1.

. a) A paradigmatic relation is a relation that holds between elements of the same category, i.e. elements that can be substituted for each other.

b) A set of norms or rules governing how a language should or should not be used rather than describing the ways in which a language is actually used.

c) A theory in linguistics, usually credited to Noam Chomsky, proposing that the ability to learn grammar is hard-wired into the brain. The theory suggests that linguistic ability manifests itself without being taught and that there are properties that all natural human languages share.

d) Bow-wow theories suggest that the first human languages developed as onomatopoeia, imitations of natural sounds.

e) In human speech, egressive sounds are sounds by which the air stream is created by pushing air out through the mouth or nose.

f) Cardinal vowels are a set of reference vowels used by phoneticians in describing the sounds of languages.

2. Describe and illustrate the function of the velum in speech production.

Velum (soft palate) is used to create consonant sound by touching it with the middle part of the tongue. Velum is also responsible for separating the oral cavity from nasal cavity in order to produce the oral speech sounds. If this separation is incomplete, air escapes through the nose, causing speech to be perceived as nasal

3. Describe and illustrate the function of the larynx in speech production.

Source sound is generated in the larynx. That is also where pitch and volume are manipulated. This source sound is altered as it travels through the vocal tract, configured differently based on the position of the tongue, lips, mouth, and pharynx.

4.

 All languages have vowels and consonants.
All languages have nouns and verbs.
All languages have demonstratives.
The subject tends to precede the object

4A.

The formal universals are simply the rules of languages, the principles which operate it. They are directly connected to the possible form a grammar can take. Substantive universals, on their behalf, describe any mental object which can universally be present in grammars, or at least if not used, available. To put it another way, substantive universals are like building blocks which “fill” the language: the vocabulary

 Sometimes, there could be a fact that is valid for each and every language in the world. Linguists call this an absolute
universal. Example: all languages have at least 2 vowels. And when a particular feature can be found in many or almost all, or most languages, we have a non-absolute universal (also known as near-absolute or tendency). Example: most languages have nasal phones

Some universals are stated without the need of any references to any other properties of the different languages. They do not require another property of the language in order to exist as universals. Example: all languages have nouns, verbs and objects which will be used to form a sentence in one way or another. These universals are called
non-implicational and they are usually like general facts which are valid for each and every language. On the contrary, there is a type of universals which are based on some kind of logical connection between two other universals (no matter if these universals are absolute or non-absolute). These are the implicational
universals. Their formula is: if a language has A, it also has B. It is very important both parts of the formula to represent either absolute universals ornon-absolute universals. Mixtures within the implicational universals are incorrect