GATE 2026 Question Paper Humanities and Social Sciences - Linguistics (XH-C3)

FOR GATE EXAM PREPARATION

GATE 2026
Question Paper ·
Humanities Social
Sciences Linguistics
(XH C3)
EXAM YEAR TYPE

GATE 2026 Question Paper
SUBJECT

Humanities Social Sciences Linguistics (XH C3)

Notes · Sample Papers · Previous Year Papers · Mock Tests

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Humanities & Social Sciences (XH)

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General Aptitude (GA)
Q.1 – Q.5 Carry ONE mark Each

Q.1 “He often _____ the numbers. False claims are not going to help. Honesty _____
trust”, said the manager.
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Choose the option with the correct order of words to fill the blanks.

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(A) a exaggerates; engenders

(B) excels; encourages

(C) aggravates; alleviates

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(D) diminishes; eliminates

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Humanities & Social Sciences (XH)

Q.2 In the sequence of tiles shown below, the missing tile indicated by the question
mark should be

(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

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Humanities & Social Sciences (XH)

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Q.3 A school has 100 students distributed among 1st to 10th standards.

Based on this, which one of the following statements is always correct?

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(A)
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There are at least 10 students who belong to the same standard.
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(B) a There is at least one student in each standard.

(C) There are at most 10 students in 10th standard.

(D) The total number of students from 1st to 5th standards is at least 50.

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Q.4 How many 3-digit numbers can be formed using three distinct single digit prime
numbers?
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(A) 64

(B) 24
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Humanities & Social Sciences (XH)

Q.5 In a group of students, 10 students like Mathematics, 12 students like English,
4 students like both Mathematics and English, and 6 students like neither
Mathematics nor English. The number of students in the group is ____

(A) 18

(B) 20

(C) 24

(D) 32

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Humanities & Social Sciences (XH)

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Q.6 – Q.10 Carry TWO marks Each

Q.6 Charity : P :: Retaliation : Q

Choose the appropriate pair of words P and Q that fit the analogy.

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(A)
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P = Parsimonious; Q = Vengeful
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(B) a P = Altruistic; Q = Amicable

(C) P = Resentful; Q = Spiteful

(D) P = Magnanimous; Q = Vindictive

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Humanities & Social Sciences (XH)

Q.7 A paper shown in Panel I is folded along the dashed lines (- - -) to construct a
cube. The shaded regions shown in Panel I appear on the outer surface of the cube.
Referring to cubes shown in Panel II, which one of the options is correct?

(A) Only (i) can correspond to the unfolded cube in Panel I.

(B) Only (ii) can correspond to the unfolded cube in Panel I.

(C) Both (i) and (ii) can correspond to the unfolded cube in Panel I.

(D) Neither (i) nor (ii) can correspond to the unfolded cube in Panel I.

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Q.8 Consider the cube shown below with its 8 corners labelled a, b, c, d, e, f, g,
and h. The figure is representative. All corners are to be colored such that any two
corners that are connected by an edge must be of different colors. The minimum
number of colors required to achieve this is ________

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a

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(A) 8
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(B) 4

(C) 3

(D) 2
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Humanities & Social Sciences (XH)

Q.9 Four hills H1, H2, H3, and H4 are present in an area. The following observations
are made about them:

i. Neither H2 nor H3 is the easternmost hill.
ii. Neither H2 nor H3 is the westernmost hill.
iii. Neither the easternmost hill nor the westernmost hill is the southernmost
hill.
iv. Two hills are located to the west of H2.
v. The southernmost hill has at least two hills to its east.

The southernmost hill is ________.

(A) H1

(B) H2

(C) H3

(D) H4

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Humanities & Social Sciences (XH)

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Q.10 As shown in the figure, circle 𝐶1 with center 𝑂1 and radius 𝑟1 touches the square
𝑉𝑊𝑋𝑌 at points 𝑃 and 𝑄 while circle 𝐶2 with center 𝑂2 and radius 𝑟2 touches the
square 𝑉𝑊𝑋𝑌 at points 𝑅 and 𝑆. The two circles touch each other at 𝑇.

̅̅̅̅ = 𝑉𝑊
Given 𝑟1 = 1 cm and 𝑉𝑌 ̅̅̅̅̅ = 4 cm, 𝑟2 = _____ cm.

