Linguistic Knowledge, Understanding and Skills
What this domain tests
This domain asks you to analyse how language works as a system, using the metalanguage of your target language and of English. You need working control of phonology (sound systems, phonemes, stress, intonation), morphology (roots, affixes, inflection versus derivation), syntax (word order, clause structure, agreement), semantics (denotation, connotation, sense relations such as synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy) and pragmatics (implicature, politeness, register). You should also be able to describe language variation by region, social group, age and medium, and to explain language change through borrowing, calque, semantic shift and coinage.
Traps to watch
A common trap is confusing a description with an evaluation: 'this dialect is informal' is a social judgement, not a linguistic finding. Another is mislabelling a feature: a suffix that changes word class (e.g. forming a noun from a verb) is derivational, not inflectional; inflection marks grammatical categories such as tense, number or case without creating a new lexeme. Students also over-apply English categories to the target language, for instance assuming tense is always marked by a verb ending when the language may use particles or adverbs. Finally, examiners reward precise metalanguage: say 'code-switching between clauses' rather than 'mixing languages'.
Worked example
Question: explain how the sentence's meaning would change if a formal pronoun were swapped for an informal one. Rule of thumb: identify the linguistic form, name the system it belongs to, then state the effect on meaning or relationship. Here the form is a pronoun belonging to the address system; the swap changes the pragmatic relationship (distance or solidarity) rather than the propositional content. Write that distinction explicitly.
Preparing
Keep a log of authentic texts (news, advertising, conversation transcripts) and annotate each with two phonological, two grammatical and two lexical observations. Practise rewriting the same message in three registers to build control of variation.