a. sigmatic
    2. b. hic et nunc
    3. c. injunctive
    4. d. postpositive
  82. A participle is a
    1. a. verbal noun
    2. b. thematic verbal
    3. c. verbal adjective
    4. d. a genitive noun
  83. How many cases are we sure existed in PIE?
    1. a. 3
    2. b. eight
    3. c. five
    4. d. we aren't sure about more than 2 of them
  84. Which of the following are not usually reconstructed for PIE:
    1. a. accusative
    2. b. ablative
    3. c. elative
    4. d. instrumental
  85. T/F : PIE nouns may have had a category called the collective.
  86. Which of the following contains a thematic vowel (they are all Greek, not PIE):
    1. a. klops
    2. b. nomos
    3. c. seutai
    4. d. thes-
  87. In nouns that are accented on the stem and have 0-grade in the strong cases and zero-grade in the weak cases are:
    1. Hydrospastic
    2. Acrostatic
    3. Amphikinetic
    4. Deverbatives
  88. How does "internal derivation" work?
    1. Suffixes are added to a root
    2. An infix is added to a root
    3. Accent shifts rightwards and ablaut changes
    4. A language changes over time until it is considered a different language from where it started
  89. Strong cases include:
    1. All nouns with full grade stems
    2. Accusative, Genitive, and Instrumental cases
    3. Only a few really old root nouns
    4. Nominative, Accusative and vocative cases
  90. What is it called when a noun stem has the endings added directly to it?
    1. a root noun
    2. a thematic noun
    3. an ablaut noun
    4. a collective noun
YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PIE VOCAB ITEMS ON QUIZLET (the one WHICH I ALSO SENT OUT VIA EMAIL).

OTHER SECTIONS OF THE EXAM WILL CONSIST OF THE FOLLOWING EXERCISES IN FORTSON:

BUT NOTE WELL: for most of these, you will be given an item that is very similar to the items in the exercises, but not actually one of the items in the exercises. So you have to know how to do the exercise on an additional item, not just on the items given. Every effort will be made NOT to try to trick you at all. The idea is that if you can do the exercise, you can do the new item too.

Chapter 3 Phonology