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(A)

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s e (B) 1 + 2√2
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a (C) 7 − 4√2

(D) 5 + 3√2

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Reasoning and Comprehension (XH-B1)

Q.11 – Q.17 Carry ONE mark Each

Aman, Beena, Chiranjeevi and Dhiman are four siblings. Each of them is an
Q.11
expert in one of the performing arts, namely, dance, theatre, guitar and percussion,
not necessarily in that order.
The dancer is taller than the theatre expert. Aman is taller than Chiranjeevi. The
percussionist is taller than Beena but shorter than Aman. Beena is shorter than the
dancer. The guitarist is not the tallest. Dhiman is shorter than both, guitarist and
Chiranjeevi.

What is the expertise of Aman?

(A) Dance

(B) Theatre

(C) Guitar

(D) Percussion

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Reasoning and Comprehension (XH-B1)

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Q.12 Let ∆𝐴𝐵𝐶 be an isosceles triangle with the base 𝐴𝐵 of length 8 units. Let 𝐶𝐷 be a
perpendicular of length 4 units drawn from the vertex 𝐶 onto the base
𝐴𝐵 and 𝐴𝐶 = 𝐵𝐶.

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Then, which of the following is the set of values of the angles (in degrees)
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𝐶𝐴𝐵, 𝐴𝐵𝐶, 𝐵𝐶𝐴 respectively?
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(A) 45,45,90

(B) 100,40,40

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(C) 90,45,45

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(D) 40,40,100
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Reasoning and Comprehension (XH-B1)

Q.13 In the given passage, fill in the blanks with most suitable set of given words:

The future must no longer be___ by the past. While, the effects of the past are still
with us, each day is a new___. Therefore, one should ___from solely believing in
destiny and crave towards charting their own path of success with grit and labour.
Positive_______ is imperative.

(A) Determined, beginning, refrain, anticipation

(B) Fascinated, one, include, physiology

(C) Explored, suffering, content, psychiatry

(D) Marred, life, hinder, labyrinth

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Reasoning and Comprehension (XH-B1)

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Q.14
Indian society is experiencing a boom in pet culture, where people are becoming
responsible caretakers of pets rather than merely providing food and shelter. They
no longer like to identify themselves as ‘pet-owners’ but rather as ‘pet-parents’.
This means that there is an emotional transaction rather than a utilitarian one.
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Which of the following weaken(s) the argument presented in the given passage?
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(A) Some social media influencers are using their pets only for popularity.

(B) Food, medicines and clothes for pets are becoming easily available.

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(C) Pet owners are expecting some provision for tax rebate.

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(D)
g a emotional support.
In today’s stressful times, pets lprovide
a

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Reasoning and Comprehension (XH-B1)

Q.15
Three statements, S1, S2 and S3 are given, followed with 4 conclusions, C1, C2,
C3 and C4.
S1: Hostel authorities organised a special lunch on 01-02-26 during 12 noon to
3 pm, for those residents of the Hostel, who paid hostel mess fees on time.
S2: Hostel authorities issued a notice that, since elections for Mess Council is held
during 4-5 pm of 01-02-26, residents of the Hostel who are contesting the
elections need to stay away from the hostel since morning till 5 pm.
S3: Hostel residents who were eligible to have special lunch, had it on 01-02-26.
C1: Residents who did not have special lunch on 01-02-26, either did not pay
hostel mess fees on time or were contesting elections.
C2: Residents having special lunch on 01-02-26, were either not contesting
elections or had paid hostel mess fees on time.
C3: Residents who are contesting elections need not care about paying mess fees.
C4: Residents who have paid hostel mess fees on time could join special lunch
only if they are not contesting elections.
Which of the conclusion(s) is/are incorrect?

(A) Only one among C1, C2, C3 and C4 is incorrect.

(B) C1 and C2 are incorrect.

(C) C2 and C3 are incorrect.

(D) C3 and C4 are incorrect.

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Reasoning and Comprehension (XH-B1)

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Q.16
Six statements, S1 to S6, are given.
S1: All GATE candidates are engineers.
S2: Some GATE candidates are CAT candidates.
S3: All GRE candidates are GATE candidates.
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S4: All engineers are GRE candidates.
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S5: Some CAT candidates are GRE candidates.
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S6: Some CAT candidates are engineers.
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fourth statement. Identify the option(s) where the fourth statement can be
necessarily inferred from the set of three statements.

