What linguistic property enables a speaker to generate an infinite number of grammatically correct sentences using a finite set of rules______________?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: B. Recursiveness
Explanation
Recursiveness allows language users to embed structures infinitely within other grammatical phrases. This unique cognitive property generates an endless variety of sentences from finite rules. Speakers can continuously add clauses without ever reaching a strict maximum length limit. Linguistics studies the innate structural properties that make human language uniquely powerful. Noam Chomsky highlighted this foundational feature as central to universal grammar theory. Finite combinatorial rules unlock infinite expressive potential in every spoken human tongue.
This property distinguishes human language systems from simpler animal communication methods. Computer scientists and cognitive psychologists study recursion to understand artificial intelligence capabilities. Grammatical theory relies on recursive rules to explain how children acquire native language. Option A refers to having simultaneous sound and meaning layers in linguistic signs. Option C refers to talking about things removed in time or space from the speaker. Option D refers to psychoanalytic mechanisms rather than formal linguistic properties.
- Subject
- English
- Category
- English Literature
- Topic
- —
- Difficulty
- medium
Related questions
Q1. To whom does Benjamin Franklin dedicate Part 1 of his autobiography ?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: D. His son, William
Benjamin Franklin explicitly addressed the opening section of his memoirs to his son. William Franklin served as the royal governor of New Jersey during the colonial era. Father and son experienced a political rift durin...
Q2. What shared background characterized the group of writers known as the University Wits ?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: A. Had training at two universities
The University Wits were a group of sixteenth-century English playwrights who had studied at Oxford or Cambridge. This shared educational background distinguished them from other contemporary dramatists who lacked formal...
Q3. Which literary creator introduced the character Uncle Julius______________?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: D. Charles Chesnutt
Charles Chesnutt introduced the memorable character Uncle Julius in his regionalist stories about southern life. These narrative pieces frequently appeared in prominent literary magazines before being collected into publ...
Q4. Under what pseudonym was Edmund Spenser’s work The Shepheard’s Calendar originally published ?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: D. Immerito
Edmund Spenser used the Latin pseudonym Immerito when first publishing his poetry. This pen name translates roughly to undeserving or unmerited in English. Publishing anonymously or under pseudonyms was common practice f...
Q5. Until relatively recent times, what was the general consensus regarding Harriet Jacobs’s narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl____________?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: C. Fiction written by Lydia Maria Child.
For many years, critics mistakenly assumed Harriet Jacobs's authentic autobiography was a fictional work authored by Lydia Maria Child. Lydia Maria Child had served as the actual editor for the manuscript, which fueled w...
Q6. Complete the famous Shakespearean line: “Uneasy lies the head that _______________( King Henry four, part two)?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: A. Wears a crown
The famous Shakespearean line correctly concludes with the phrase Wears a crown in Henry IV, Part 2. King Henry speaks these famous words while reflecting on the sleepless nights caused by heavy political responsibilitie...