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Welcome to our blog, In this post, we’re sharing the IGNOU MEG 4 Solved Question Paper of June 2022 examination, focusing on Aspects of Language.
This guide is here to help you prepare for your exams with clear answers and explanations. Whether you’re just starting or revising for your exams, this resource will make studying easier and more effective.
In this post, we’ll discuss all the answers including the short and long answer questions.
You can also download all previous year question papers of MEG 4 from our website.
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Question 1
1. Write short notes on any two of the following :
(a) Cardinal Vowels
Cardinal vowels are a set of reference vowel sounds used by phoneticians to describe and classify all possible vowel sounds in human languages. Introduced by Daniel Jones, they are not necessarily found in any one language but serve as fixed points on a vowel chart. There are eight primary cardinal vowels, arranged according to tongue height (high, mid, low), tongue position (front to back), and lip rounding. For example, [i] (as in French si) and [ɑ] (as in French pâte) represent the extremes of vowel articulation. These vowels help in comparing and identifying vowel qualities across languages.
(b) Bilingualism:
Bilingualism refers to the ability of an individual or a community to use two languages proficiently. A bilingual person can switch between two languages depending on context, audience, or purpose. Bilingualism may be simultaneous (acquired from early childhood) or sequential (learned one after the other). It has cognitive, social, and economic benefits, including greater mental flexibility and access to diverse cultural experiences. Societies with more than one official language often promote bilingual education and public services. Examples include Canada (English and French) and India (many regional languages alongside Hindi and English).
(c) Co-operative Principle:
The Co-operative Principle, proposed by H.P. Grice, explains how people communicate effectively by cooperating in conversation. It is based on four maxims: Quantity (provide the right amount of information), Quality (be truthful), Relation (be relevant), and Manner (be clear and orderly). These maxims help ensure meaningful and efficient communication. When a speaker intentionally flouts a maxim, it can lead to implied meanings, or implicatures, such as sarcasm or indirect requests. The principle highlights that successful communication relies not only on words but also on shared understanding and context, making it a key concept in pragmatics and discourse analysis.
(d) Blends:
Blends are words formed by merging parts of two existing words, typically taking the beginning of one word and the end of another to create a new, meaningful term.
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Question 2
2. Discuss the differences between human and animal communication. Also elaborate how and why language originated.
Human and animal communication systems serve the basic function of conveying information. However, human language is far more complex, flexible, and unique in its features and usage. Several fundamental differences distinguish human communication from animal communication, making language an exclusive and defining characteristic of humankind.
One of the major differences lies in displacement. Human language allows individuals to talk about the past, future, and even hypothetical situations. In contrast, animal communication is limited to the present and immediate environment. Another key difference is arbitrariness. Human language uses arbitrary symbols (words) to represent objects, actions, or ideas, while animal signals are usually directly connected to specific emotions or stimuli (e.g., a cat’s purr or a dog’s bark).
Human language is also characterized by duality of patterning — the ability to combine a finite set of meaningless sounds (phonemes) into meaningful words and then combine those words into infinitely varied sentences. Animal communication systems lack this dual structure and creativity. Productivity, or the ability to generate new and original expressions, is another feature unique to human language. Animals have a limited set of signals which they use in fixed contexts and cannot produce novel combinations.
Cultural transmission is another hallmark of human language. Unlike animals, who inherit their communication systems biologically, human beings learn their language from the environment and society, and it evolves over time. Furthermore, syntax and grammar — the set of rules governing how words are organized — is unique to human languages.
The origin of language has been a subject of speculation for centuries. One popular theory is the social interaction theory, which suggests that language emerged from the need to cooperate and communicate during social activities such as hunting, building, or caring for young. The gesture theory proposes that early humans communicated through body language and gestures, which later evolved into vocal language. Others suggest that language began by imitating natural sounds (“bow-wow theory”) or instinctive emotional cries (“pooh-pooh theory”).
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Question 3
3. Describe with examples the main categories of the consonant phonemes of English.
English consonant phonemes are classified based on three major criteria: voicing, place of articulation, and manner of articulation. These features describe how and where the sounds are produced in the vocal tract and whether the vocal cords vibrate during their articulation. Understanding these categories is crucial for accurate pronunciation, phonetic transcription, and linguistic analysis.
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Question 4
4. Outline the history of changes in the English spelling system.
The history of English spelling is a complex journey shaped by invasions, language contact, technological innovations, and the lack of early standardization. Unlike some languages with phonetic spelling, English orthography often reflects historical pronunciations rather than current ones, making it rich yet irregular.
Old English Period (c. 450–1150)
Old English spelling was largely phonetic and based on the runic alphabet (Futhorc) before the adoption of the Latin script with Christianisation. It included characters like þ (thorn) and ð (eth) for the “th” sounds, æ (ash) for a particular vowel, and sc for the “sh” sound. Spelling varied regionally and was not standardized.
Middle English Period (c. 1150–1500)
The Norman Conquest (1066) brought significant French influence. Many French words entered English, along with French spelling conventions. For example, cwic (Old English) became quick, and scip became ship.
French scribes replaced thorn (þ) with “th” and introduced “qu” for “cw”. Spelling began to diverge from pronunciation due to shifts in spoken English, especially the gradual change in vowel sounds.
The Great Vowel Shift (c. 1400–1600)
One of the most influential changes was the Great Vowel Shift, where long vowel sounds changed dramatically in pronunciation but remained spelled the same. For instance, the word bite was once pronounced “beet” but shifted to the modern pronunciation without a change in spelling. This shift created many of the inconsistencies in English vowel spelling seen today.
Early Modern English (c. 1500–1700)
The invention of the printing press by William Caxton in 1476 brought the need for spelling consistency. However, Caxton employed various spellings from different dialects, which led to inconsistencies. Spelling started to stabilize, but changes in pronunciation outpaced changes in writing. During this period, silent letters became common (e.g., the silent “e” in name, ride).
Modern English and Standardization (1700–present)
Efforts at standardization emerged with the publication of influential dictionaries such as Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language (1755), which formalized many spellings. However, these often preserved older forms. Later, Noah Webster in America introduced simplified spellings (e.g., color vs colour, center vs centre), leading to divergence between American and British English.
Question 5
5. Describe briefly the tests used in identifying a syntactic constituent. Illustrate any two.
A syntactic constituent is a group of words that functions as a single unit within a hierarchical structure of a sentence. Constituency tests are used in syntax to determine whether a group of words forms a constituent. These tests help linguists and language learners understand sentence structure by revealing the internal organization of phrases. Some of the major tests include substitution, movement, coordination, question formation, clefting, and ellipsis.
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Question 6
6. Discuss the major learner factors in language acquisition.
Language acquisition is a complex and dynamic process influenced by various internal and external learner-specific factors. These factors determine the pace, depth, and success of language learning. While no two learners acquire language in the same way, some key factors consistently shape the language acquisition process across different contexts and individuals
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