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(A) {S1, S2, S3} => S5
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(B) {S4, S1, S2} => S5 a
(C) {S6, S1, S3} => S5

(D) {S4, S3, S1} => S6

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Reasoning and Comprehension (XH-B1)

Q.17 Four couples M-N, O-P, R-L, S-E meet to have a dinner together on an eight-
seater rectangular dining table with four seats each on opposite sides. The men are
named as M, O, R, S. Two of the men, O, R, sit on the two corners of one side of
the table and M sits beside R. Further, none of the couples occupy seats opposite
to each other. However, a person sits adjacent to the seat opposite to his/her
spouse.

Based on the information, which of the following conclusions can be drawn?

(A) R sits opposite to N and S sits opposite to P.

(B) R sits opposite to P and O sits opposite to N.

(C) S sits opposite to N and O sits opposite to L.

(D) M sits opposite to L and O sits opposite to E.

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Reasoning and Comprehension (XH-B1)

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Q.18 – Q.26 Carry TWO marks Each

Q.18
Me and my spouse have a big family, comprising 8 females and 6 males. We have
two sons and two daughters, of whom the eldest is unmarried. Out of my two
grandsons and three granddaughters, only one grandson is a single child. His
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mother is my younger daughter.
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Which of my children necessarily has two daughters?
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(A) None of my sons

(B) One of my sons
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(C) One of my daughters
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(D) Elder daughter
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Reasoning and Comprehension (XH-B1)

Q.19
Given the first four terms 30, 105, 385, 1001 in a sequence, which amongst the
following is the fifth term of the sequence?

(A) 2341

(B) 2431

(C) 2571

(D) 2751

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Reasoning and Comprehension (XH-B1)

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Q.20
Three players named Arun, Babita and Chandu play a game by tossing an
unbiased coin in turn whose rules are as follows:

Initially each player has 100 candies. If the tossing of this coin results in a ‘head’
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then the player who tosses receives 10 candies from each of the other two players,
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whereas, if the toss results in a ‘tail’ then the player who tosses has to give away
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20 candies
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g la at the end will be the winner. The game is started by Arun, followed bya
candies
a Babita and finally stopped after Chandu’s turn. Given that Arun is the only
winner, which of the following hold(s) true?

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(A) Arun has 90 candies more than Chandu

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(B) Both Babita and Chandu have the s
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(C) Arun has 90 candies more than Babita

(D) Babita and Chandu together have 120 candies

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Reasoning and Comprehension (XH-B1)

Q.21
Choose the correct sequence of sentences so that they form a coherent paragraph:
P. However, in the context of texts dealing with science or engineering, this
condition may not be applicable.
Q. One can infer, that there is something called discipline fidelity and within
this aspect, content, language, structure and scope of a text may vary.
R. In the meaning-making process of a text, it is not always logic that is central.
S. Most of the times, it is the expression of the experience that supersedes the
structure and argument.
Which of the following options is/are correct and giving the most appropriate order
and meaning to the sentence?

(A) RSPQ

(B) QRSP

(C) RSQP

(D) SPRQ

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Reasoning and Comprehension (XH-B1)

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Q.22
Mental health is a global concern, especially among the youth. During the Covid-
19 pandemic, when schools and colleges were operating online, students were left
with no option but to stay at home leading to negligible social interaction. Several
studies indicate that even when offline classes have now resumed post Covid-19
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pandemic, these students are finding it difficult to establish social connect leading
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to mental health issues. To deal with this situation, schools and colleges are trying
hardstoe implement different strategies to combat their student’s mental health l as
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agdepending on their unique culture, overall strength, and resources.
Which of the following conclusions can be drawn from the above passage?

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(A) India is a young nation.

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Different schools and colleges will have their own way to tackle the issue of
mental health.
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(C) A combination of online and offline class is good for students.

(D) Social connect is important for mental health.

