DLAB Language Structure Deduction 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: You are given these sentences in an unknown language: 'melo kira tan' = 'the dog runs,' 'melo bira tan' = 'the cat runs,' 'melo kira pun' = 'the dog sleeps.' What does 'kira' mean?
- runs
- the
- dog (Correct answer)
- sleeps
Correct answer: dog
Comparing sentences 1 and 2: 'kira' changes to 'bira' when 'dog' changes to 'cat,' so 'kira' = dog and 'bira' = cat. Comparing sentences 1 and 3: 'tan' changes to 'pun' when 'runs' changes to 'sleeps.' 'Melo' stays constant (= the/a), confirming 'kira' = dog.
Question 2: In an unknown language: 'aba keri' = 'red house,' 'aba moli' = 'red car,' 'fesi keri' = 'big house.' What is 'big car'?
- fesi moli (Correct answer)
- aba keri
- moli fesi
- keri aba
Correct answer: fesi moli
From the data: 'aba' = red, 'keri' = house, 'moli' = car, 'fesi' = big. The pattern is adjective + noun (word order). Therefore 'big car' = 'fesi moli,' following the same adjective-first pattern.
Question 3: Given: 'noka tali resa' = 'the boy eats bread,' 'noka tali gebu' = 'the boy eats fish,' 'sira tali resa' = 'the girl eats bread.' What is the word order?
- Verb-Subject-Object
- Subject-Verb-Object (Correct answer)
- Subject-Object-Verb
- Object-Verb-Subject
Correct answer: Subject-Verb-Object
Position 1 changes with the subject (noka=boy, sira=girl). Position 2 stays constant as the verb (tali=eats). Position 3 changes with the object (resa=bread, gebu=fish). This is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) order.
Question 4: Study these sentences: 'paku lo men' = 'I see you,' 'paku men lo' = 'you see me,' 'paku lo sen' = 'I see him.' What does 'paku' mean?
- I
- you
- see (Correct answer)
- him
Correct answer: see
'Paku' appears in all three sentences regardless of who sees whom. Since the subject and object change but 'paku' remains constant, it must be the verb 'see.' The pronouns change positions to indicate subject and object roles.
Question 5: In an unknown language: 'domo-la' = 'in the house,' 'domo-ke' = 'from the house,' 'parku-la' = 'in the park.' What does '-la' mean?
- house
- from
- in (Correct answer)
- park
Correct answer: in
'-la' appears in both 'domo-la' (in the house) and 'parku-la' (in the park). The only common meaning is 'in.' '-ke' appears with 'from,' confirming '-la' = in. These are postpositional suffixes indicating location.
Question 6: Given: 'mir tuka' = 'two birds,' 'mir geba' = 'two fish,' 'sol tuka' = 'three birds,' 'pen geba' = 'five fish.' Numbers come first. What is 'three fish'?
- geba sol
- sol geba (Correct answer)
- mir sol
- tuka pen
Correct answer: sol geba
The pattern is number + noun: 'mir' (two) + 'tuka' (birds), 'sol' (three) + 'tuka' (birds). For 'three fish': 'sol' (three) + 'geba' (fish) = 'sol geba,' following the number-first word order.
DLAB Language Structure Deduction 1
You are given these sentences in an unknown language: 'melo kira tan' = 'the dog runs,' 'melo bira tan' = 'the cat runs,' 'melo kira pun' = 'the dog sleeps.' What does 'kira' mean?