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Reasoning and Comprehension (XH-B1)

Q.23 On the basis of syntax and grammar, identify the incorrect sentence(s).
I. Doctors have found high levels of cerebrospinal fluid in certain cases of
cerebral palsy around the world. They also suggested its abnormal impact
on speech and muscle movement.
II. Doctors have found high levels of cerebrospinal fluid in certain cases of
cerebral palsy around the world which suggests the abnormal impact on
speech and muscle movement.
III. Having found high levels of cerebrospinal fluid in certain cases of cerebral
palsy around the world, doctors are suggesting abnormal impact on speech
and muscle movement.
IV. Having found high levels of cerebrospinal fluid in certain cases of cerebral
palsy around the world, doctors suggested its abnormal impact on speech
and muscle movement.

(A) I

(B) II

(C) III

(D) IV

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Reasoning and Comprehension (XH-B1)

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Q.24
In a cricket match amongst 7 friends, named P1 – P7, P1 scored maximum
individual runs of 25 and P7 scored minimum individual run of 0. No two friends
had the same score. The median and average runs scored were 15 and 12.57, not
necessarily in that order. Two players, P2 and P3, who scored more than median
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but less than maximum, scored less than 40 runs together. One player scored
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double the sum of non-zero scores of two players.
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What could be the possible value(s) of the second highest score?
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(A) 18

(B) 20
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(C) 21
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(D) 22 a

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Reasoning and Comprehension (XH-B1)

Q.25
A police station has six personnel comprising an inspector (I) and five constables
(𝐶1 , 𝐶2 , 𝐶3 , 𝐶4 , 𝐶5). Normally, a ‘raid team’ of two, three, or four members is formed
depending upon the nature of the raid. As per rule, it is mandatory that the inspector
is part of raid team.
Number of distinct raid teams that can be formed is __________________.
(Answer in integer)

Q.26
A man visits four relatives on a day. He purchases some sweets and gives a part of
it to the first relative. Next, he purchases the same number of sweets he is left with
after he visited his first relative. He repeats this process while visiting his other
relatives. Finally, he gives all the sweets to his fourth relative. It is known that he
gives equal number of sweets to all the relatives and is left with no sweets after
the fourth relative. Assuming that he initially purchased more than 20 sweets, the
minimum number of sweets he gave to each relative is _______________.
(Answer in integer)

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m .co s emLinguistics (XH-C3)
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Q.27 – Q.44 Carry ONE mark Each

Q.27 The assumption that the probability of occurrence of a word in a string depends
ONLY on the preceding word is called a ______ assumption.

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(A) Markov

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(B)
a Gaussian

(C) Chebyshev

(D) Turing

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Q.28
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In a context-free grammar, the symbols that correspond to words in a language are
called ______ symbols.
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(A) terminal

(B) non-terminal

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(C) nominal
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Linguistics (XH-C3)

Q.29 The arguments of a binary relation in a dependency structure consist of ______.

(A) a head and a tail

(B) a head and a dependent

(C) a dependent and a tail

(D) a head and a terminal

Q30 Which ONE of the following pairs belongs to the Dravidian language family?

(A) Kuvi and Badaga

(B) Chakesang and Kurukh

(C) Kurukh and Badaga

(D) Chakesang and Badaga

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m .co s emLinguistics (XH-C3)
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Examine the following statements (S1 and S2) and choose the CORRECT option.

Q.31 S1: Logographic writing system requires thousands of different symbols.

S2: Brahmi is written from left to right, but Kharosthi is written from right to left.

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(A) S1 is correct but S2 is incorrect.

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a S1 is incorrect but S2 is correct.
(B)

(C) Both S1 and S2 are correct.

(D) Both S1 and S2 are incorrect.

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Q32
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Words in different daughter languages that are related to one another because they
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descend from a common ancestor ______.

(A) correlates

(B) cognates
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conjuncts
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(D) coefficients

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Linguistics (XH-C3)

Q33 Pāṇɪni’s Śivasūtra deals with ______.

(A) arrangements of sounds in Sanskrit

(B) arrangements of words in Sanskrit

(C) arrangements of semantic roles in Sanskrit

(D) arrangements of syllables in Sanskrit

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m .co s emLinguistics (XH-C3)
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Q34 Which ONE of the following options represents the correct mapping of the phonetic
features in Column X to their Sanskrit equivalents in Column Y?

Column X: Column Y:

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Phonetic features Sanskrit terms
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c. o P. voicing s e m
e m 1. prāṇa
l a
l as ag
ag Q. retroflex 2. tālavya

R. palatal 3. ghōṣa

S. aspiration 4. mūrdhanya

m
m .co
s e
(A) P – 3, Q – 4, R – 2, S – 1
g la
a
(B) P – 1, Q – 3, R – 4, S – 2

(C) P – 4, Q – 2, R – 3, S – 1

(D) P – 2, Q – 1, R – 3, S – 4
m
m .co
m .co s e m
s e g l a
g la a
a

m .
.co s e m
s em l a
la
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Linguistics (XH-C3)

Q.35 Which ONE of the following statements about theta roles is CORRECT?

(A) Heads assign theta roles to complements in a sentence.

(B) A subject in a sentence always bears the agent theta role.

(C) An object in a sentence can only bear theme theta role.

(D) An indirect object in a sentence does not need a theta role.

Q.36 Which ONE of the following combinations does NOT contain an obligatory
component in the structure of a syllable?

(A) Nucleus-Coda

(B) Onset-Nucleus

(C) Onset-Nucleus-Coda

(D) Onset-Coda

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m
m .co

m .co s emLinguistics (XH-C3)
se g la
a
Q.37 Which ONE of the following statements about errors of production or perception is
CORRECT?

m
(A)
m
‘Fire distinguisher’ (for ‘extinguisher’) is a slip of the tongue.
.co
.co s e m
s em
‘Noble tons of soil’ (for ‘noble sons of toil’) is a slip of the ear. l a
ag
(B)

g la
(C) a ‘Great ape’ (misunderstood as ‘grey tape’) is a slip of the ear.

(D) ‘Great ape’ (misunderstood as ‘grey tape’) is a slip of the tongue.

m
m .co
s e
g la
a

m
m .co
m .co s e m
s e g l a
g la a
a

m .
.co s e m
s em l a
la
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Linguistics (XH-C3)

Q.38 Which ONE of the following options represents the correct mapping of the
articulatory phenomenon in Column X with the phonetic realisation in Column Y?

Column X: Column Y:

Articulatory Phenomenon Phonetic Realisation

P. Creaky voice 1. Voiceless

Q. Lowering of velum 2. Palatalisation

R. Open glottis 3. Nasalisation

S. Raising of the tongue body 4. Laryngealisation

(A) P – 4, Q – 3, R – 1, S – 2

(B) P – 4, Q – 2, R – 1, S – 3

(C) P – 1, Q – 3, R – 4, S – 2

(D) P – 2, Q – 4, R – 1, S – 3

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m
m .co

m .co s emLinguistics (XH-C3)
se g la
a
Q.39 Which ONE of the following options represents the correct chronological order of
the different stages (given in P to T) in first language acquisition?

P. The one-word stage

Q. The two-word stage
m
co
m
R. Telegraphic speech
m .co
S. Cooing . s e
e m l a
T. as
l Babbling ag
ag

(A) S→T→P→R→Q

(B) S→T→P→Q→R
m
(C) T→S→P→Q→R
m .co
s e
g la
(D) T→S→R→P→Q
a

m
m .co
m .co s e m
s e g l a
g la a
a

m .
.co s e m
s em l a
la
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Linguistics (XH-C3)

Q.40 Which ONE of the following options represents the correct mapping of types of
bilingualism in Column X and the descriptions in Column Y?

Column X: Column Y:

Types of Bilingualism Description

P. Simultaneous 1. L2 learned after L1 with equal
competence in both

Q. Sequential 2. L1 and L2 learned with reduced
competence in L2

R. Passive 3. L1 and L2 learned with reduced
competence in L1

S. Subtractive 4. L1 and L2 learned together with
equal competence in both

(A) P – 4, Q – 1, R – 2, S – 3

(B) P – 3, Q – 2, R – 1, S – 4

(C) P – 4, Q – 1, R – 3, S – 2

(D) P – 3, Q – 2, R – 4, S – 1

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m
m .co

m .co s emLinguistics (XH-C3)
se g la
a
Q.41 Examine the following statements (S1 and S2) and choose the CORRECT option.

S1: In English, the attachment of suffix -able to intransitive verbs is productive.

S2: In English words, inflectional suffixes follow derivational suffixes.

m
m .co
.co s e m
s em l a
ag
(A) S1 is correct but S2 is incorrect.

g la
(B) a S1 is incorrect but S2 is correct.

(C) Both S1 and S2 are correct.

(D) Both S1 and S2 are incorrect.

m
m .co
s e
Q.42
la
The word-formation process of Backformation can apply to which ONE of the
g
following pairs?
a

(A) laser, scavenger

m
(B) kudos, laser

m
c. o(C) m.co
m
scavenger, emotion
s e
s e g l a
g la (D) emotion, kudos a
a

m .
.co s e m
s em l a
la
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Linguistics (XH-C3)

Q.43 Which of the following groups of Indian languages do(es) NOT contain a tonal
language?

(A) Santali, Konkani, Tulu, Ao

(B) Nepali, Toda, Mundari, Dogri

(C) Badaga, Assamese, Ho, Kashmiri

(D) Punjabi, Irula, Maithili, Bodo

Q.44 Levenshtein distance is used to measure the minimum edit distance between two
strings by counting the minimum number of editing operations (such as, insertions,
deletions, substitutions) required to transform one string to another. Consider an
alternative version of the Levenshtein distance in which each insertion and each
deletion has a cost of 1 and substitutions are not allowed.

Based on this alternative version, the Levenshtein distance between the strings,
word and work is ______ (Answer in integer).

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m
m .co

m .co s emLinguistics (XH-C3)
se g la
a
Q.45 – Q.65 Carry TWO marks Each

Q.45 In a given collection of documents, let 𝑁 be the total number of documents and
let 𝑑 be the number of documents in which the term 𝑡 occurs.

Which ONE of the following fractions is used to define the inverse document
frequency (idf) of the term 𝑡? m
m .co
m .co s e m
s e l a
g a
l𝑁 ag
(A)
a 𝑑
(B) 1
𝑁+𝑑

(C) 1
𝑁−𝑑
m
m .co
(D) 1
s e
𝑁𝑑
g la
a

m
m .co
m .co s e m
s e g l a
g la a
a

m .
.co s e m
s em l a
la
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Linguistics (XH-C3)

Q.46 Based on the following Turkish data provided in rows 1-6 for singular and plural
nouns, identify the option that lists the correct plural forms of the nouns in rows
7-10.

(Hint: Treat the written forms of ‘a’ and ‘o’ as back vowels and ‘e’ and ‘i’ as
front vowels.)

1. adam ‘man’ adamlar ‘men’

2. top ‘gun’ toplar ‘guns’

3. ders ‘lesson’ dersler ‘lessons’

4. yer ‘place’ yerler ‘places’

5. yol ‘road’ yollar ‘roads’

6. kilit ‘lock’ kilitler ‘locks’

7. ok ‘arrow’ ______‘arrows’

8. el ‘hand’ ______‘hands’

9. zil ‘bell’ ______‘bells’

10. elma ‘apple’ ______ ‘apples’

(A) oklar, eller, ziller, elmalar

(B) okler, eller, ziller, elmaler

(C) oklar, ellar, zillar, elmalar

(D) okler, ellar, zillar, elmaler

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m
m .co

m .co s emLinguistics (XH-C3)
se g la
a
Q.47 Relatedness Hypothesis is the idea that many similarities between languages
indicate that they ______.

m
(A)
m
derive from a common ancestral language
.co
.co s e m
s em l a
ag
(B) share the entire lexicon

g la
(C) a share the entire phonological system

(D) are dialects of a single language

m
m .co
s e
g la
a

m
m .co
m .co s e m
s e g l a
g la a
a

m .
.co s e m
s em l a
la
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Linguistics (XH-C3)

Q.48 Consider the sentences in Language A in Column X and their English translations
in Column Y.

(Hint: The sentence order in Language A is SOV.)

Use the forms ‘tabermashita’ (“ate”), ‘ringo’ (“apple”) and ‘-ni’ (“in”) and
identify the correct translations of the following two sentences (S1 and S2).

S1: Jack ate an apple.

S2: John is in school.

Column X: Column Y:

Language A English

Jakku-ga gakkoo-e ik-imasu Jack goes to school

Kazuko-ga gakkoo-de imasu Kazuko is at school

Jon-ga shinbun-o yom-imasu John reads a newspaper

S1: Jakku-ga ringo-o tabermashita
(A)
S2: Jon-ga gakkoo-de ik-imasu
S1: Jakku-ga ringo-o tabermashita
(B)
S2: Jon-ga gakkoo-ni imasu
S1: Jakku-ga gakkoo-o tabermashita
(C)
S2: Jon-ga gakkoo-ni imasu

S1: Jakku-ga ringo-e tabermashita
(D)
S2: Jon-ga gakkoo-de ik-imasu

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m .co

m .co s emLinguistics (XH-C3)
se g la
a
Q.49 Which ONE of the options represents the CORRECT mapping between the
morphological concepts in Column X and the examples in Column Y?

Column X: Column Y:
m
m .co
.co
Morphological Concepts Examples
e m
e m l as
l as P. Suppletion 1. bookmaker – bookie
ag
ag Q. Conversion 2. deer – deer

R. Zero morpheme 3. bad – worst

S. Hypocorism 4. arrive – arrival

m
T. Derivation
c. o5. (a) doctor – (to) doctor
e m
las
ag
(A) P – 4, Q – 3, R – 2, S – 5, T – 1

(B) P – 5, Q – 1, R – 3, S – 2, T – 4

P – 3, Q – 2, R – 5, S – 1, T – 4 m
.co
(C)
m
c. o(D) s e m
e m P – 3, Q – 5, R – 2, S – 1, T – 4
l a
las ag
ag

m .
.co s e m
s em l a
la
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Linguistics (XH-C3)

Q.50 Consider the following two phonological rules:

Rule 1: Vowel Epenthesis of [ɪ ] after sibilant-ending stems

Rule 2: Progressive Voicing Assimilation of the plural affix

Which ONE of the following rule ordering relations apply in the case of regular
English pluralization as in ‘horse’ – ‘horses’?

(A) Rule 1 and Rule 2 stand in feeding relation.

(B) Rule 1 and Rule 2 stand in bleeding relation.

(C) Rule 1 and Rule 2 stand in counter-feeding relation.

(D) Rule 1 and Rule 2 stand in counter-bleeding relation.

Q.51 Which of the following statements about the sentence below is/are CORRECT?

‘Mani wants Meera to eat her lunch on time.’

(A) The NP ‘Meera’ is a complement of the verb ‘wants.’

(B) The NP ‘Meera’ is the subject of the non-finite clause.

(C) The clause ‘Meera to eat her lunch on time’ is the complement of the verb ‘wants’.

(D) The NP ‘her lunch’ is not the object of the verb ‘eat’.

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m
m .co

m .co s emLinguistics (XH-C3)
se g la
a
Q.52 Read the following two sentences (S1 and S2) and identify the theoretical
principle(s) of natural language that explain(s) their ungrammaticality.

S1: *I managed for myself to go tomorrow.

S2: *Himself went Ravi.
m
m .co
m .co s e m
s e l a
(A)
g a
lPrinciple A of the Binding Theory ag
a
(B) Principle C of the Binding Theory

(C) Projection Principle

(D) Principle B of the Binding Theory
m
.co
s em
g la is/are example(s) of CP recursion in English?
Q.53
a
Which of the following sentences

(A) Ravi went to Tezpur without informing Rihu, Rihu went to Tezpur too and did
not find Ravi there, and Mani went to Aizawl after both Ravi and Rihu had left.

m
.co
(B) Ravi believes that John does not know anything about him.
m
c. o(C) s e m
e m Ravi knows that Ramu believes that Mani does not know anything about him.
l a
las ag
ag (D) Ravi liked the book that Mani got from Rihu who happens to be a mutual friend.

m .
.co s e m
s em l a
la
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Linguistics (XH-C3)

Q.54 Which of the following statements about grammatical patterns in natural language
is/are NOT TRUE?

(A) All sentences must have a subject and a predicate.

(B) All verbs in a sentence must have an object.

(C) All sentences must have a subject, an object, and a verb.

(D) A sentence must have a complement and an adjunct.

Q.55 Which of the following statements about closed class category items in English
is/are TRUE?

(A) Prepositions precede an NP.

(B) Determiners precede a noun.

(C) A subject of sentence is always an NP.

(D) A PP is always an adjunct in a sentence.

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m .co

m .co s emLinguistics (XH-C3)
se g la
a
Q.56 Which of these is/are (an) acoustic cue(s) for speech sounds?

m
.co
(A) Duration

o m m
Pitch . c s e
em a
(B)
s l
g a
lFundamental ag
(C)
a Frequency

(D) Length

m
m .co
s e
g la
a

m
m .co
m .co s e m
s e g l a
g la a
a

m .
.co s e m
s em l a
la
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Linguistics (XH-C3)

Q.57 Examine the cognates of the word meaning ‘stream’ in the following:

Language 1 - mube

Language 2 - mupe

Language 3 - mup

Based on the majority principle and most natural development principle, identify
which of the following statements about the proto-form is/are CORRECT.

(A) Voiceless sounds become voiced between vowels. Therefore, *mube is not the
likely proto-form.

(B) Final vowels are often deleted or elided. Therefore, *mupe is the likely proto-
form.

(C) Vowels are inserted word-finally. Therefore, *mup is not the likely proto-form.

(D) Voiced sounds undergo devoicing before /e/ vowel. Therefore, *mupe is the
likely proto-form.

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m
m .co

m .co s emLinguistics (XH-C3)
se g la
a
Q.58 Which of these is/are NOT (an) example(s) of a direct speech act?

m
.co
(A) Could you open that salt bottle for me?

o m m
c
Pass the .salt!
s e
em a
(B)
s l
g a you know where the salt is?
lDo ag
(C)
a
(D) The salt is in the bottle.

Q.59
m
Which of the following statements about the IPA consonant chart is/are TRUE?

.co
s em
g la
(A) a sound configurations that are physiologically
The shaded empty cells indicate
impossible to produce.

(B) The shaded empty cells indicate sound configurations that are physiologically
possible to produce but have not yet been discovered in the world’s languages.

m
(C) The non-shaded empty cells indicate sound configurations that are

m .co
physiologically impossible to produce.

m .co s e m
s e (D) The non-shaded empty cells indicate sound configurations that are
g l a
la a
physiologically possible to produce but have not yet been discovered in the

ag world’s languages.

m .
.co s e m
s em l a
la
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Linguistics (XH-C3)

Q.60 Among the options given below, identify the sentence(s) with deictic
expression(s).

(A) It is raining here now!

(B) These boxes must be removed by tomorrow.

(C) The boxes of clothes were donated to the orphanage.

(D) It rains in Kerala from June to September every year.

Q.61 Which of the following statements about languages and dialects is/are
CORRECT?

(A) Differences in aspects of grammar, vocabulary and/or pronunciation of a variety
of a language is called a dialect.

(B) Dialectal differences are not determined by the social class of the speakers.

(C) Mutual intelligibility is a criterion that accurately distinguishes between a
language and a dialect.

(D) The Census of India (2011) classifies Bhojpuri as a dialect/variety of Hindi.

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m
m .co

m .co s emLinguistics (XH-C3)
se g la
a
Q.62 Which of the statements do/does NOT hold TRUE for the sentence below?

‘Raju went to Singapore last year.’

m
m .co
(A)
m .co
‘to Singapore’ as a PP is the object of the verb ‘went’.
s e m
s e l a
(B)
l a
‘last year’ is an adverb and thereby a subcategorized element.
ag
ag
(C) ‘to Singapore’ as a PP is the complement of the verb ‘went’.

(D) Both ‘to Singapore’ and ‘last year’ are not subcategorized by the verb.

o m
c
Which of the following is/are (an) .example(s) that exhibit(s) ‘Metaphorical
Q.63
emthe meaning of existing words can change)?
Extension’ (a mechanism by which
s
g la
a
(A) Just stop feeding me those ideas!

(B) Don’t hold your criticism, spit it out!

m
.co
(C) What a cool outfit!
m
c. o(D) s e m
e m Backup the data on the cloud!
l a
las ag
ag

m .
.co s e m
s em l a
la
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Linguistics (XH-C3)

Which of the following statements about the human auditory system is/are
Q.64
CORRECT?

(A) Sound waves are converted to mechanical movements in the inner ear.

(B) Organ of corti is located in the inner ear.

(C) The middle bone in the middle ear is called incus.

(D) Tympanic membrane is also known as the oval window.

The total number of unique character bigrams in the string thoughtsoftheghosts
Q.65
(which contains 19 characters) is ______.

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